How to Create ‘Stickier’ Customers in 4 Easy Steps

You want “sticky” customers. No, not customers who have doused themselves in honey or glue, but those who continue to return, whether that’s for wing night, game night or just to enjoy a meal with friends or family. Retaining your bar’s guests is generally cheaper than acquiring new ones, so it’s important to have a robust retention strategy. If you’re thinking about creating a new strategy or modifying your sports bar’s current retention strategy, look no further than this blog post. We’ll walk you through four steps to get you closer to the perfect plan of action. Enroll Patrons in Loyalty Programs Loyalty programs are a great way to keep people coming to your sports bar. What’s great about loyalty programs is that you don’t need to have a complicated, digital solution! If you want to get started right away, [...]

4 Ways to Engage Your Guests Longer

Table turnover is a tricky business. You don’t want to rush anyone out the door before they’ve made their last purchase, but you shouldn’t let them stay so long that you lose waiting parties to another venue. However, there are times you want to keep diners around just a little bit longer. With the right combination of entertainment and on-screen messaging, you can do just that — without sacrificing revenue. Let’s take a look at four ways your sports bar can keep guests and fans in their seats longer. Offer Compelling Entertainment We’re probably preaching to the choir here (after all, you’re reading this on the SportsTV Guide’s blog), but good entertainment is a great way to get diners to stick around longer — especially if you’re broadcasting a big game. Even if diners don’t stay the full length of [...]

4 Ways to Grow Your Customer Base

When it comes to marketing, complacency means stagnation, and stagnation means no new customers. No sports bar wants to see their customer base dry up. That means that even after you have a core group of regulars, you have to continue marketing to bring in new customers. So, how do you do that? For starters, keep doing what you did to get those regulars. What worked once will work again. But if you want some fresh ideas, keep reading. Generate More Reviews For many sports bars, reviews function as critical drivers of customer acquisition. A high percentage of positive reviews attracts more business for you — but getting those reviews can be incredibly difficult. The best moment to ask for a review is when the experience is still fresh — and you can use your TVs to make your request. [...]

4 Ways Sports Bars Can Leverage Sports During COVID-19

The NRA just reported that over 100,000 restaurants have remained closed during the pandemic. That is a startling statistic and should scare you into action. The good news is that sports-themed operators have survived better than most in our industry, and sports remains an authentic call-to-action for guests to visit your restaurants. Which is why it’s time to double down on your marketing of the sports viewing experience you provide. Below we outline four strategies to improve your sports experience marketing and grow during these impossible times. Market Off-Premise Tailgate Packages Never before has off-premise dining been more important to your business. This is why sports can be a serious advantage for marketing your carryout menus. With the four major North American sports and NCAA football all in play right now, there is ample opportunity for guests to celebrate a [...]

By |2022-06-07T12:49:06-04:00September 15th, 2020|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments

Host the Ultimate Game Watch Party for Your Fan Club

By Nathan Hirsch & Symon Perriman It’s the big day --  GAMEDAY!!! You’ve done all of this hard work to find an ideal team and grow their local fan club chapter. Now you need to host those fans coming to cheer on their team and give them a stadium-like experience that will keep them coming back for more. Here’s how to do that from FanWide’s Guide to Starting and Growing a Fan Club in your Sports Bar. Do a Systems Check The most important thing is making sure that everyone can enjoy the game, so feature it on the best TVs and you must include audible sound. Test the channel in advance, especially if you are streaming the game over the Internet. If the Internet quality is questionable, switch off any non-essential Wi-Fi so that the public is not consuming [...]

How to Start a New Fan Club Chapter at Your Sports Bar

By Nathan Hirsch & Symon Perriman If you have read our last two posts in FanWide’s Guide to Starting and Growing a Fan Club in your Sports Bar then you are ready for the big moment -- officially creating or finding your local fan club. You’ve picked the best league and identified a few target teams. But just before you just directly ask the fan club chapter to host their events at your bar, we want to coach you up on the different organizational structures for collegiate alumni associations and professional sports fan clubs to help you increase your chances of landing your first fan community. Finding a College Sports Fan Club If you want to focus on college teams, you will want to seek the approval from the alumni association to be an officially sanctioned event. You can be [...]

