6 simple marketing efforts to try in the new year

Earlier this year we talked with Rob Austin from Chicago's Leader Bar about restaurant marketing.

With the new year coming in hot I thought it'd be helpful to revisit one of the most interesting clips from that interview. In it he quickly reels off a list of marketing irons he's currently got in the fire at Leader Bar. The great thing is they're things almost anyone can do in just a few simple steps.

So here they are, all of which you could quickly get started up in the new year:

• Physical media: mailers and card drops around the neighborhood. You or a team member could spend a few minutes in Canva and come out with something more than serviceable. Or if you want something a little nicer, you could use something like 99 Designs, a marketplace where you can hire affordable designers for one-off design projects.
• Ticket/swag giveaways and raffles if you come in during certain times. Get some tickets to the baseball game and let folks know if they come in from 2pm to 6pm on Wednesday they can join the raffle for free.
• Partnerships with distributors. They can of course promote you. Don't be shy about asking them to do so, especially since they have a lot more resources at their disposal than you do. (My editorial opinion: think about how much you're paying your distributors each month—you deserve some extra attention.) Rob partnered up with one of his distributors to get promoted at an MLB game.
• Incentivize customers to post to social media about their experience at the bar so their friends will see it. The incentives Rob uses include swag giveaways and a significant discount off your visit. This doesn't have to be complicated—at Leader Bar servers or bartenders just have the customer show them the post and then apply the discount on the POS.
• Build an email list for email marketing. There are obviously different ways to do this. Rob got a free wi-fi up and running that requires an email submission for customers to use. You could also set up a signup form on your website or even a pop up that greets folks when they enter your site or when your site senses that they're leaving. Contact your website builder for how to do that—almost all of them offer these tools.
• Be very intentional with your QR menu —> website menu flow: you're getting thousands of people to your website if you use a QR code. Show them what you want them to see there, like upcoming events, etc. (We'll have an entire week dedicated to this later this summer.)

Editorializing a bit, the thing about Rob is he's always looking for new things to try, new channels to use. I was struck by how many new things he said he was trying or was about to try.

Also of note: You'll notice that Rob's found particular success with "set it and forget it" things. The website, their QR menu flow, and his email list building are good examples of this—it takes some real effort to get those things up and running, but once you do they're just going and going. They of course need upkeep here and there, but you don't need do constantly "do" them like so many other marketing efforts. That's super valuable.

Check out the interview clip for more detail from Rob on these marketing efforts:

I've heard a lot of rumbling about how IPAs are fading. I've experienced some of that as well, as I find myself ordering more and more pilsners. But you wouldn't know it just looking at this list: most slots are occupied by some of the country's best IPA makers.

Source: This list is based on data from BeerMenus.com.

5. Trillium Brewing Company - Boston, MA

No surprises at all here. One of the most well known and sought-after IPA makers in the country.

4. Maine Beer Company - Freeport, ME

The makers of the famed Lunch and Dinner, this sought-after brewery routinely turns up near the top of these lists.

3. The Alchemist - Stowe, VT

The Alchemist made NE-style IPAs a thing with their world renowned Heady Topper (which will surely turn up in next week's round up of the most popular beers of 2022). And even with the million and a half NE/hazy IPAs out there, it still holds its own.

2. Yuengling Brewing Company - Pottsville, PA

One of these breweries is not like the other. And it's Yunegling. Amidst 4 of the most famous east coast IPA makers Yuengling holds its own, likely because of it's early 2023 expansion to KS, MO, and OK—more people were looking for it because all of a sudden more people could get it, and not just from their dad's friend who went to Florida.

1. Tree House Brewing Company - Charlton, MA

Another well-known NE IPA maker from the northeast. Another totally unsurprising appearance on this list. Their most famous beer, Julius, used to be a fixture in beer trades from coast to coast.

📢 Coming to your inbox in next week's Brave New Bar newsletter: the most popular beers of 2023!

❓ Why should I do it?

Imagine this world: your customers order their beers as soon as the server/bartender arrives. No samples, no back-and-forth. Customers just order.

That’s the world you can have if your Print Menus include full beer info. It equips customers with all the info they need to make a decision, leading to much faster order times.

Time savings is always helpful in general, but speeding up order times helps in some key ways:

• Incrementally increase sales (more customers have more time for a 2nd round)
• Turn over tables more quickly
• Make life easier for staff

❓ How can I do it?

You could do this manually. Google the beers you serve, copy what you need, and drop it into your menu document.

• This article from Twin Cities Business is a good summary of not just Minnesota craft beer's experience over the last year, but of the industry in general. Takehome: the industry is maturing after growing at breakneck speed for years and years. And that means more closures than we've seen, but we're still seeing about an equal number of brewery openings.
• A group of former Anchor Brewing employees is still trying to bring the beer back from the dead after Sapporo closed it over the summer. The brand assets are currently up for auction. Stay tuned.
• Ohio legalized recreational marijuana, but you can't use it or sell it in places with a liquor license. Not suprirsing or unusual, but the way the original law was written that fact was not made abundantly clear. Get that language nailed down, folks!