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About Justin Aucoin

Justin Aucoin is the Content Director for the SportsTV Guide, The Rail Media and NextRestaurants. He oversees the day-to-day content creation operations of all three websites. When not writing about the restaurant industry, he enjoys fencing and writing historical adventure tales.
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Modern In-House Marketing Tips for Sports Bars

A lot of sports bar operators spend most of their marketing efforts on trying to get new guests through their doors. And while it’s super important for growth, as an industry we sometimes forget that the best people to market to are the ones already in our seats. In fact, studies suggest that, depending on your industry, acquiring a new customer can cost five to seven times more than retaining an old one. So, it’s economical to put some energy into keeping guests coming back. If they’re enjoying your venue, other folks will hear about it. Your current guests are your most captivated audience. They’re already in your seats, enjoying your drinks, dishes, and atmosphere. Now’s the best time to market your sports bar’s upcoming events, specials, social media, or anything else you think is noteworthy. Let’s take a [...]

By |2023-05-02T10:52:45-04:00May 2nd, 2023|Sports Bar Marketing, Sports Bar Technology|0 Comments
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WANTED: STVG HQ Beta Testers

Join our beta-testing team and get free emailing marketing for a whole year! We’ve been saying it for years – email is your sports bar’s best marketing tool. You own those addresses and, unlike social media, no third-party is able to suppress you from your guests’ inbox. But a lot of email marketing services out there just don’t understand the restaurant and sports bar industry. We think sports bar operators deserve something more tailored and specific to their marketing needs. So, we’ve created the SportsTV Guide HQ (STVG HQ), our email marketing service built specifically for sports bars and restaurants. And we’re looking for some beta testers to give it a spin, so we can get it primed for a wider launch. STVG HQ Beta Features The STVG HQ is built to cover all your sports [...]

By |2023-04-06T12:34:50-04:00April 6th, 2023|Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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So, Who are Baseball’s Biggest Fans?

Last week, the 2023 MLB season began with new rules for players and new hope for fans everywhere. Many of these fans will be your sports bar’s main source of guests during the slower summer sports season, especially after the NBA and NHL playoffs wind down. But just who are these baseball fans and how can sports bars market and cater to them? Recently, Statista published several reports on the MLB and baseball fans. Let’s take a quick trot around the diamond to see who the average US baseball fan is. Baseball Fans are Old & Aging Fans of America’s pastime are old and only getting older, which might create a bit of a problem for the MLB down the road. As the following chart shows, Baby Boomers are, by far, the biggest baseball fans in the US. 65% of [...]

By |2023-04-03T10:53:42-04:00April 3rd, 2023|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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Download the 2023 March Madness TV Schedule

It's the most wonderful time of the year -- March Madness! The NCAA basketball tournament is one of the best three-week periods for any bar or restaurant who shows sports on their TVs. A total of 72 teams vying for supremacy in a one & done tournament format. On the men's side, the action starts on Tuesday, March 14th as Southeast Missouri State takes on Texas A&M, and Pittsburgh takes on Mississippi State in the first Play to Get In rounds. Fairleigh Dickinson faces Texas Southern, and Nevada against Arizona State for the two remaining Play-In spots. All four of those games take place on truTV. For the women's tourney, their Play to Get In games start on Wednesday March 15th with Mississippi State vs. Illinois, and Sacred Heart against Southern. Both on ESPNU. Then on Wednesday, St. John's takes [...]

By |2023-03-14T15:12:46-04:00March 13th, 2023|Sports TV Schedule|0 Comments
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3 Undervalued Sports Your Sports Bar Should Be Showing

The NFL. NBA. MLB. NCAA. The NHL and even the MLS. We’re pretty sure your sports bar has these leagues in heavy rotation on your TVs. And so does every other sports bar around the country. So, what makes your bar stand out from the rest? One way is to show sports and games your competitors either are incapable of showing or not willing to show. There’s a myriad of other professional leagues out there, and the increased ability of streaming games online has made it even easier for sports bars to give their guests something unique to watch. Here are three leagues and sports we think sports bars should start showing on their TVs on the regular. It’s by no means an exhaustive list, but hopefully it’ll start as a springboard for elevating your business to something more than [...]

By |2024-01-09T12:22:12-05:00March 6th, 2023|Alternate Sports Programming, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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Overview of the ERTC for Sports Bars

To say the restaurant industry took a wallop during the sweeping COVID-19 shutdowns is putting it lightly. That may be doubly so for sports bars who had no games to show, no guests to entertain, and were less likely to have a pre-existing delivery program already in place. We felt the strain and no doubt you felt it, too. So, if you’re still open and operating, congrats! You weathered one helluva storm. And you deserve a little help and reward for navigating those rough seas. And, amazingly, the Federal government agrees, which is why they implemented the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC) program. GET YOUR FREE CONSULT What is the ERTC? https://youtu.be/yYEcC8RgK88 The ERTC is a refundable credit that businesses can claim on qualified wages, including certain health insurance costs, paid to employees. It was designed to incentivize companies to [...]

