FAQ: Reaching your market
I serve good beer, good food and it's a great atmosphere, surely that's a good enough reason for people to come to my pub?
People have less time but more money at the moment and there are an increasing number of ways to spend both.
While supermarkets, fast-food chains, cinemas and retail restaurant brands all spend significant amounts of cash on national TV, press and poster advertising in an attempt to lure the so-called "leisure pound" their way, licensees are pretty much on their own when it comes to advertising and marketing their pub.
There is little generic advertising or marketing that promotes the British pub as an unfailing source of pleasure - that is, of course, if you disregard CAMRA's recent National Pub Week, so pubs need to take the initiative.
I don't have a marketing degree, so where do I start? Before embarking on a convoluted all singing and all dancing marketing strategy, licensees should familiarise themselves with drinkers in the pub and find out what they want from a night out to ensure that what you shout about is worth shouting about.
Rather than trying to be all things to all drinkers, a pub needs to identify what the marketers call a "unique selling point" - in other words, the reason people will come to that particular pub at that particular time.
Once this is established, make sure your message underlines the pub's strengths and gives people a clear reason to pay a visit.
How do I get inside the minds of my prospective customers?
Licensees trying to convince a specific set of consumers, who are continually bombarded by advertising and marketing messages, that their pub is the best place to part with hard earned cash is a tall order but reaching them, while keeping existent ones happy, is an essential requirement for a successful business.
It is important to know what makes your supposed "target audience" tick. For example, if you're looking to get notoriously elusive and fickle 18 to 25-year-olds into the pub, it's worth keeping abreast of the latest films, music releases and fashions to ensure that what you're offering and the way you offer it is relevant to them.
With this in mind, it is also a good idea to look at opportunities to tailor generic or national activity, such as the recent Comic Relief appeal, to your pub. This will give your pub a necessary "hook" when it comes to advertising and marketing your venue and you can benefit from the publicity seeking efforts of others.
Without millions to spend, how can I successfully spread the word?
When it comes to pricking up the ears of potential pub-goers, the more adventurous will look beyond the traditional in-outlet posters or chalk boards and turn to a variety of ways to gain publicity.
The local press, be it radio, newspaper or regional television, is an invaluable route to your market and can be exploited in other ways than plain advertising, which is beyond the financial means of most licensees.
Local media will be far more interested in what the pub is up to if there's a newsworthy or quirky story to go with it so don?t be afraid to indulge in a bit of PR to get some free publicity and maybe even you picture in the paper.
What else could I do?
Why not coax drinkers into the pub via the power of the internet, email or text message? There are a number of SMS text messaging companies, such as Diageo's Nightfly, which can provide access to hundreds of pub goers in a particular area in return for a relatively small fee.
Licensees can also build up a database of their own and alert a bespoke audience to a quiz, promotion or theme night at the touch of a button.
