If you don’t already know, The Rail Media, owners of The Daily Rail newsletter and SportsTV Guide, are in the email marketing business. So, when we assert that email is the most effective method to directly engage and excite your audience, it comes from a place of deep experience.

Engagement comes in a variety of forms and this post will describe a few different ways that email outshines other marketing efforts, as well as give you specific examples of promotions you can access to drive guest traffic and build loyalty.

Why Should Sports Bars Care About Email Marketing?

A woman sports fan sitting at the gym looking at her phone, reading an email marketing message from a sports bar

Let’s start with “why” email is more engaging than any other form of marketing. Simply put, no other medium allows you a back-and-forth conversation that can also happen at scale.

For example, the only way to even get seen by your Facebook or Instagram followers is to pay either platform to access them. With email, you own those addresses and therefore your only expense is the cost of your email marketing service.

Also, once someone has clicked through on a social post you have no other way to communicate with them directly without email.

So, why rely on a paid service that costs you for every eyeball you reach when you can send a direct message to contacts you own outright? This is just the beginning of why email marketing is a far better method for engaging guests than any other outlet through which you can market.

SportsTV Guide, email marketing for sports bars, special offer for STVG Subscribers

STVG HQ Lets You Engage Fans with Automated Gamification Campaigns

A football player trying to leap over another player while getting tackled.
SportsTVGuide HQ email marketing automation samples for sports bars and sports-themed restaurants.

Example email marketing campaign automations with STVG HQ

At The Rail, our expertise is specifically getting subscribers to engage with our content. As a result, we built STVG HQ an integrated customer relations management (CRM) program that allows our subscribers to truly engage with their guests but requires no special expertise on your part.

Here’s an example… with the NCAA and NFL football seasons only a couple of months away, you should be considering how you are going to engage football fans for a full season of live game action. To address that STVG HQ provides every subscriber with a Weekly Football Card program that engages guests in picking game winners every week.

All that is required of you is determine the prizing and choose a couple of subject lines for the emails that invite, update and remind the guest to participate weekly. Once the promotion is started, the CRM, using our workflow automation system, does the rest. The engagement is driven by gamification, but more importantly it allows you to communicate other messaging because the guest is consistently opening and reading your emails.

STVG HQ’s CRM Helps You Learn More About Your Guests

Sports fans in red jerseys and shirts enjoying beers at a local sports bar

However, gamification isn’t where CRM ends its value.

With STVG HQ, you can poll your email subscribers and determine which teams and sports are their favorites. This information can lead to multiple outcomes.

Individually, you can send guests a team specific invitation or a special offer when they visit your restaurant to watch their favorite play.

At a macro level, you will learn what teams and sports are most popular with your guests. This will identify marketing opportunities like capturing alumni watch events or special promotions for sports that guests are particularly passionate about.

STVG HQ is Built for Sports Bar Operators

Group of baseball fans cheering and celebrating while watching a game at a local sports bar.

No matter where you look for marketing support for your sports-themed restaurant or bar, there is nothing on the market that comes close to understanding your specific needs or delivering something relevant to your audience. This is why we built STVG HQ and why you need to consider moving your email marketing to our platform.

We promise you will instantly deliver great communications and improve your guest engagement.

BONUS: Special Offer to STVG Subscribers

Now through the end of the 2024, SportsTV Guide Subscribers can get UPGRADED Concierge Level marketing service (a $3600/year value) at Pro level pricing of just $150/month for 2500+ contacts. This includes your STVG subscription! Plus:

  • Complete technical setup, including migration of your email templates and contact list
  • Unique newsletter and single-send email template designs, exclusive to your brand
  • Base email campaign and design setup (birthday, reward programs, etc.)
  • Email marketing planning meetings with the STVG HQ staff
  • Prebuilt sports-themed promotions (March Madness, Weekly Football Cards, etc.)
  • Content creation for your email marketing and social campaigns

To learn more about STVG HQ and to schedule your free demo to see it action, visit here.