V-Day is four weeks away – are you getting hot and heavy with promotion planning? Valentine’s Day is a great chance for you to romance your bottom line with a stellar promotion, so make sure you do this now:
• Assess your crowd (or the crowd you’d like to have in your house). Are they singles looking to hook-up? Couples out on the town? Groups of friends? Once you target your audience, brainstorm promotions that speak to their romantic interests.
• Be a tease. Use social media to pique their interest via a carefully planned series of tweets or Facebook posts that give only a tantalizing detail of the planned promotion, leading up to a complete announcement/invitation two weeks before. In the early messages, invite recipients to respond for a chance to “win” something to enjoy the night of the promotion (a bottle of bubbly, a comp cocktail, chocolates, etc.); make sure your offer complies with regulations for promotions in your market.
• Start a flyer frenzy. Many people leave their Valentine’s Day plans to the last minute, so blitz your place and the local area with flyers promoting your romance-themed event.
• Get cozy with your bartender. Create a signature drink for the event, tapping into your vendor network for brand sponsors and support.
• Dare to be unromantic. Not everyone is in the mood for love (or so they say), so think about courting those who are anti-Valentine’s Day with a promotion that celebrates singlehood and watch the crowd gather.
As always, run the numbers to make sure that you're hosting a profitable promotion!