Drink and Food Menu
Nowadays, people check your online menu even before making a reservation or deciding to go to your bar. Attract your customers with the trendiest cocktail on your menu, the most popular craft beer, the wine of the month, the latest cider to hit the market or the spirit collection at your bar.
Include a formatted text menu visibly on your website. If it is creatively and beautifully presented, people will scan the menu and even reach a decision on what they want to order before even getting to the bar. What’s more, a text menu will help you with your search engine optimisation, which will improve your website’s performance on Google.
Search Engine Optimisation
The drinks industry is very competitive and bar website SEO includes certain techniques specific to the sector. There are many ways to implement Search Engine Optimisation, however it’s not witchcraft and it does take time to get your website to the first page of search results.
Some of the key ways to optimise your bar’s website include: keyword research, website organisation, local listings, optimisation of titles, headings and image tags, content optimisation, blog creation and maintenance, internal/external linking and social media channels to build a relationship with your audience and distribute content.
Location
How often do you use navigation apps such as Google Maps, Citymapper or Waze to get somewhere faster and more easily? Give your potential customers an accurate and up to date address for your bar, pub or nightclub location.
If you are located in a hard to find place, explain briefly how to get to your business, include some points of reference, and make your customer’s journey to your business as easy as possible.
Business hours
It is important to let your customers know about your business hours and more importantly at what time your bar takes the last order. Make sure this information is easy to find and up to date.
Contact details
It sounds obvious, but it’s very often overlooked. Contact information such as phone number and email address should be clearly and consistently listed on your website, listings, social media platforms, booking platforms and across all your digital presence, as well as all types of print advertising.
For instance, customers value being able to contact your business via text message, in case they are running late for their reservation, or to remind you about food allergies or special arrangements.
Reservation widget
Does your bar take reservations? Does it operate on a walk-in basis? If you have a reservation policy in your bar then you can implement a reservation widget, which should be easily accessible on your website’s homepage.
Professional photography
An image is worth a thousand words, but it also drives loads of visits. Customers want to be able to see images of the venue, drinks menu, impressive cocktails, food samples, the interior and exterior of your bar, before they even show up.
Show beautiful, high quality images so your diners get an idea of what to expect when visiting your restaurant. Include galleries for people to click through with assorted professional shots of your bar, drinks, food, or bartenders preparing cocktails. Let customers experience your bar virtually before physically being there.
Blog
You can empower your audience with engaging content about your bar and relevant information about the industry. First of all, you need to understand your audience and the customer journey. Once you know who your customers are and where to find them, start creating content around their interests to attract, engage and connect with them. Good content helps to drive traffic to your website.
Reviews
Consensus is key. It is really important to get good reviews, especially at an early stage of the business, because that helps to generate new business and also contributes to the brand’s reputation.
When deciding to buy something online, consumers now spend significant time researching the product. Equally, when deciding whether to go to a bar, pub or nightclub, especially if they haven’t been before, it’s new or it’s expensive – customers look at different sources to gather more information about a bar and make their decisions based on apparent consensus.
People are more likely to trust reviews from other customers. As a bar owner, you should be more aware of your customers’ reviews than ever. Listen to what your customers are saying about your bar, drinks, food, and customer service – it’s free feedback and market research, so do not ignore it. Reply to the good reviews as well as the bad reviews. Also, this is an opportunity to make use of keywords to improve your SEO. Look for patterns in the reviews and improve accordingly.
Social Media
Social media has created a much bigger awareness of what is happening around the world and that has had a significant impact on consumer demands and their expectations.
All relevant information about your bar, pub or nightclub should be easily accessible on your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, TripAdvisor and every page where your business is listed. That includes business hours, location, photos of your place, drinks/food menu and services offered.
Feed your followers constantly. Engage with them by posting two or three times per week on Facebook, share pictures on Instagram on a regular basis and post frequently on Twitter.
Promotions
Promotions are a way for your customers, media and employees to engage with the business throughout the year. Also, it’s a great opportunity to drive revenue during tougher times.
The promotions need to be built with your audience in mind and communicated at the right time and in the right place. Furthermore, they need to be easy for the customer to understand and also memorable.
Create a strong call to action for your customers when placing promotions on your website and social media platforms. Be very clear about the next step the customer needs to take after seeing the promotion, e.g. making a reservation, times for your happy hour deal, or using a promo code to claim a 10% discount.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a viable outreach channel for bars, pubs and nightclubs because of its immediacy, cost-effectiveness and ease of use. It allows you to communicate with actual and potential clients, keep your customers updated with the latest events and offers within your business, share relevant and valuable content with them and generate engagement among your consumer database.
Make sure you measure open rates and click rates. It will help you to understand which posts and messages resonate the most with your audience. In that way, you can establish what your customers respond to best and tailor future communications accordingly to increase your engagement rate.
Digital marketing can be hugely beneficial for bars, pubs and nightclubs thanks to its quick turnaround and interactive nature. Use email and social media to connect with customers on a personal level, promote upcoming events and keep your brand top of mind.
Conclusion
Digital marketing is not about revolution. It’s about keeping things fresh and smart. The key for a successful digital marketing strategy is combining local SEO to make best use of search engine results pages, driving traffic to your website and converting potential customers to your bar through paid search campaigns, coupled with a strong content marketing strategy to keep feeding your visitors with rich content about your bar.
We are seriously good at what we do. If you want to know how we can help you develop your business, don’t hesitate to get in touch by calling us on 020 7842 5983 or making an Online Enquiry.
We’re here to help every step of the way, navigating you through the modern marketing landscape
