Category Archives: Marketing

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

Kicking Off Summer with a Successful Memorial Day Party

Memorial Day is the unofficial launch of summer. It’s also only a month way. Many people look to Memorial Day weekend to hang out with friends and commemorate the start of summer in style at a party. Let’s make sure they choose to celebrate at your party. Follow the below tips to create a profitable holiday event.

For Ticketed Parties

1. Set up a pre-sale ticketing strategy

Pre-sale revenue is the best way to pay for your event before it even happens. The best way to pre-sell revenue is to create and manage an online event page, sell tickets to consumers right through the page, integrate the event with a mobile app for promoters to sell tickets directly from their device, and sync the events with a Facebook widget to sell tickets directly through your Facebook page and Facebook ads. Contact us if you need help with this. We have one system that handles it all from one central location that you can manage, all while tracking individual channel results.

2. Use a night-of yielding strategy to increase prices

Encourage people to pre-purchase their tickets by showing the price will increase on the night of the event, and then follow through with that. Have the ability to sell tickets at the door for an increased fee. You can even set tickets to increase price by the hour to encourage people to arrive early. This is your yielding strategy. As the night arrives and as more people are in the party, the demand gets higher and you can charge more for your tickets.

3. Get all your staff up and running on the right system for smooth operations

Door operations are a huge component for an enjoyable night. Get all of your staff up and running on the same system or same strategy. The best way is to use a system that handles both door operations along with ticketing and event management. That way, you can scan tickets in through the device, sell tickets from that same device, and be able to track arrivals and other important guest information along the way. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s black and white with your staff on how the night is going to run.

4. Optimize your lines for speed of night

Many events use one line for everyone, which increases wait time, puts extra stress on your staff, and ultimately slows down the speed of the night. Instead, create a different line for a different type of customer, such as a line for your pre-sale customers and a line for customers paying at the door. This is another way to encourage pre-sale, and allows your staff handling pre-sale checkin to only focus on that task and increase line speed. On the other hand, it allows your staff selling tickets at the door to only handle that task, aiding in the long waits for door sales. The more organized your lines are, the faster your speed of night will be, the happier your customers will be, and the faster they’re your door to spend money on drinks.

5. Analyze results for a bigger return next year

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 Vēmos system, your life will be simnifically 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.

For Non-Ticketed Parties

1. Use a system to capture guest list, general admission, and table reservations

You don’t have to sell tickets to have pre-sales. In fact, we’re seeing a lot of venues be successful by treating every day as an event. You can pre-sell guest list entries or table reservations. Use a system that integrates with your website and social pages to handle these pre-sale inquiries. A system like Vēmos does this and also allows you to easily handle check-ins for guest list parties, reservation parties, and general admission walk-ups all from one device. It also takes cover payments and automates your speed of night. Plus, when all of this is tied together, you’re able to collect information about each guest no matter how they came in through your door.

2. Promote your promotions

Identify the promotions you’re going to run to bring people into your event, without limiting yourself to discounting your drinks. Sure, fun drink specials are a great way to drive guests, but so are other fun promotions such as a patio party, hiring live music, hosting drinking games or being a part of a summer kick-off pub crawl. Once you’ve identified your promotions, it’s time to promote them. Turn to social media to target your followers. Run a Facebook ad to a very targeted demographic. Send email and text message campaigns to your loyal guests. Choose different options from different channels to make your message are 100% relevant to the person you’re reaching. Make sure to use trackable links for each individual effort so you know exactly what worked and what didn’t.

3. Analyze results for a bigger return next year

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 Vēmos system, your life will be simnifically 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 the future. Optimization is key to long-term success.


Contact Vēmos to learn more about how we can help you with your Memorial Day event. Call us at 877-388-7872 or fill out the form below.


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

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

When to Start Marketing Your Event

Events are an integral part of our entertainment culture, especially during the summer months. This also means that competition for your audience’s attention is even higher. That’s why it’s important to solidify the details of your event and start marketing it with enough lead time to get people buying early.

Here’s a step-by-step guide of when to start planning and marketing your event.

