Planning a promotion is time-consuming, but the return on your investment is a crowded bar and ringing register. To help you get a serious jump on this crucial work, we’ve assembled our 2013 Promotion Planning Guide, including a calendar of events and holidays around which you can build sales-sparking promotions and some expert how-to advice.
With this guide and calendar in hand, along with continuous updates on Nightclub.com, you’ll be armed with ideas to attract crowds every day of the year! The more you plan, the easier and more successful your promotions will become.
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The key is to plan ahead, way ahead. A highly successful promotion needs more than a few days of thought and execution behind it. You should have a minimum of six promotions a year. Now, that’s a minimum. If you have the bandwidth to create more, shoot for once a month – it’s easier when you have a plan in place. To be in a position to produce an effective promotion for your venue you must first:
Go Back: Take a step back and objectively review the promotions that you executed over the past year. Analyze why successful promotions drove traffic to your business. Also evaluate what didn’t work so that you don’t make those same mistakes again. Sometimes a great idea fails because it was executed on at the wrong time or to the wrong audience. With a little adjusting it could be a winner the second time around. But, you want to make sure that you do your homework before reinventing a failed promotion. Make sure to look at your ROI and get feedback from staff and regulars. Ask yourself what you learned last year and how can you apply what you learned to this year.
Dig for Data: Highly overlooked but one of the most important factors to a well-executed promotion is data-gathering. So hit the streets and research the competition. What are they doing now and what has been successful for them in the past? In addition, you need to find out what supports your promotion. This includes trends, new flavors, products and industry news. Look at major metropolitan areas like New York and Las Vegas for points that support your promotion.
Money: It is imperative that before you begin the planning process you decide on what your budget for the promotion is. You don’t want to launch a promotion and find out half way through that your ROI isn’t compensating for the money you are putting into the promotion. You need to make sure you decide how much you should spend, when to spend it and how to spend it. In general terms, you should allocate a portion of your revenues toward promotions. Promotional spend varies from venue to venue; therefore, you need to determine what works best for your budget. If you’re a new venue budget more.
Outreach: You need to give thought as to the right blend of outreach. Each type of promotion has a distinct function and should complement your overall brand. It’s always best to make sure that you have a variety of outlets rather than overloading one specific source. Make sure to use both modern and traditional forms of marketing to get your guest interested in your promotions.
Sponsors: What you ultimately need to ask yourself before reaching out to potential sponsors is “Would I invest in this idea?” The proposition needs to be beneficial on both ends. Before diving in head first it’s best to be prepared with statistics [i.e. 10% increase of sales volume, x amount of cases are needed, said amount of sponsored marketing materials]. If you’re well-organized and can deliver results, sponsors will be lining up to work with you.
Promo Calendar: A well thought out promotional calendar helps to maximize the impact of your dollars over the year. Look though our 2013 Calendar, then open your own and mark start dates, for when your planning will begin, and launch dates for the promotions that you want to capitalize on in the coming year.
Execution: If you want to stand out from your competition you must be different! A great promotion means nothing if you can’t execute, so make sure your staff is fully prepared and don’t spare any details. Designate someone from your staff to drive the promotion. Then provide them with a Promotional Execution Guide. Include the following:
- What — A summary of the promotion and goal(s).
- When — Pertinent “headline” dates (start, end, contest dates, finals, etc.).
- Who — Who is doing what and by what date? Sponsorships, POS materials, drink development, running the contest (if there is one)/contest rules, media, staff, food, etc.
- FAQ — Think of all of the things a customer or server may ask and make sure you have an answer. Can someone reserve a table? If so, who and how? Who handles reservations, and is there a special reservation list? Is there an employee incentive? How does it work? What are the prizes? Are there food specials? What are they? A FAQ list can be hung on the employee bulletin board or attached to paychecks to make sure everyone is aware of the event as well as when and how it works for staff and guests.
Make sure to check in with the appointed staff member in order to keep them on track and provide them with the proper support to ensure success.
Track and Follow-up: All of the effort put into your promotion means nothing if you cannot track the results. Did you meet the 10% increase you planned? If so, reward the individuals that contributed. If not, find out why and discuss how to make it better. Schedule a post-promotion meeting where you can discuss what went right or wrong and evaluate the overall program.
