How can Small Entertainment Venues Boost Sales with Live Music.

It’s been a tough time for small pubs and bars in recent times with the coronavirus pandemic taking its toll on many businesses. Many of these small entertainment venues are struggling to generate paying customer visits and with rising costs margins are tight. How can these small venues leverage live music to generate increased customer visits and sales.

The traditional pub or bar can be the social centre for a community but with the cost-of-living crisis hitting people's wallets their disposable income is reduced. Despite the number of nights out being reduced people are still going out. Adding a live music element to a small venue can help to differentiate an establishment from the competition. How can owners go about adding live music to their offering to bring in paying customers. 

Artist Curation Selection. 
The type of artists curated may depend on the facilities available in a particular venue which may include considerations for space availability, existing sound system set up and any noise restrictions. To appeal to a broad audience, it may be preferable to curate a mixture of live band musicians playing different genres like jazz, rock or tribute music along with a selection of DJs performing different genre types. Sourcing artistic talent can usually be made at a local level which is a way to demonstrate support for the local community whilst keeping costs manageable. 

Themes and Promotions. 
Creating regular themes can increase loyalty from customers with an interest in that particular style and genre of music. A focus on a specific genre for selected nights can increase repeat business from those interested customers. Combining special live music nights with food and drink offers can increase overall sales for the venue. Taking advantage of seasonal events and special holidays can also help create a relevant theme that will attract more customers. Cover charges are increasingly unpopular and small venues offering live music should avoid these where possible to increase the appeal. 

Marketing. 
Introducing live music into a venue can be great but it needs to be supported by appropriate marketing activity. A comprehensive programme of up-and-coming performances should be posted on all social media channels along with supporting snippets of previous performances along with regular reminders to followers. New social media followers can be generated through promotional activity that offers discounts on selected food and drinks for shares and likes and linking music performances to happy hour promotions can also increase sales volumes. Collaboration with local media can also generate awareness especially if stories are linked to showcasing local talent. Any marketing activity should be analysed with data where possible to fully understand which promotional activity and music genres generate the highest number of visitors and sales revenue. 

Sponsorship. 
Venue owners should seek out sponsorship deals where possible as breweries and local businesses can be enthusiastic about sponsoring specific events and themes. Any sponsorship funds generated can be used to pay for artists and in exchange the drinks companies or local businesses get branding opportunities at the venue and in associated marketing activity. 

For small venue owners planning their live music events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

Image by flaviopantera7 via Pixabay

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