6+ months out

At the six-month mark, you should have all the high-level strategic information of our event figured out. This includes:

  • Picking an event date, time, and location
  • Choosing an event theme
  • Hiring your talent
  • Booking necessary third-party vendors, including sound and lighting equipment and decor
  • Identifying your target audience to attend your event
  • Defining your goals and objectives for the event
  • Get your ticketing system in place — the ticketing system you use translates to the amount of money your event makes.

These details are what will set the stage for who you’re marketing to and what they can expect at your event.

4 months out

With the high-level information defined, it’s time to craft your event assets and define your marketing strategy, including:

  • Segment your audience into specific groups
  • Drafting key messages for your target audience personas
  • Identifying marketing outlets, including social media and third-party sponsors
  • Create affiliate links for each of your marketing channels to track results
  • Designing imagery and ad campaigns, including flyers and social media ads
  • Scheduling staff involvement and expectations, such as number of tickets they need to sell and night-of shift expectations
  • Work with your ticketing company to make sure money goes directly into your bank so you can pay for your event before it happens

Clarity and consistency is of upmost importance when getting all your ducks in a row. Make sure you have a designated event leader who can make decisions, delegate tasks, and keep everything aligned. This is what will make everyone operate fully in their role and avoid any confusion between different parties.

3 months out

It’s time to start building general awareness. Lead times vary depending on the type of event you’re hosting. A general rule of thumb is the higher-priced tickets you’re selling, the longer lead time you’ll need. A higher-end event with $100+ tickets should budget at least 3 months of lead time with active marketing, while a $10 concert may get away with 1-2 months lead time. Regardless, make sure you have the following items in place to build your awareness:

  • Publish your event on your website event page or create a landing page
  • Establish your ticketing pricing levels — three tiers to consider are early bird, general, and walk-ups with prices increasing with each tier
  • Create a Facebook event on your Facebook page and invite people to attend
  • Include your event in an email to your target audience, or send an email specifically announcing your event if you’re in that 3 month lead time with active ticket sales


1-2 months out

Actively market your event and tickets to generate pre-sale revenue. Typical ticket tier in this phase is early bird ticket rates.

  • Turn promoters into mobile box offices to sell tickets on the street
  • Use social media advertising to reach your audience and garner pre-sales
  • Get staff involved with sharing your event on their social channels, using their personal affiliate link

2-3 weeks out

Early bird tickets should be selling, and you may even be onto your next ticketing tier. Continue to hit the pavement hard with your marketing efforts through your promoters, media affiliates, third-party sponsors, staff, and social media channels.

1 week out

At this point, early bird tickets should be sold out. Consider labeling early bird tickets as sold out (even if they didn’t entirely sell out) to create a sense of urgency for pre-sale buyers.

  • Actively promote last chance to get pre-sale tickets before prices go up at the door
  • Get all your staff up and running on the same system
  • Determine your line strategy for the night of your event
  • Confirm details with vendors


Night of event

It’s the night of your event, and you should already be well-informed of how many tickets have been sold and feel at ease with the revenue you’ve already earned. Now it’s time to make sure operations are seamless for an enjoyable night.

  • Optimize your lines for speed of night
  • Sell tickets at the door at the walk-up price
  • Focus on getting your guests through your door so they can get inside to enjoy their night and spend money on drinks


After event

Now that you’re event is over, it’s time to analyze results for a bigger return next time. Getting access to your data gives you the opportunity to truly understand how your venue and events are performing. This is why we recommend using a unified system like Vēmos, where all functions are operated through one central system. That way, all of your data will be in one spot – not to mention the data will be broken down by individual guests and referrers to truly understand areas of strength and weakness. You’re able to easily identify which marketing channels are bringing in your traffic, which promoters are bringing in the best guests, and how your revenue and event performed as a whole. This information allows you to set yourself up for even more success for your next event.


Interested in learning more about Vēmos’ event and ticketing platform? Contact Whitney Larson at whitney.larson@vemos.io or fill out the form below.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

The Best Way to Market to Your Audience

Marketing your nightclub, bar, or event is a critical factor in your success. After all, marketing is what drives awareness of your existence and brings customers through your door. But what’s the best way to attract your customers in this ever-evolving marketing landscape?

Answer: marketing segmentation.