Finding the Right Team for Your Sports Bar

By Nathan Hirsch & Symon Perriman Welcome back to our second installment in FanWide’s Guide to Starting and Growing a Fan Club in your Sports Bar. Now that you have picked the best sports league to target for the upcoming season, the next step is finding the right sports team for your sports bar. Sure, you are saying “I already have one in mind that I really want.” But just in case, we want to give you a checklist to make sure that it really is the right fit for your bar. Which Sports Fan Clubs Need a Home? First, find those untapped fan club opportunities in your city. Don’t be the hundredth bar to host the city’s local team (unless it is for the playoffs or a championship, then that’s understandable) beit-mirkahat.com. FanWide.com can help you see which fan [...]

Choosing the Right Sports & Fan Clubs for Your Sports Bar

By Nathan Hirsch & Symon Perriman So, you want to host a fan club for a popular sports team at your bar? In this six-part series we are enlisting the help of our friends at FanWide.com to walk you through how to put on the best game viewing party for a sports fan club at your establishment. FanWide’s Guide to Starting and Growing a Fan Club in your Sports Bar will give a 360-degree view on all the best practices that result in a thriving watch party revenue stream. Some of the topics we will cover include, knowing the sports seasons & schedules, picking the best fan club for your restaurant, how to convince fan clubs to choose your bar as their new home base, best practices for promoting your new fan club, hosting great gameday events, and how to [...]

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 [...]

Creating the Perfect College Basketball Menu Experience

Sponsored by the maker of Tyson Red Label® Wings Since its expansion to the field of 64 in 1985, the Men’s College Basketball Tournament has become one of the most popular and successful sporting events in the nation. Now with four additional play-in games, the 68 teams play a total of 67 games over the course of three weeks. The hype and fever surrounding the tournament is infectious, spreading to office pools, friendly wagers, and campus rallies throughout the country. For bars and restaurants, this can represent a steady stream of revenue in an otherwise slow time of year. Professional football has recently wrapped its season up, while professional basketball and hockey are playing out their final regular weeks before the playoffs begin. The excitement around the basketball tournament fills this gap and can bring in a slew of new [...]

Team-Themed Chicken Wing Recipes to Attract NHL Fans

It’s autumn, which means one thing: football. Right? Wrong. If your marketing program is putting all of its eggs in the Saturday/Sunday basket then you’re likely missing out on a few market segments, including hockey fans. Having spent a number of years running some of Boston’s busiest sports bars, I can tell you that hockey fans are extremely loyal -- not only to their favorite teams but also to an establishment that goes out of their way to make them feel special. Sure, you can do big numbers with the football crowd, but that’s once or twice a week for four months. Hockey is every night of the year from October to June. One method that always ingratiated our restaurants to hockey fan clubs was to give them a little something specific to their team of choice. An easy way [...]

By |2022-06-08T09:11:04-04:00December 3rd, 2018|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments

3 Tricks to Increase Sports Bars’ Online Reviews

By Jeff Quinn, RepCheckup Our favorite athletes need to think about their reputation when it comes to signing bigger contracts and sponsorships/endorsements. It comes down to more than just physical attributes; but it is also their reputation off the field too. They need to make sure they are reviewed in a good light by fans and critics. The same applies to sports bars, which need to make sure that regulars and newcomers alike have a reason to come to your location. In today’s blog, we’re going to talk about how you can increase your bar’s online review backlog to give people even more of a reason to come to your sports bar. Why Online Reviews Matter for Sports Bars Many people think online reviews only apply to fancy restaurants, hotels, and service or retail businesses. The truth is that online [...]

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