Harnessing the Power of the Internet

Opening a bar can be both exciting and exhilarating. But if you don’t handle it properly, all your investments would go to waste. I should know. I opened three of them in the last three years. I still remember sending out print invitations to attract customers to my newly opened sports bar. Unfortunately, all of them are now closed due to various reasons. So if you want to learn from my experience, read on and learn a few tricks on how to bring in those customers without really spending.

First, use the power of the Internet. A couple of decades ago, this medium is not available. Businesses used traditional media such as presented by print and broadcast. However, we all know for a fact that they cost a stupendous amount of money. Although powerful, a couple minutes airtime in TV would surely set you back several thousands of dollars. In the same manner that a space in a major daily broadsheet, however miniscule they are, would cost a significant amount of money.

The Internet, to my mind, is a new and exciting vessel. It affords you the convenience of sending out invitation printing collaterals through an email list compared to doing thousands of print invitations. Moreover, if you are keeping up with Internet trends, you have noticed that more and more companies are turning to video as a means of getting their message across. Nowadays, there are sites where you can upload videos of your bar. Sites like Youtube, Metacafe, etc. are just some of the many free video sites. As a strategy, you can provide video gimmicks or events in your bar and upload them in these sites. The best thing about these sites is they do not cost anything at all.

You will know if people take notice of your events or gimmicks through the number of hits on your video upload. The more hits, the more people are being attracted to your video. Before you know it, people are coming in to check out your bar.

Second, your bar will benefit if you use search engine optimization strategies. Content writers can help you develop this. This would make the name of your bar come up in any search engine. For instance, you Google ‘Sports Bar in South San Francisco’ and Google will generate a list of over 100 sports bar in the area. But the good thing with search engine optimization strategy is that your sports bar would end up at the top. Chances are people will check your bar out first rather than go down the list.

If I knew about the power of the web some five years ago, I would have developed a marketing strategy by harnessing the power of the Internet. I would not have invested so much on invitation printing but rather on online print invitations instead. Maybe, just maybe, I would still have my bars today.