Marketing segmentation is a marketing strategy that divides a broad target market into segments (or subsets) of consumers. The consumers in these segments should have common needs, interests, and priorities that group them together. This then allows you to create messages specific to each segment.

But why is this important?

People don’t like to receive messages that aren’t relevant to them. It makes them feel unimportant, or as if you don’t even know them. Which, to be honest, is likely the case.

When you don’t know who your customers are, you don’t know how to target them. So, you end up doing a mass marketing approach with one message for all customers. Marketing segmentation instead allows you to do micro-marketing, or marketing directly to the individual consumer.

So how do I start with marketing segmentation?

Good question. Follow these steps to start your path of marketing segmentation.

1. Use a CRM system to understand your audience. A CRM system is your biggest marketing asset. Use one to collect information on all of your guests in one central system, whether they’re VIPs, guest list, general admission, or ticket buyers. Every person who walks through your door should be accounted for, which includes their name, email, and phone at the least.

If you use a guest list at your venue, put a form on your website where people can add themselves. Same thing for VIP tables and tickets. This gets people to add themselves or make a purchase ahead of time, which in turn allows you to collect their information in a more casual interaction. If you have promoters, have them enter information from the CRM’s mobile app so it syncs to your database. This allows them to turn into a mobile box office and ensures you’re capturing all the right information.

Remember: people are conditioned to fill out forms and provide information for transactions. Don’t be afraid to ask them for this information. This is what allows you to know your customers on a deeper level, understand where they’re coming from, and decipher what type of a guest they are.


2. Segment your audience using filters. Filtering allows you group like-minded individuals together in a certain segment. Let’s say you want to target individuals who have a birthday this week between the ages of 21-35. Use your filters to get that list. Or perhaps you’re doing a co-promotion with a vodka company, so you want to target individuals who drink vodka and who come to your venue on Friday nights. Use your filters to get that list. Or maybe you want to target people who bought a ticket to a specific event because you have a similar event coming up. Use your filters to get that list.

The best way to filter is with a CRM system that has filtering built within it. This will save you time and will help you understand all your different audience groups. However, you are able to filter you audience even if you don’t have a CRM system with built-in filtering by exporting your CRM database into a CSV file and using your sort functionality.


3. Send messages specific to each segment. Once you have your audience segment identified and filtered, it’s time draft your messaging to them using your channels. You can have as many or as few segments that make sense to you — just make sure that each message is directed toward that segment and not toward all customers in general. And remember, you’re segments are already specific, so don’t be afraid to get specific and personal in your message.

We recommend using email and text messages to reach your audience. Email and texts are the best way to send one-on-one messaging to your customers, and with today’s tools, it’s really easy to create a campaign and address to a specific person with your segment. You’re also able to segment targeted ads on social media. Just make sure you’re using your different campaigns with different messages targeted to your different audiences so that your message is always 100% relevant to the people receiving them.


4. Analyze, measure, and repeat. It’s always important to track your marketing efforts so you know what’s working and what’s not. Did your targeted message persuade those customers to come back? Keep doing it! Did your message fail to result in your desired goal? Fix it. That’s the true power of data. When you have absolute clarity around your efforts you can do even more to increase your success. Without data, you’re simply guessing.


Have more questions about marketing segmentation or want to get started? Contact Vēmos to get answers and get up and running with your complete system.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

NCB Show 16 Recap

Last week marked the 31st Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show, and it did not disappoint. With thousands of nightclub and bar professionals, the show was packed with interactive workshops, informative breakout sessions, invaluable super sessions and keynotes, and networking events/industry parties.

Our marketing director, Whitney Johnson, hosted one of those informative breakout sessions, titled “5 Marketing Tools to Boost ROI.” The session drew a full crowd and focused on teaching attendees the importance of marketing strategy and how to use marketing tools to reach the right audience.

In case you missed it, here are a few of the highlights of her session.

