How to Market a Bar

Effective bar marketing attracts new customers and builds brand loyalty by relying on a unique bar concept, raising brand awareness, and implementing fun promotions. I’ll walk you through the steps of marketing a bar and include a list of bar marketing ideas to help your business grow With that in mind, let’s explore 15 bar marketing and promotion ideas to help you grow your business.

1. Define Your Target Market

Your target market is the ideal type of customer you’re trying to attract. The goal of all your bar marketing will be appealing to this audience, so you need to take the time to identify your target audience. It is a good idea to start by gauging the foot traffic in your location and identifying any potential customer types you can reach nearby. If your bar has been operating for awhile, you might also start by analyzing the sales and purchase history of your highest spending or most common customers.

With this baseline information, the next step is researching demographic and behavioral details of your most common customers, and using this information to build customer personas. Demographic data is information about your customer’s physical characteristics, like income level, age, gender, education, occupation. Behavioral characteristics are things like hobbies, styles, and interests. You can find demographic information through your city or county’s municipal website or contact your nearest Chamber of Commerce.

Once you have the data you need, use it to build customer personas. Customer personas are profiles that catalog the characteristics of your bar’s ideal clientele. Customer personas will help you determine the best menu items, marketing strategies, and event ideas to reach those customers. For example, if you’re located in a college town, you’d offer different products depending in if you hope to attract a customer base of professors and parents versus undergraduate students.

Remember that your target audience needs to be large enough to bring in the revenue your bar needs to turn a profit. So, consider how many people in your target market live within close proximity to your bar, have the disposable income to patronize your business, and will be reachable with your marketing materials.

2. Create a Concept that Appeals to Your Customer Base

A bar’s “concept” is a short description of the bar’s service style, available beverage types, and atmosphere. For example, a sports bar is a popular bar concept that focuses service style and menu offerings around sporting events. In a busy city center, a strong bar concept can be enough to drive business to your bar.

Expand the sections below to explore some of the most common bar concepts:

Dive bars are extremely casual local bars with simple decor and often deeply loyal customers. Dive bars often have unique quirks and decor combined with low prices. Some dive bars serve food, but snacks like popcorn and pretzels that don’t require cooking are more common. Dive bars typically offer a full complement of alcohol, including beer, wine, and spirits.

Sports bars allow patrons to view sports events in a communal setting, usually with multiple large-screen TVs placed around the bar. Sports bars have year-round appeal depending on the sport in season. They can get busy during playoff seasons or events like the Super Bowl, World Cup, or World Series.

Sports bars typically offer a full bar, with special emphasis on an extensive beer list. Sports bars also typically serve simple, filling fare like burgers, wings, and nachos.

Nightclubs are large bars with ample comfortable seating areas and dance floors. They feature music and dancing, talented DJs, and sometimes live music. Due to the concentration of nightclubs, cities like Las Vegas, New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami have built their reputations as buzzing nightlife scenes. In addition to full bar service, nightclubs typically offer bottle service and include private tables and VIP sections.

Cocktail bars specialize in mixed beverages like martinis and manhattans. Craft cocktail bars extend to a full line of new and classic beverages, using a wide variety of spirits. Most also offer select beers and wine. Cocktail bars tend to be comfortable and low-lit. They typically don’t offer food. When they do, it tends toward charcuterie, cheese boards, and other simple fare. The craft of cocktail making is the main draw at a cocktail bar.

Also called “high concept” bars, these increasingly popular bars offer customers an immersive experience alongside their beverages. Conceptual bars express a thematic experience that includes the decor, staff uniforms, menus, and events they offer. Bars based on popular films or television shows are popular conceptual bars, though more general themes like a circus or a 1920s speakeasy are also common.

Wine bars focus on wine offerings, though many also offer beer. They tend to have a specific (and less expensive) liquor license than full-service bars, so they typically cannot offer cocktails or spirits. Wine bars also tend to offer simple food, focused on foods that complement their wines.

Pub is short for “Public house.” Like dive bars, pubs tend to be neighborhood hangouts that appeal to locals. Pubs tend to be casual and focused on a wide variety of beers. Though many pubs offer a wine and spirits, as well. Pubs typically always serve hearty food menus and may even be family-friendly, with dining areas that encourage patrons to bring children and even dogs.

