Focus on Nightlife

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.

Many nightclubs have become the chameleons of the nightlife scene. From one night to the next, entire venues can go from a strobing, house-party feel to a laid back, lounge-type aesthetic. Venues that work this way can generate big line-ups and drive huge revenues but they may also run into problems. While the vibe of the club is constantly changing, so are the faces. It’s harder than ever to get to know your customers when many of them may only visit twice a month for an eighties-themed night or come in just to see their friend DJ on the odd night. Customer loyalty goes down because people are coming for the theme and could care less about the venue.

On the flip side is the tried and true establishment - think Cheers (without the laugh track) - where customers can go when they’re looking for a comfortable, no-frills evening. Many people out there love to be in a place where they know the owner and guests by name, the menu stays relatively constant and you don’t have to worry about getting hit in the eye by a confetti cannon being run by an entertainment company’s newest employee. Here, getting to know your customers is easy and you can usually count on their continuing patronage. The big difference is sheer numbers but having a loyal customer-base can be a justifiable trade-off to always hosting rotating, theme-driven events.

So how does a nightclub wanting to keep their image strike a good balance? There are a few different solutions. One idea is to try out some events that don’t infringe on your current clientele’s tastes but broaden your club’s appeal to a larger crowd. Also, it never hurts to hire promoters who can tailor their efforts to make sure you’re not stepping on toes. While you don’t need to rely solely on themed-nights, there are many types of “spin” you can use to give yourself an excuse to promote.