Part 1: Why We’re Having this Conversation

  • The legacy of marketing is in the 4 P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. It was all about understanding and building a product, putting a price to that product, finding a place to market it and then, in turn, promoting the awareness of its existence. But as time evolved, so did the 4 P’s, especially “Place.”
  • The evolution is a result of the tech revolution – the biggest marketing shift that happened in our lifetime. Technology came in and disrupted everything we knew about business, including how we communicate, how we work, who we work with, and how we interact with customers. It’s changed end users and customers expectations of companies, and it forced businesses of all kinds reevaluate how they work. Consumers have been quick to adopt, and they have high demands and high expectations of businesses. However, businesses — including nightclubs and bars — haven’t been quick to adopt and aren’t meeting their demands. And if you’re not continuously keeping up with your customers, you’re vulnerable.
  • Don’t get phased out by your customers. Learn how to become digital and appease their demands. With today’s technological advancements, you get to have two-way conversations with your audience, and you get to provide them an optimized experience at your venue. It’s no longer a one-way communication street — it’s now all about providing meaningful messages and experiences in channels where they already are.


Part 2: Marketing Keys to Success

There’s a marketing foundation that needs to be established before any marketing can begin. Without this foundation, you’re throwing noodles at a wall and hoping something sticks. And then when it does stick, you’re not really sure what you did to get it to stick in the first place, so it’s hard to repeat.

Instead, follow these 5 steps to set up your foundation:

  • Step 1: Know your audience. Your audience is the number one component of your venue. Without customers, you don’t have a business. You need to get down to the nitty gritty t truly know who your customers are, including their demographic, geographic, and psychographic information. Read more about knowing your audience here.
  • Step 2: Define your objectives and goals. Your objectives are what you’re seeking to accomplish; what you want as a result of your marketing. Typically marketing objectives align with overall business objectives. Goals are a bit different than objectives because they are the end result of what you’re doing. With goals, remember that they always need to have a quantifiable number by a designated time.
  • Step 3: Be consistent. On average, it takes 7 touch points for a buyer to make purchase decision. You should use multiple channels to hit customers in meaningful ways, but the only effective way to do this is by being consistent in your messaging and branding. This is what allows you to be impactful and connect with your audience on an emotional level.
  • Step 4: Provide the experience you’re promising. Theses what your customers are really seeking, and this is what you led them to believe. If your messaging and branding is all about luxury, then you better deliver luxury when they get to your doors. Make sure everything is aligned — that your strategy is in place, your objectives are defined, your brand is consistently presented, and your messaging is promising a realistic experience.
  • Step 5: Measure. Did you hit your goals and objectives? What worked and what didn’t work? Repeat the things that did, and table the ones that didn’t. There are going to be things that didn’t work, and that’s ok. Failure is a part of any business initiative. Give yourself some room in your marketing budget and efforts to experiment and fail, and allow yourself to pivot quickly.


Part 3: Putting it Together with Tools

Tool 1: CRM System/Segmentation

  • A CRM system is your biggest marketing asset. Use one to collect information on all of your guests, whether they’re VIPs, guestlist, general admission, or ticket buyers. Every person who walks through your door should be accounted for. There’re your customer after all, and you should be able to reach back out to them. The best way to do that is by getting their info in your CRM system so you can reach back out to them later.
  • If you use a guest list at your venue, put a form on your website where people can add themselves. Same thing for VIP tables and tickets. Get people to add themselves or purchase tickets ahead of time. Consumers are conditioned to fill out forms and provide information for online transactions. If you have promoters, have them enter information from a mobile app so it syncs to your database. This allows them to turn into a mobile box office.

Tool 2: Email/Text Message Marketing

  • When you have your database in your CRM system, you’re able to use that list to do segmentation. This means rather than doing a mass marketing approach with one message for everyone, your’e able to do micro-marketing, or marketing for the individual. Email and text messages are the best way to send direct one-on-one messaging. Use different campaigns for different messages for different audiences — this allows your messages to be 100% relevant to the people you’re targeting.

Tool 3: Social Media

  • Build your social media presence on the channels that make the most sense to your business. Then, use the advertising tools within each social channel to target your audience. You can either upload your segmented lists from your CRM system, or you can create new segmented lists within the ad manager platform. Segmentation and targeted messages are your keys to success with social media. Couple this with a powerful image and a strong call to action, and you’re on your way to seeing a strong marketing ROI.