Even though these bar types are common, your bar concept might fall between two or even combine the qualities of more than one. Local bars often combine elements from different bar experiences. Depending on your target clientele, you might offer a karaoke night at your wine bar or a wine tasting at your dive bar. The combination of your concept and customer makes your bar memorable and marketable.

3. Build an Online Presence

These days, most bars must have an online presence. Your online presence might include a business website, a Google Business Profile, social media accounts, and profiles on popular review sites like Yelp. Let’s look at each piece of your online presence in more detail.

Most bar websites are streamlined, containing information about your location, hours of operation, and upcoming events. If you book your space as a private event venue (say for after parties, bachelorette parties, or weddings), your website should have a dedicated page for event inquiries. Your bar website should reflect the tone and personality of your bar, so customers get a feel for what they will experience when visiting your brick-and-mortar location. Images of your beverages and sample cocktail menus are optional, but nice to have.

It is also a good idea to add driving directions and parking information. An ‘About Us” page can show customers your personality as the owner and tell the story and history of your bar, which can all be selling points.

A Google Business Profile is your way of telling Google where customers can find your bar. Creating a Google Business Profile enables your bar to show up on Google Maps. It also becomes the log where your customer’s Google reviews show up. You’ll want to add details like your address, contact information and hours of operation so customers looking for a bar near their location can easily find yours.

Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok can be a great stage to show your bar’s style. Many potential bar customers– especially younger bar patrons– tend to look at social media before patronizing a bar. Use these platforms to give customers a feel for your beverage and food offerings, service style, and general “vibe.”

Many bar owners find review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor stressful. But it’s better for your business if you claim your business profile listings on these sites. At least with the listing claimed, you can ensure information like your hours of operation is accurate. You can also monitor and respond to customer reviews in real time.

4. Develop Regular Bar Marketing Specials

Before you advertise any promotions for your bar, consider your costs and local laws. Some cities or counties prohibit discount drinks or giveaways for example. I know a bar in California that had been handing out ‘Free Margarita’ cards for months before the local liquor board called to tell them this could jeopardize their liquor license.

Before designing a happy hour menu or other promotion you also need to crunch the numbers to identify the costs associated with the promotion. Ideally, you won’t lower prices so much that you undercut your own costs. In some locations, local laws prohibit selling alcohol for less than it costs you to supply it.

The table below should give you some bar promotion ideas based on your bar type to get your creative wheels turning:

Bar Specials by Bar Concept

bar Concept	promotion ideas
Dive Bar	Trivia nights, happy hour
Sports Bar	Sports-event themed drinks, pricing based on home team performance, college rivalry themed nights and drink specials, contests and trivia nights
Nightclub	Nights and events in partnership with aspirational beverage brands, featured DJ sets, live music, upscale themed events for New Years and other holidays
Craft Cocktail Bar	Nights and menus celebrating a single spirit, guest bartenders, themed nights or menus focused on a specific cocktail era or trend
Conceptual Bar	Costume-themed nights that match the concept, throwback pricing for nostalgia-based conceptual bars
Wine Bar	Wine tastings with partner wine-makers, wine flights, celebrations based on wine seasons (Beaujolais nouveau release, Rose season, etc.)
Pub	Beer flights, trivia nights, live music, community events

5. Offer Excellent Service

Good bar marketing doesn’t stop when customers enter your doors. Bars are known for welcoming repeat customers (also known as “regulars”). To turn first-time visitors into regulars, you need to offer excellent service. Every time a customer interacts with you or your staff, that is a marketing opportunity.

People will return to bars where they get fast service and reliable quality drinks over a place where they need to wait in line and the quality varies widely. Ensure your staff are well-trained in making your drinks and operating your software and hardware so your customers get flawless service on every visit.

6. Monitor Reviews & Manage Your Bar’s Reputation

Lastly, bar marketing includes monitoring customer feedback on platforms like Google, Yelp, Facebook, and Tripadvisor. Check these sites regularly, or use software that alerts you to new reviews. Listen to customer feedback, noting any places where your bar might have opportunities to improve your service or offerings to better meet the expectations of your target customers.

