Category Archives: Marketing

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

3 Ways to Increase Revenue in 2015 Through Marketing

It’s a new year of possibilities, and a great time to identify which areas in your nightclub could use some improvements. We asked several venues we work with what they’re looking to improve on in 2015, and many great answers tumbled through. But one common and surprising theme was to improve marketing efforts.


Marketing is one of the last thought-of areas in today’s nightlife landscape. While our consumers are digitally savvy and looking to be talked with through their everyday channels of communication, nightclubs are still incredibly primitive, relying on flyers and mass messaging. It comes as no surprise that this area is one that needs improvement, but it does surprise me that so many owners identified it as an area of weakness.


The best thing you can do for your marketing efforts is learn how to use marketing segmentation to your advantage. Segmentation allows you to capture the right audience at the right time with the right message – essentially leading to a higher conversion rate. So, without further ado, here are 3 ways you can improve your marketing efforts to increase your revenue through segmentation.

1. Use a CRM system

Few venues have the necessary insight on their customers to understand what niche their business falls into and what customers they need to attract to be successful. That’s where a customer relationship management (CRM) system comes into play. The best run venues work with a robust CRM system that’s tied to every area of their venue, including their point of sale system, to track customer habits. This is what we call interconnectivity, and it’s what allows a venue to uncover key information about themselves and their customers, such as:

  • Your guests’ names
  • How many times they’ve been to your venue
  • How much money they’ve spent
  • What days of the week they come into your venue
  • What their most popular drink purchases are
  • How many people they typically bring with them

That’s valuable information, and that’s what’s going to propel you forward in your marketing efforts.

2. Identify your audience

Before you can send any type of marketing message, you first need to identify your audience. You may have different audiences for different promotions or events, or you may have one audience you want to attract. Either way, it’s important to know which type of people you are targeting, and what type of message is going to drive them through your door. It’s not enough to have a basic understanding of only demographics. You need to discover their idea of a good party, the music they like to hear, and even the alcohol they like to drink. This is what develops your buyer persona, and is what allows you to create targeted messages that drive consumer spending.

3. Filter your audience into segments

This is where we connect the first and second steps. Because the CRM system tracks important customer activity, you’re able to segment individuals based on categories. Perhaps you want to target females who come in on Fridays, spend at least $100, bring more than 3 people with them, and typically drink vodka (because you have a vodka promotion going on). That’s easy with a segmented CRM system; it’s just a few clicks and you have your audience. Then you craft a targeted message that’s 100% relevant to their habits and send it out to them. You can even create different segments for different audiences for the same night to achieve a good ratio of people. That’s powerful marketing, and that’s what continues to drive guests into your venue.

Gone are the days where it’s acceptable to mass blast a marketing message. It’s no longer a matter of trying to capture the general nightlife population; it’s a matter of catering to your specific audience and niche, and reaching them in a personalized way that drives them to make an emotional buying decision at your venue. This is what allows you to offer the impeccable service your customers need, and is where the secret of customer loyalty lies. Segmentation and personalization is the new wave of nightlife marketing, and what gets your customers to become loyal, long-term guests.


Whitney Larson is the president and director of marketing for Vēmos. Contact her at whitney.larson@vemos.io.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

6 Steps to Putting on Your Most Successful NYE Party

New Year’s Eve is right around the corner. If you haven’t started yet, now’s the time to start planning and putting the right vendors (including the right event ticketing partner) in place to make sure you host the best party while getting top dollar for your event.


Here are 6 steps to set yourself up for the most successful New Year’s Eve party you’ve ever hosted.

1. Hire the right talent

People come to your event for the party, and your talent is a big part of setting the tone of that party. Know what DJ your target audience would die to hear, or at least what type of music they want to dance to, and hire accordingly. Also make sure to set up ample lighting and audio to exemplify your talent’s sound, and consider a surprising treat – such as flying confetti – for when the ball drops at midnight.

2. Price your event accordingly

For pricing, remember it’s the experience, not the deal, that reels your audience in. It’s critical to understand what your customers will pay in return for a good party while still covering all your costs. Don’t sell yourself short by trying to provide a deal on a big event like this. People understand and have been programmed to pay top dollar for major events, especially on New Year’s Eve.

3. Put the right tools in place to pre-sell tickets

Make sure you have full control of your events and get access to all of your data before, during, and after the event. There are technology platforms that incorporate ticketing into the rest of your efforts, giving you that full 360-degree look at how your event as a whole will and is performing. With this type of solution, you’re able to:

  • Create and manage an online event page without promotions from competing venues
  • Sell tickets to consumers right through the page via an e-commerce system
  • Get access to a white-labeled widget so your online ticketing page looks identical to the rest of your website
  • Integrate the event with a mobile app for promoters to sell tickets directly from their devices
    Track ticket sales and results along the way

This type of platform syncs all promoters and marketing efforts together to maximize ticket sales and revenue before the night of your event.

