Stage a contest in your sports bar for "Most Spirited Fan."
Running a sports bar is a challenging career that requires hard work, patience and creativity. Your livelihood is entirely dependent on an ever-changing clientele, so sales are likely to differentiate month to month. One way to help your sports bar thrive is to aggressively promote it to the surrounding area. By engaging customers with activities and advertisements, you will create a steady stream of revenue and have a successful business.
Instructions
1. Advertise with flyers. Whether you are a new sports bar owner or a long-time proprietor looking to increase business, your best place to start is on the streets. Giving potential customers face time with employees is a great way to establish a rapport. Hand out flyers at busy intersections advertising drink specials. Target college campuses or arenas where sports fans are abundant. Ask grocery stores if you can post your flyer on their community bulletin board.
2. Tie in specials with big games. If you are in or near a large city, you have a built-in clientele already. Follow the local sports teams and come up with drink specials that coincide with playoff or tournament games. You can even invent an entirely new drink for the team. For example, if the mascot is a mustang, create a unique flavor of margarita and call it the "Mustang Margarita."
3. Arrange contests. Sports bars are supposed to be fun. The more lively your space is, the more likely it is that people will want to return. Ask surrounding businesses to donate items like massage gift certificates, movie tickets and sports equipment. Then stage an old-fashioned sing-off, sexy bikini contest or costume competition. Get the crowd involved and make sure to promote the businesses who donated the items so they will want to partner with you again in the future.
4. Use your website. In the technological world that we live in, you are doing yourself a huge disservice if you do not use the Internet to promote your sports bar. Use a free web-building service to start your site. If your website is old, spruce it up with a new look. Upload photos of your customers having fun to lure new people in. Create a section that explains nightly drink specials. Advertise which games you will be showing, but don't be too rigid. Ask for customer input regarding which games they would like to see.
Tags: drink specials, your sports, which games, will want, your website