Take the time to respond to every review, whether it is positive or negative. This shows customers that your bar’s ownership is active and involved. Let negative reviewers know that you hear their feedback. Apologize if necessary. With positive reviews, thank the reviewer and let them know you appreciate their business.

Bar Marketing Ideas

Once you’ve dialed in the basics of your bar marketing strategy, its time to get creative. This list of bar marketing ideas should help you brainstorm the best bar marketing promotions for your bar. There is one key strategy you’ll find missing from this list: free booze. In many locations, it is illegal to give away alcohol. Check your local liquor laws before advertising any type of liquor giveaway or deep discounts on alcohol.

If you’re looking for bar marketing ideas, try these on for size:

Design branded merchandise: Branded merchandise like t-shirts, shot glasses, beer mugs, specialty glassware, lighters, drink sleeves, and more could all carry your bar’s name and logo out into the world. These items are also prime candidates for giveaways and freebies when you can’t offer free alcohol.
Develop bachelor/ bachelorette packages: Bars are popular stops for bachelor and bachelorette parties. Embrace this by providing a streamlined package with special touches customers can only get at your bar.
Make your bar Instagrammable: Use decor that lends itself to photos, like neon signs, funny or clever art, or visually impactful furnishings that express your bar’s concept. This can encourage customers to share selfies from your bar on their social media and increase your social media reach.
Appeal to TikTok: Many younger bar patrons check out new venues on social media before visiting in person. Embrace younger customers capturing your bar’s energy on their smartphones; they could just be amplifying your bar’s social media presence at no cost to you.
Host a challenge: Chain taproom Old Chicago is well-known for its “World Beer Tour,” which challenges customers to taste each of its 110 beers on various visits and join its “Hall of Foam.” You could offer a similar challenge based on your bar or menu type. Take care to mention setting limits on how much a patron can be served on each visit to avoid overserving.
Reward loyalty: You could offer a traditional loyalty program, with points based on dollars spent and various reward levels. You could also keep a more informal list of loyal regulars and make sure to tell them first about any special events or promotions.
Support local artists: Decorate with art from local painters and hire local bands to play live. Local artists tend to have local followers, and the folks nearby are the ones who will pack your bar night after night.
Support community events: Donate gift cards or your own bartending services to support community fundraising events.
Hold competitions: Host friendly competitions like trivia nights or bartending competitions to draw crowds to your bar.
Host theme nights: Theme nights are a natural fit for bars of all types. A theme could be a party based on the era your bar opened, a commemoration of a local event, or a classic theme like a costume party for Halloween.
Host tastings: Tastings and sampling events are one way most bars can legally offer “free” alcohol. Talk to your spirits vendors to identify brands interested in partnerships. Many beer, wine, and spirits brands will happily send a couple of their own staff members or contractors to run the tasting. Wine bars can offer a more immersive tasting experience by partnering with a winemaker to offer flights, pairings, or new releases.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Marketing a bar is a multi-step process. These are the most common questions I hear from bar owners.

What is a bar’s target market?

A bar’s target market is the specific group of customers that the business aims to attract. This group can be identified based on location, demographics, and behavior; the size of the target market should be large enough to generate the necessary revenue for the bar to be successful.

How do you promote a small bar?

Marketing efforts for a small bar should focus on attracting local foot traffic and leveraging online presence to attract nearby clientele. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to market a small bar. If you offer a strong, recognizable concept, affordable drinks, and let customers know where (and when) to find you, that’s enough to market most small bars.

What types of marketing materials do bars need?

To support marketing efforts, bars need a strong online presence and a strong concept that connects with their target clientele. Branded merchandise like t-shirts, beer steins, mugs and koozies are also a good idea. A strong online presence– including a website, social media profiles, and business site profiles– is a strong foundation for marketing a bar.

Last Bite

It’s important to start bar marketing by identifying your target customer that matches your bar’s concept. Then, build a firm foundation of online profiles to help you communicate upcoming events and promotions that appeal to your regulars and help grow your clientele. Branded merchandise and smart special event promotions can help boost your profile. Once you draw customers in your door, keep them coming back by offering excellent service and inventive experiences.