Figuring out how to attract Millennials to pubs & bars is a completely different proposition than for previous generations. People born between 1980 and 2000 – commonly referred to as ‘Millennials’ – have a distinctly different set of interests, motivations and tastes to those who came before.
This generation is less interested in traditional pub culture, resulting in pub and brewery chains deciding to close numerous locations nationwide, however, there are plenty of steps you can still take to attract Millennials, providing you have the necessary insights.
What can my company do to attract Millennials?
These are the five most potent steps we recommend you consider to enhance your venue’s appeal to the Millennial generation:
1 Increase your connectivity
Make your venues better connected. – Free, speedy Wi-Fi is a real draw for Millennials. It will also encourage them to share info/images with their peer group. This is an effective means of promotion and enables you to analyse social media sentiment.
Major pub chains like Wetherspoons are also introducing app-based ordering. This new technology has ensured that JDW have seen an increase in sales of 10% year on year across the UK and not only will this make things more convenient and relevant for Millennials, it is a great chance to gather valuable loyalty data.
2 Offer different products/services
Profile your Millennial customers to adapt your product/service offering in line with their preferences. Craft beers, ales and higher quality food are all popular among large proportions of Millennial customers. However, these tastes will change based on local demographics, which you need to understand.
Older Millennials are now in the age bracket most likely to have children so, kids’ food and play options could also boost business depending on your local demographics.
3 Personalise your service
Millennial consumers are highly motivated by services that appear to be personalised.
On a wider scale, you can use social media sentiment and customer profiling analysis to adapt your decor and venue to fit with their tastes.
For individuals, you should look to implement a loyalty card scheme (or something similar). You can then gather a whole range of useful data, before providing bespoke deals and offers to entice them back.
4 Focus on ‘experiences’
Millennials expect ‘experiences’ to augment their visit. Depending on your localised customer groups, this could comprise anything from quizzes and live music to nights dedicated to specific foods or drinks.
Combine your existing customer data with records pertaining to local demographics to identify the types of experience that could gain traction at your venues.
5 Update your marketing
You need to put the right marketing message in front of the right person at the right place and time. For this, you will need to know who your key customer demographics are, where they are based and where they travel to and from. You should also understand what is important to them and how they communicate with one another.
In general, Millennials expect a multi-channel approach to marketing structured primarily around social media. Visual images are common currency here. Ensure your venues provide plenty of opportunities to engage in this way, and Millennials will become your brand advocates.
Use location intelligence software to implement these five steps and attract Millennials to pubs & bars with greater success across your entire portfolio of locations.
Discover the factors that could underpin the future success of your pub or brewery with Periscope®.