MARKETING: 3 Ways Sports Bars Can Market the NHL’s ‘European Game of the Week’ to American Fans
It would appear the NHL is taking a page out of the NHL and NBA playbooks by turning their eyes to Europe. The league announced that they are adjusting their schedule to more weekend mid-day games in order to attract more attention from across the pond. While that is good news for Europeans, what does it mean to you as a sports-themed operator? The answer is a quite a few things.
DID YOU KNOWS…
Unrequited Love
As the following chart shows, it is certainly true that American wines don’t sell too well in Europe’s traditional wine countries. But knowing how proud Italian, French or Spanish people are of their wines, it is highly doubtful that their lack of interest in California’s finest grapes has anything to do with tariffs.
Peak Shopping
According to Deloitte’s 2018 Holiday Shopping Survey, late November can be expected to be the busiest period of this year’s holiday season with 72% of U.S. consumers planning to do holiday shopping between November 15th and 30th. Shoppers looking to snap up some bargains this weekend shouldn’t be afraid of traffic, crowds and long checkout lines as Black Friday will most likely live up to the original meaning of its name.
Arby’s Living the High Life
Food & Wine magazine is reporting that Arby’s is testing two new sandwiches featuring beer-marinated smoked chicken and toppings. The sandwiches are available only in select markets at the moment, and are being made with Miller High Life. The two versions are the Original Beer Can Chicken Sandwich -- which features beer-marinated smoked chicken with melted cheddar cheese, crispy onions, pepper bacon, lettuce, tomato and garlic aioli on a toasted specialty roll -- and the Tall Boy version of the sandwich featuring all that plus pit-smoked ham and crispy chicken.
INFLUENCE THIS
Why it matters to you: Identifying Influencers that can impact your restaurant is the first step to advanced digital marketing.
Perhaps the biggest change in marketing over the past ten years is the role of the Influencer. It used to be that influencers were valuable, but were almost always media-based and hard to access. That is simply no longer the case with all the digital social media platforms available today. In fact, you must now not only care about connecting with Influencers, but find ways to leverage their influence. This piece on how to access Influencers is a great primer to that effect. Whether you start by asking them to review a product on your menu or ask them to write a sponsored post, Influencers can be a free method to access your market.
The key is to identify the right Influencers in your market for your location. Once you know who the appropriate Influencers are, your options are great for interacting and creating value from building a relationship with them. Try booking an event with an Influencer at your restaurant. For example, offer a cooking class if that fits the Influencers persona or create content with the Influencer for delivery to their audience. The more you connect the more chances they will include you in the conversation they are having with their followers. It may not be free, but it’s far more effective than traditional advertising and even more sustainable.
[Source: FSRMagazine]
KETO ON TOP
Why it matters to you: The Keto diet is raging and you can benefit from it too.
Do you remember the late-nineties and the Atkins Diet craze? It seemed like every guest was ordering a side salad to replace their fries or adding an egg to their burger to really amp their protein game. Well, it appears that the Keto diet may be your next big chance to ride a trend to bigger profits. The Keto diet relies on similar principles as Atkins with high protein and low carb. The big difference is that fat is more highly valued to achieve ketosis in the Keto diet and that can spell real bottom line growth. In fact, estimates have the current value of Keto diet related sales at $5 billion. Nothing to sneeze at, but how do you get in?
Ironically, it’s much the same way TGIFriday’s accessed the low-carb free-for-all in the early 2000s. Create a menu with Keto diet specific recipes and make it available to your guests. Start slowly by creating some Keto specials to determine if your guests are ready for this initiative. If you see them take off, consider adding permanent menu items or a list of special Keto diet offerings. Remember, people that are following this trendy diet eat out too and you can find the Keto forums on Reddit or Facebook to let them know your restaurant has got them covered. One thing we know, the low-fat, high carb diet is definitely out of favor, so hop on the trend and ride it to increased guest satisfaction and growth.
[Source: GrubStreet]