4. Make sure the money goes directly into your bank

Another aspect of a ticketing platform to consider is that of payment. Most ticketing sites collect your customers’ payments in their own banks and hold it until after the event is over. Once the day of your event has passed, they’ll cut you a check for what you earned, but not until they’ve made sure to take any fees they deem themselves worthy to collect. Then, it takes a few business days after the remaining money to appear in your account, meaning you may not actually get your money until a week after the event has happened (and weeks since your guests even purchased a ticket).

Instead, look to companies that ensure payment goes directly through your merchant services provider and into your bank account right from the get-go. That way, a guest purchasing a ticket to your event is the same process as that guest buying a drink inside your venue. There’s no point in collecting pre-sales to help pay for your event before it happens if you’re not going to get your money from those sales until weeks after the event is over.

5. Get the word out to the right people

It’s important to first define your audience before you start marketing your event. After all, it’s much easier to market and promote your party when you know exactly whom you’re trying to reach and what you want them to do with the information.

The best strategy is to always keep your customers informed while maintaining a clear and consistent message in all your efforts. Use a multi-channel strategy to get the word out, such as a combination of text-message marketing, printed collateral, media partnerships, email updates, and social media. If you have a CRM system in place, use filters to segment your customers into specific targeted audiences, which in turn means each audience gets messages that are 100% relevant to their habits. That’s powerful marketing, and that’s what continues to drive guests to your events.

6. Analyze results to increase revenue for the next event

Getting access to your data gives you the opportunity to truly understand how your venue and events are performing. If you get on board with the aforementioned platform, your life will be significantly easier since it will all be in one spot – not to mention the data will be broken down by individual guests and staff members to truly identify areas of strength and weakness. Once you know how well you did, you’re able to better set yourself up for success for your next event. Optimization is key to long-term success.


Whitney Larson is the president and director of marketing at Vēmos. Contact her at whitney.larson@vemos.io.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

Putting on a Great End of Summer Party

Your nightclub has a big opportunity to end summer with a bang this Labor Day weekend. Here are four things you can do to make sure your party is the best on the block.

1. Know your audience

The people you are throwing the party for should define your party. This means everything needs to be in line with your guests’ idea of a good party – including the music they like to hear, the alcohol they like to drink, and even the servers they prefer. This rule applies for any event or promotion your nightclub is running, which is why we always recommend having a customer relationship management (CRM) system in place to capture these valuable insights.

2. Get the word out

Once you’ve defined your audience, you can start to spread the word. It’s much easier to market and promote your party when you know exactly whom you’re trying to reach. The best strategy is to always keep your customers informed while maintaining a clear and consistent message in all your efforts. Use a multi-channel strategy to get the word out, such as text-message marketing, printed collateral, email updates, and social media. Just using one channel will not do. Diversify your efforts, track returns and adjust focus based on results.

3. Turn your party into revenue

Price your party accordingly and gain revenue before the day of the event. For pricing, remember that it’s the experience – not the deal – that gets them in. It’s critical to understand what your customers will pay in return for a good party. Don’t sell yourself short by trying to provide a deal on a big event, but don’t try to overprice a more casual affair. People understand and have been programmed to pay top dollar for major events, but also understand when an event is overpriced. Take note, not advantage, of these opportunities and price your event accordingly to see success.

4. Maintain the party

The idea is to always keep your guests coming back for more. Treat everyone like VIPs (from the bottle buyer to the general admission guest), keep them entertained by constantly surprising them during your party, and focus on service levels to make them feel appreciated. This type of party maintenance ensures your guests will have a great experience during the party and will keep you top of mind for future events.


At the end of the day, revenue is a byproduct of the value of your party. Make sure you first and foremost throw a good party, then be constantly aware of your guests, surprise them from time to time, and treat them with the service they deserve to keep them coming back well after your end of summer bash.


Whitney Johnson is the global director of marketing at BookBottles. Contact her at whitney.johnson@bookbottles.com.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

How to Pay for Your Event Before it Happens

Imagine it’s hours before your event and your mind is at ease because you have thousands of dollars in pre-sold tickets and inventory. On top of that, your worries about VIP cancelations are a thing of the past since you reservations aren’t simply guaranteed, but purchased in advance. This is not a dream; this is reality, and it’s easier than you think.


Here’s how you can capitalize on pre-sales to generate revenue that will pay for your event before the event even happens.

1. Put the right tools in place to sell tickets

It’s hard to know how your event will go if you don’t get access to your own data – something many ticketing companies fail to provide their clients. Make sure you have full control of your events and get access to all of your data before, during, and after the event. There are technology platforms that incorporate ticketing into the rest of your efforts, giving you that full 360-degree look at how your venue is performing. This platform enables to you to:

  • Create and manage an online event page
  • Sell tickets to consumers right through the page via an e-commerce system
  • Get access to a white-labeled widget so your online ticketing page looks identical to the rest of your website
  • Integrate the event with a mobile app for promoters to sell tickets directly from their devices
  • Track ticket sales and results along the way

This type of platform syncs all promoters and marketing efforts together to maximize ticket sales and revenue before the night of your event.

