Focus on Nightlife

Venue: Foxtail

Location: 9077 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069

Hollywood’s Foxtail opened earlier this year under the direction of Sam Nazarian and Brent Bolthouse, two of the West Coast’s most well-known nightlife personalities. SBE Entertainment’s newest spot has been called “a supper club for the next generation” by the LA Times.

The owners opted to split the venue into two distinct spaces. On the main floor, Foxtail operates a dining section that serves traditional European Bistro meals well into the night. For the clubbers, a darker upstairs serves as a lounge with a 1920’s vibe.

With the advent of social-networking, blogging, and straight email marketing, the value of physical flyering as a form of advertising has certainly come into question. Is the labor, cost, and time of distributing flyers still worthwhile? Is the age-old method still effective? If you’re a club owner or a promotional manager, you should know that the answer is yes.

Many clubs have embraced technology as the new way to get the masses to their venues. Facebook events have become a staple for effective promotions. Potential customers can get online, RSVP, discuss, and even add photos related to your club’s events. Today, if you impress an influential blogger with your lavish venue, you can reach thousands of people. Just take a look at Down By The Hipster, an NYC nightlife blog run by Scott Solish. Hundreds of daily readers visit the site for info on New York’s hottest clubs and a good chunk of the content is provided by reader tips. You can’t ignore the effectiveness of the net as a promotional tool - but is it the be all and end all of advertising?

The fact is that online communications will never replace the direct method of passing out and posting flyers. Let’s get one thing straight: dedicated clubbers don’t spend their nights on Facebook, chatting (does IRC even still exist? Google thinks so), or scouring Flickr for pictures of digital flyers. They’re walking the walk amongst the nightlife crowd. This fact alone puts value in flyering. You’re target market will definitely be walking past (or hopefully right into) your club tonight.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, here are some tips for managing your flyer distribution:

• You can use a generic template for flyers if you want to save money and get flyers out on a regular basis. It’s good advertising for slower nights and it gets the name of your club right out on the street.
• For large scale events you should put some money into a good graphic artist. You can’t argue that an attractive flyer won’t attract eyeballs.
• If you manage your own promotions, get your staff to distribute close to the club. It doesn’t take long and can easily be implemented as a regular task for bar opening.
• To extend your flyering radius, hire trustworthy high school or college students. Payment can be a low fee or free tickets to a club event if they’re of age.
• Track flyers. It’s easy to find out if that “trustworthy” kid lives up to his or her description by quickly passing by a random spot you had on their target list.
• Use tracking codes to find out who worked hard at passing out handbills and offer them incentives for keeping it up.
• Stay on good (or great) terms with your neighbors - offer them a free drink at your club. You can’t beat the effectiveness of a big flyer in a nearby storefront’s window.

While the cost of flyering can be a larger marketing expense than free online methods, you should never underestimate how beneficial a well-placed flyer can be.

Here’s a quick tip for bar owners and goers in New York City. Brothers Eric and Will Stephens have cataloged 364 beer menus and 1625 types of beer at beermenus.com, a site that allows bar owners to easily add their club’s entire beer list. The result is a handy tool for NYC’s beer enthusiasts who are looking to find venues that serve their favorite drinks.

Nightclub and bar owners would be wise to jump on this type of initiative. Getting a free online company listing that targets your exact market is only the start. Savvy owners will get the most out of researching types of beer that other venues are offering, as well as comparing price tags.

Here’s a tool that can instantly tell thousands of your customers what is happening at your club and it only takes about three seconds. Twitter is an online service, thought up by Jack Dorsey, that tells your friends, co-workers and “followers” what you are doing in 140 characters or less. You can post and receive comments via mobile texting, instant messages, or the web.

So how does this work for a nightclub owner? It’s all about getting the word out. Post some flyers near the door saying “Follow [your club name] on Twitter” with a link to your Twitter updates. While customers wait in line they can instantly join your updates with their mobile device. If your club has an online reservation form or just a contact page, you can add your information there too.

Updating your status to say “queue jump for Twitter users” or Guinness price drop” is sure to send more customers your way.