Launching a new venue can be a daunting process! There are so many avenues to consider and elements to remember. So, here is a compiled list of some tips and tricks to get people through the door.

Establish a Venue Personality

Firstly, it’s integral that the target market for a venue is identified. This way, you can cater your launch strategies to this audience. Choosing a group of people, normally between a certain age group and with a relatively specific lifestyle, allows the venue to develop a personality, and attract a loyal and regular customer base. For example, a new cocktail bar opening in Surry Hills might target young adults (20-30 years old) who travel into the city for work daily and enjoy catching up with friends over a drink.

To develop a venue’s identity, the interior presentation and online presence must be aligned with this target market’s desires and needs. This involves choosing specific selling points, stand-out assets and points of differentiation. This might be, for example, a cohesive colour scheme, interior design style and location (e.g. a view). Investing in professional photography is also important for establishing a venue as professional, luxurious and successful across its owned channels.

Host Events

A great way to get a venue’s name on the map is to host events. This introduces the community to your venue, further establishes your venue’s style and personality, and gets people talking. Word of mouth is one of the most trusted forms of advertising – and its free! Creating a “VIP Launch Party” and inviting loyal customers, existing clientele and relevant social media influencers can be a great way to start. From there, collaborating with other compatible talent through fashion shows, art gallery exhibitions or live music performances, can further open your venue to a wider audience, and emphasises the chosen “style/vibe/personality”. It’s important that these talent groups and influencers complement your venue and are in a similar industry to your target market. For example, inviting popular hip-hop DJ’s to perform at a new nightclub would attract the desired audience. Moreover, regularly arranging charity or community events brings new people to your venue, while simultaneously positively contributing to your brand’s social corporate responsibility.

Get on the Social Media Train

These days, social media’s influence is exceptional and is often unparalleled to any other form of advertising. Therefore, having an online presence isn’t merely recommended, it is essential for the success of any venue launch. A venue should have a styled website that aligns to its interior design style (as in colour scheme, cohesive text fonts, etc.) A website should also have a gallery that highlights the best elements of the venue such as its location, offerings (eg. menus and events), products (such as food and drinks) and the venue’s interior. These images can then be shared on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. A great way to encourage social media engagement is to actually repost customer testimonials from their experience at your venue; they feel appreciated and you have great content to post (win-win!). Another approach to engaging online is to create a venue blog. Giving your venue a unique tone of voice further evolves the venue’s personality, while making readers feel involved in the venue activities and experiences.

Collect & Store Data

After establishing a venue personality, hosting a range of different events and engaging with a multitude of social media platforms, it’s important that all data is collected and stored. This way, it can be reviewed and analysed, so that next time, improvements can be made. This data capture includes; which days were the busiest, which platforms received the most engagement, which events were most popular, etc. Constantly progressing and catering to the changing needs of a target audience is the best way to stay relevant and popular in a competitive environment.

If you need assistance with launching a venue, we would love to catch up and bounce ideas off one another. If you’re keen, please email info@agent99pr.com.

Agent Intern Bella