By |2023-02-24T13:53:39-05:00February 24th, 2023|Sports Bar Management|0 Comments
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Tips for Cross Promoting Events at Your Sports Bar

Be it a watch party, eSports event, or just showing the local, big games, for it to be successful you need bodies in your seats. And like anything, folks can’t come to it if they don’t know it’s happening. With upheaval in social media recently making getting the message out there dicey, sports bar operators should expand how they’re promoting their bar and events. One way is to cross-promote your events. In this context, cross-promotion is getting the word out about one event you’re running through another event you’re already running and have an audience for. This way you don’t need to build interest from a standstill but can take the momentum from event into the next. Here are a few ideas to get you going. It Starts with Your Email Email is one of your sports bar’s most powerful [...]

By |2022-11-08T09:11:39-05:00November 8th, 2022|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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6 Alternative Ways to Market Your Sports Bar

According to one report, there are 70,000 bars in the US, and more than 1,200 label themselves as a sports bar. But make no mistake, any bar is a sports bar as long as they’re showing sports on their TVs. And that makes them a direct competitor to you. Great service and a fantastic fan-friendly atmosphere are obvious ways of winning over fans and guests in the long-term. But, short-term, you still need a plan to get new bodies at your bar tops before you can turn them into regulars. The key to that is marketing. And while you should continue to work through your digital marketing campaigns, operators should also try to think of creative, outside-the-box ways of promoting their business and getting in new guests. To get you started, here are six alternative ways of marketing your sports [...]

By |2022-10-18T09:58:11-04:00October 18th, 2022|Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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Which Sports Do Americans Follow?

For years, we’ve been saying the number one reason why sports fans come to visit your bar is to watch sports. But which sports? Unless you’ve polled your own guests or done some sales vs. games analysis, you’re probably running more on gut instinct. Instinct is good, but instinct backed with some data is even better. Recently, Statista ran a survey with American sports fans on what professional sports they follow. Mind you, what the national average is might not match up with what happens locally, so definitely do your own due diligence, but this info is a nice starting point. You will find more infographics at Statista Football is King Unsurprisingly, football remains America’s favorite sport to watch, dominating the survey with 75% favorability among the survey participants. And while just having the games available to show will bring [...]

By |2022-08-31T09:48:47-04:00August 31st, 2022|Guest Management, Sports Bar Management|0 Comments
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3 Ways Sports Bars Can Shore Up Their Slow Nights

With the end of the NBA Finals and NHL Stanley Cup Finals comes a dearth of mainstream sports to show. Sports bar operators are basically down to just baseball for nightly and weekend events, plus golf and tennis on the weekends. As a result, the summer can be a little slow for sports bars. But it doesn’t have to be. It just takes a little thinking outside the box and a little research. In this post, we’ll look at three ways to minimize sports bars' slow nights, plus how to market these ideas to make sure guests come visit. Show Non-Mainstream Sports Since the summer tends to be low on traffic-driving gimmes like the NFL and NBA, sports bar operators need to look outside the norm to bring in new sports fans and get regulars back during the off season. [...]

By |2022-07-20T10:35:31-04:00July 20th, 2022|Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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Look Beyond the NFL to Win Over Guests & Fans

The recent AFC and NFC Championship Games saw an unequal pair of teams emerge victorious, as tens of millions of Americans watched the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs book their ticket for Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on February 2. While the 49ers are Super Bowl regulars with six appearances and five wins, the Chiefs have only made it to the Super Bowl two times, with their last appearance (and only win) dating back to 1970. While baseball is often referred to as “America’s pastime,” the NFL has long surpassed the MLB as the nation’s favorite professional sports league. For several reasons, including first and foremost its better suitability for television, football flew by baseball as Americans’ favorite sport to watch in the 1960s and hasn’t looked back since. If anything, [...]

By |2022-06-07T13:19:32-04:00January 23rd, 2020|Alternate Sports Programming|0 Comments
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The Gap Between Sports Bars & Showing Women’s Sports

According to a Nielsen research study, 84% of sports fans are interested in watching women’s sports. But are sports bars taking advantage of that fandom? We polled our subscribers of The Daily Rail newsletter and the SportsTV Guide (all sports bar & restaurant owners, operators and managers), to find out that answer. Most Sports Bars Show Women’s Sports The good news is that sports bar operators and owners are taking advantage of the women’s sports fanbase. The majority of sports bar operators (82%) said they show women’s sports at their bar or restaurant. How often varies greatly in the industry, however. A third of sports bars reported showing women’s sports several times per week while another third said they only show women’s sports a handful of times per year. Fewer than a quarter of sports bar (22%) reported that they [...]

By |2022-06-07T13:38:33-04:00June 26th, 2019|Alternate Sports Programming, Guest Management, Sports TV News|0 Comments
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