Tool 4: Live Streaming

  • Live streaming became a big deal last year, and it’s only going to get more advanced and useful as it continues – especially in the entertainment industry. Show you customers what’s going on at your venue in real-time. Use Periscope to live stream on Twitter. Use Live Stream on Facebook to show real-time videos of your venue. After all, Facebook noted that since its introduced Live Stream that people tune into live videos three times longer than non-live videos.

Tool 5: Affiliate Links

  • Affiliate links are a specific URL that contains the affiliate’s ID or username. This is what allows you to track which of your marketing efforts are truly working for you. You can also use affiliate links to track your staff and promoter results. Vēmos automates the affiliate link processes, so that you can track within your dashboard which marketing channels and which staff members are bringing in not only the mosts guests, but the best guests. This in turn allows you to understand how your venue is performing and what effort are actually working for you.



Contact Vēmos today to see how we can help you with these tools to boost your own ROI.

View the slides:
NCB Show 2016 – 5 Marketing Tools to Boost ROI from Whitney Johnson


Whitney Larson is the president and director of marketing at Vēmos. Contact her at whitney.larson@vemos.io or through the contact form below.

Author Whitney Larson Posted on

5 Marketing Tips for Nightclubs & Bars

I see it all the time: venues spending marketing dollars on mass marketing efforts, blasting vague messages to a broad range of people who may or may not be their customers. All because they don’t know who their customers are, what their objectives are, or how to use the tools that are readily available to them.

Here are 5 tips to fix that and get a better handle on your marketing.

1. Know Your Audience

Before you an start any type of marketing, you first need to know who your audience is. Customers are the number one component of a successful venue. Without customers, you don’t have a business. Discover who your customers are, what their idea of a good party is, the music they like to hear, the alcohol they like to drink, and the experience they expect. This information dictates your entire marketing strategy, including your promotions.

2. Segment Your Audience

Use a customer relationship management (CRM) system to collect as much information about your guests as possible, including their name, contact information, how many times they’ve been to your venue, whether they’re a VIP/guest list/event/general admission customer, how much money they’ve spent, and what their most popular drink purchases are. This allows you to truly understand who your audience is and segment them into specific targeted groups. Use filters to group like-minded guests together, such as age range, birthdays coming up, spending habits, etc. Then, use this information to send messages that are 100% relevant to each group or individual. This takes old-school mass marketing and strengthens it to be targeted micro-marketing.

3. Craft Personal Messages

With a CRM system and segmentation at your disposal, you have a complete buyer persona for all your target customer segments, including demographic, geographic, and psychographic information. Use this to your advantage when crafting your messages. As an example, let’s say you segmented your audience into a list of people who have birthdays this week. You can then send that specific group a message that says “Happy birthday! Celebrate in style with a VIP table and get a bottle of champagne on the house.” You can do this with nearly any type of segmented audience of your choosing. Just make sure that you stay consistent with your messaging across platforms and that you’re always tied in to your overall brand.

4. Use Your Tools

Never before have you had access to your customers on so many platforms. In the past, you could only have one-way conversations where you told your customers your message on print and broadcast media. And let’s be real, that’s not really a conversation at all. Today, you can actually engage in two-way conversations with your customers over email, text messages, and social media. Use this to your advantage! Use Facebook’s PowerEditor tool to target specific audiences on Facebook through ads. Use Twitter cards to send short messages to specific followers. Use email systems to send email campaigns to your targeted audience segments from step 2. Use text messaging systems to send texts to those same targeted audiences. And above all else, use these tools to track where your guests are coming from.

5. Measure and Repeat

As stated in the last step, always track your marketing efforts. This information allows you to get a true sense of what is and isn’t working so you can make the necessary changes. Is a certain promotion bringing in a ton of people? Keep doing it! Is a certain message not providing results? Fix it. That’s the true power of data. When you have absolute clarity around your efforts, you can do even more to increase your success. Without data, you’re simply just guessing.

Get more marketing tips and see the top digital tools in action at the 2016 Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show. Whitney will be speaking on Monday at 3:00 pm about Marketing Tools to Drive ROI. See you there!


Whitney Larson is the president and director of marketing at Vēmos. Contact her at whitney.larson@vemos.io or fill out the form below.

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