January 
National Thank You Month
National Blood Donor Month
January 1
National Bloody Mary Day
New Year’s Day
January 4
National Trivia Day
January 7
NCAA BCS Championship Game
January 11
National Hot Toddy Day
January 19
National Popcorn Day
January 21
Martin Luther King Day
January 23
Chinese New Year
January 24
Beer Can Appreciation Day
January 25
National Irish Coffee Day
February 
American Heart Month
Black History Month
Great American Pie Month
February 2
Groundhog Day
February 3
NFL Super Bowl Sunday
February 11
National Make a Friend Day
February 14
Valentine’s Day
February 15
Singles Awareness Day
February 18
Drink Wine Day
February 20
President’s Day
February 21
Mardi Gras
February 22
National Margarita Day
February 27
National Kahlua Day
March 
National Irish American Heritage Month
National Nutrition Month
National Women's History Month
Red Cross Month
March 2
Employee Appreciation Day
March 3
National Mulled Wine Day
March 8
International (Working) Women’s Day
March 10
Daylight Savings Begins
March 16
Freedom of Information Day
March 17
St. Patrick’s Day
National Green Beer Day
March 19 - 21
Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show
March 20
Spring Begins
March 29
National Mom and Pop Business Owners’ Day,
March 31
Easter
April
National Humor Month
National Food Month
Alcohol Awareness Month
April 1
April Fool’s Day
April 6 – 8
March Madness Final Four
April 7
World Health Day
Holocaust Remembrance Day
National Beer Day
April 13
Scrabble Day
April 19
Amaretto Day
April 20
Food Day
April 22
Earth Day
May
National Barbecue Month
National Hamburger Month
National Salad Month
May 5
Cinco de Mayo
May 6
Beverage Day
May 8
World Red Cross Day
May 12
Mother’s Day
May 13
World Cocktail Day
May 16
Wear Purple for Peace Day
May 18
Armed Forces Day
World Whiskey Day
May 21
National Waiters and Waitresses Day
May 25
National Wine Day
May 27
Memorial Day
June
National Iced Tea Month
National LGBT Pride Month
June 3
National Donut Day
June 4
Hipster Beer Day
National Cognac Day
June 5
World Environment Day
June 6
NBA Finals Begin
June 8
Name Your Poison Day
June 10
National Iced Tea Day
June 14
Flag Day
National Bourbon Day
June 19
National Martini Day
June 21
Summer Begins
June 29
Tour De France
July
National Anti-Boredom Month
National Hot Dog Month
National Ice Cream Month
July 1
International Joke Day
July 2
National Anisette Day
July 4
Independence Day
July 5
Bikini Debut: 67th Anniversary
July 10
National Pina Colada Day
July 14
National Grand Marnier Day
July 16
Ice Cream Sundae Day,
July 19
National Daiquiri Day
July 20
First of Ramadan
July 23
National Hot Dog day
July 24
National Tequila Day
July 27
National Scotch Day
August 
Family Fun Month
National Golf Month
August 8 – 11
PGA Championship
August 1
National Girlfriend Day (Girls)
August 2
National IPA Day
August 4
US Coast Guard Day
August 5
International Beer Day
August 12
Vinyl Record Day,
August 16
National Rum Day
August 19
National Aviation Day
August 25
National Whiskey Sour Day
August 26
US Open (Tennis) Begins
September 
Hispanic Heritage Month
National Piano Month
California Wine Month
September (TBA)
NFL Opening Day
September 2
Labor Day
September 4
Rosh Hashanah
September 11
9/11 Remembrance Day
Patriot day
September 14
Yom Kippur
September 15
National Crème de Menthe Day
September 16
Mexican Independence Day
Rum Day
September 18
National Cheeseburger Day
September 20
National Rum Punch Day
September 21
International Day of Peace
Oktoberfest Begins
September 22
Autumn Begins
September 25
National One Hit Wonder Day
September 28
National Drink a Beer Day
September 30
National Mulled Cider Day
October
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Domestic Violence Awareness Month
National Pizza Month
October (TBA)
MLB World Series
October 1
World Vegetarian Day
October 4
Vodka Day
October 5
World Teacher’s Day
October 7
World Smile Day
October 14
Columbus Day
October 16
World Food Day
National Bosses Day
October 24
United Nations Day
October 25
World Pasta Day
October 27
Navy Day
October 31
Halloween
November
Aviation History Month
Native American Heritage Month
Peanut Butter Lovers Month
November 1
All Saints Day
November 4
Islamic New Year
November 5
Election Day
November 11
Veterans’ Day
November 12
Happy Hour day
November 14
National Spicy Guacamole Day
November 21
Great American Smokeout
November 24
National Espresso Day
November 26
National Cake Day
November 28
Thanksgiving Day
November 29
Black Friday
December
Bingo Month
National Fruit Cake Month
National Eggnog Month
December 1
World AIDS day
December 4
National Cookie Day
December 5
Repeal Day (end of Prohibition)
Hanukkah Ends
December 7
International Civil Aviation day
Pearl Harbor Day
December 8
National Bartender Appreciation Day
December 10
National Lager Day
December 15
Bill of Rights Day
December 20
National Sangria Day
December 21
Winter Solstice
National Hamburger Day
December 24
National Eggnog Day
Christmas Eve
December 25
Christmas
December 26
Kwanzaa Begins
December 31
New Year’s Eve
National Champagne Day