Are you planning on opening a bar? Are you hoping that your pub will become the best hangout spot in your area?

If so, you’re likely wondering how you can get more patrons to come to your pub.

How do you make sure the bar is always full and that beer is always flowing? How do you ensure that your bar becomes someone’s “local?”

You need to focus on the best bar marketing strategies to bring in more patrons. These are the best ways to make your bar stand out from the fierce competition.

Here’s what you should do:

1. On Tap and From the Fridge

One of the best ways to attract patrons to your bar is to offer beer on tap and from the fridge. Most patrons will likely want to drink beer from the tap. But some patrons prefer drinking from a chilled bottle.

As such, you should invest in a glass door bar fridge. This is a great way to store your beers for patrons who like to drink from the bottle.

If you offer both choices to your patrons, you can expect them to come back again and again.

2. Social Proof

The next step is to get social proof to promote your bar. This is crucial for online bar marketing. You want to make sure that when potential patrons search for your bar, they see overwhelmingly positive testimonials.

You want to start by creating a Google My Business listing. On this listing, you’ll include the address and contact information for your bar. This listing will also display online reviews once you gather them.

After you create your Google My Business listing, you want to create a Yelp profile. Here your patrons can leave reviews for your bar. As you accumulate more reviews, these will show up on your Google My Business listing.

You also want to make sure that your patrons can leave reviews on your social media profiles. These can include Facebook fan pages or Pinterest boards, etc. 

You can also share patron testimonials through your Instagram profile and in your Instagram stories. TikTok is another great way to promote your bar through social proof. Like Instagram, you can share testimonials on your TikTok profile and through the stories feature.

Make sure you always work to accumulate as many reviews as possible. You shouldn’t go a single month without garnering new reviews. If you receive negative reviews, make sure you respond politely to them. This gives patrons the impression that you care about providing excellent service.

3. Theme Nights

If you want patrons to come back regularly to your bar, you’ve got to host a few theme nights.

This is one of the bar marketing ideas that often gets overlooked by even veteran bar owners. You have to remember that your bar isn’t simply a place to grab a few beers.

It’s also a place for friends to gather and create lifelong memories. It’s supposed to be a hub for your local community. One of the best ways to do this is to have fun activities at the bar.

For example, you can host watch parties for a sporting event. Many bars have watch parties for football, basketball, or boxing matches. 

You can also host parties for Halloween, Christmas, or New Year’s Eve. You can also host weekly trivia nights, which is one of the most popular activities for bars.

This is one of the best ways to get patrons to stay longer at your bar. If you have theme nights, they’ll come in for one drink and stay longer for the sense of community!

4. Offer Unique Deals, Products, and Services

Have you ever wondered how to advertise your bar to make it stand out from competing bars?

You should advertise the unique deals, products, and services that your bar offers. For example, you can offer 50% drinks during Happy Hour. You can have a Happy Hour on Mondays so that working professionals can relax as they face a stressful week ahead.

Or you can have a Happy Hour on Friday to start the weekend. There’s also no harm with having Happy Hour every day of the week!

You can also sell unique products to your patrons. These can include rare beers or craft beers. You can also offer beers from different parts of the world as popular chains such as World of Beer have done. You can offer homemade cuisine for patrons to enjoy with their drinks.

In addition, you can offer physical products for your patrons to buy. For example, if they buy a “yard of ale,” you should let them keep the glass as a reward for drinking that much alcohol!

You can also sell flasks with your bar’s logo printed on them, as well as merchandise such as t-shirts, stickers, mugs, etc.

Another method for standing out is to offer unique services. This can include bartending classes, cooking lessons, and wine tasting.

5. Allow Others to Use the Space

If you want your bar to become an integral part of your local community, you want to allow others to use your space.

For example, you can let your local Chamber of Commerce use the bar as a venue for an upcoming networking event. You can even host town meetings or debates at your bar. 

You can invite speakers to promote their products or services at your bar. Your bar can also be the space for a live show such as a comedy night or an interview show, such as The Interview Show with Mark Bazer.

You want your local community to feel that your bar is the best place they can go to when they need to meet others!

That’s How to Succeed at Bar Marketing

If you follow these bar marketing strategies, you’ll have no problem with making your bar popular among its competition.

You want to make sure you first offer draft beer as well as bottled drinks. Make sure you work to improve your social proof by garnering online reviews.

You want to also offer theme nights, unique deals, products, and services. If you rent out the bar for other events, it’ll soon become a pillar of your community!

You can find even more great bar advertisement ideas on our website!