2. Make sure the money goes directly into your bank

Another aspect of a ticketing platform to consider is that of payment. Most ticketing sites collect your customers’ payments in their own banks and hold it until after the event is over. Once the day of your event has passed, they’ll cut you a check for what you earned, but not until they’ve made sure to take any fees they deem themselves worthy to collect. Then, it takes a few business days for the remaining money to appear in your account, meaning you may not actually get your money until a week after the event has happened (and weeks since your guests even purchased a ticket).

Instead, look to companies that ensure payment goes directly through your merchant services provider and into your bank account right from the get-go. That way, a guest purchasing a ticket to your event is the same process as that guest buying a drink inside your venue. There’s no point in collecting pre-sales to help pay for your event before it happens if you’re not going to get your money from those sales until weeks after the event is over.

3. Analyze results to increase revenue for the next event

Getting access to your data gives you the opportunity to truly understand how your venue and events are performing. If you get on board with the aforementioned platform, your life will be significantly easier since it will all be in one spot – not to mention the data will be broken down by individual guests and staff members to truly identify areas of strength and weakness. Once you know how well you did, you’re able to better set yourself up for success for your next event. Optimization is key to long-term success.


Whitney Johnson is the global director of marketing at BookBottles. Contact her at whitney.johnson@bookbottles.com.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

Thinking Differently About Mobile

The shocking truth is we’ve been thinking about mobile all wrong. I see it time and time again: people gushing online about how nightclubs need to create their own mobile apps to promote their venue. But this isn’t the case. It doesn’t make any business sense for every nightclub to spend the time and money developing and maintaining their own native apps. After all, very few of your customers are going to download these apps and keep up with your notifications. So let’s move away from the notion that mobile only exists as a way to push messages onto people, and realize that the true benefit of mobile in this industry is to use it as a tool to better manage your venue.


The key ingredient to a mobile management tool is that it has to be integrated into all areas of your club. We call this interconnectivity, which provides nightclubs the opportunity to manage all areas of their club through one central platform. When this platform is integrated across all devices – including web, phone, and tablet – you’re able to streamline operations, maximize efficiencies, and increase your revenue.

Here are 4 ways using mobile as a management tool will benefit your bottom line.

1. Better manage promoters

Too often, promoters are left to pave their own path in getting guests to come through your door. This doesn’t set your club or your promoters up for success. Instead, help them excel by providing them with a system that allows them to make transactions right from a mobile device. There are systems available that give all staff members – including promoters – a personal login to handle guest management and point of sale. Through this type of system, promoters can add guests to the guestlist, create a VIP reservation, or even sell a ticket to your event. It’s an easy solution for your promoters to sell in real-time and generate instant sales for your club. What’s more is you’re able to track the referrer of an individual customer, VIP reservation, or guestlist party. This makes it easier to identify not only who’s bringing in the most traffic, but also who’s bringing in the best traffic. And when you know your promoters are doing a job-well-done, you’re able to incentivize and reward them accordingly to keep them performing and maximizing results.

2. Increase sales with mobile point of sale

We alluded to mobile point of sale (POS) above, which is a major benefit to using mobile as a tool for your venue. You can couple your traditional POS system with a mobile POS system to allow your venue to collect more transactions than you’re currently doing, whether it’s by conducting pre-sales for mobile ticketing or collecting cover for general admission and guestlists. Not only does this help secure additional revenue, but it also optimizes your line and speeds up your night.

3. Collect important data on how your club is performing to optimize it for future success

The key to measuring the success of your club is by analyzing critical data – something a fully integrated technology solution can achieve. This system collects data from any area of your club, analyzes it, and presents it in easy-to-read charts in one central spot so you get a better understanding of:

  • How much money you made or lost over a given time period
  • Which days of the week are your busiest
  • What type of liquor you sell the most on a given day
  • How many tables are reserved a night
  • Which promoters are bringing in the most and best guests
  • Which servers are upselling the most and making the most tips
  • What types of promotions or events bring in the most traffic


4. Give guests a great experience

Continuing on the analytics path, a robust customer relationship management (CRM) system that’s tied to your point of sale and integrated into your one main platform allows you to gather important information about your guests in one central spot. This means you can look up a guest in your mobile device and get access to critical information to provide them with an even better experience than they otherwise would have had. This information includes demographics, frequency of visits, average money spent per visit, and average group size. With your CRM system, you’re able to better identify guests in line, upsell guests before they walk through your door, provide personalized service, and improve marketing efforts.

5. Improve marketing efforts

Speaking of marketing efforts, getting your guests to interact with you via short codes and other SMS marketing techniques are a must. Because your CRM system tracks important customer activity, such as when they come to your club, how much they spend, what they drink, and how many people they bring with them, you’re able to send more targeted, personal and relevant messages to individual guests. This means you’re able to use filters to segment your customers into specific targeted audiences, which in turn means each audience gets messages that are 100% relevant to their habits. That’s powerful marketing, and that’s what continues to drive guests into your venue.


Whitney Johnson is the global director of marketing for BookBottles. Contact her at whitney.johnson@bookbottles.com.

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