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26 April 2010

How to Promote a Bar or Restaurant Business

Running a successful bar or restaurant can be hugely rewarding and very lucrative. But do your business success may take time and hard work.

Targeted and effective marketing of your bar or restaurant can provide you with success before, and help build a healthy business with loyal long term customers.

But first you have to decide what type of business you run and who it will appeal to. To help decide this consider the following key factors:

Location - Which area is your business? If what aos a busy shopping high street then lay on the afternoon coffee and snacks for busy shoppers, or quick light lunch. If you are in a rural area you all have to give clients a special reason to come out to your business, such as a specialty menu or special events.

Market - Who are your local market? Trendy young adults, affluent middle-aged couples, middle income families and elderly people all have different tastes and needs. Find out who your local audience is then customize your food and ambience accordingly.

Environment - What is the mood and atmosphere at your company? Are you limited by your attitude and interior or you have the opportunity to be more flexible? Ambience is an essential part of dining out experience.

When you Äôve decided what to offer and which you can plan a marketing campaign. Here are some ideas for promotional tools you can use to promote your bar or restaurant:

1. Direct Mail

A direct marketing tool direct mail is a great opportunity for bars and restaurants because, aos more measurable than other marketing methods, and can be targeted more closely to the prospective consumers most likely to visit.

When you have identified your target audience you can buy mailing lists more persons of the same type from reliable sources. For example, Consumer Profiles list from Select a base allows you to target potential customers by lifestyle.

Selectabase also offer specialist lists to meet specific market - their Silver Prospects list includes older people, while mobile phone database is great for targeting the youth market for bars and clubs.

Here Aos even a recently relocated database that provides a monthly list of people who Äôve just moved into your local area so you can introduce your business to them.

Mail your list with a good quality mailer and a letter personally to each person explaining clearly the benefits your business has to offer.

2. Events

Special events are a great way to give potential customers an extra incentive to get out and spend money with you when they might not usually do it.

You can organize your own regular events, perhaps on a quieter night in the week to increase sales. Look at ideas to match the interests of your market, such as wine tasting or a gourmet night, live music nights, stand up comedy, poetry readings or family fun day when you were at a children aos entertainer.

Also think about specific events that your customers like to celebrate at your venue, like a birthday to celebrate. You can reach local consumers who are about to celebrate a birthday by Birthday Mailings service from Selectabase.

3. PR

Build a good relationship with your local press and use these contacts to get regular coverage for your business. Let them know about special events and news such as opening of a garden or launch of a new menu, and always accompany your press release with good quality photographs to enhance the chances of it being published.

If you find a particularly good publication, ask if you can provide them with free regular recipe ideas in exchange for promoting your business. And don, AOT forget local radio - there are plenty of local stations now are generally very keen to feature local businesses with a story to tell.

4. Website

Make sure your venue has a good website full of information that people want to find, such as menus, prices, how to book, parking, location, directions, hours and so on. Think about including a guest book for customers to add their comments and use the website to get visitors to sign up for special offers and news sent via email.

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