Marketing on the Fly
Flyers and Promo Cards Are As Relevant As Ever

Many a mighty nightclub and bar success story has been built on the strength of untold numbers of flyers and promotional cards handed out by street promoters dispatched to get the word out about a hot music group in town or a special Happy Hour event or nightclub promotion upcoming.   
    Yet in an age of Web sites, text messaging and electronic media, the power of the flyer and the promotional card to move marketing mountains and draw a crowd often gets overlooked.

Hand to Hand
    For all the proven effectiveness of mass Internet, electronic and text-message marketing in getting the attention of today’s big spending bar and club patron, veteran marketing pro and PK Graphics CEO and President Miguel Paredes says there is still no substitute for a flyer and promo card distribution strategy to get and keep the attention of a target audience. In the world-class nightclub environs of Miami and Miami Beach, Paredes is legendary as a pioneer flyer and promotional card source and supplier.
    “The flyer is a visual way of direct hand-to-hand or business-to-business marketing that truly details your organizations services,” says PK Graphics General Manager Sean Saladino. “It opens up a more personal approach to marketing to your clientele.
    “They are a great addition to any marketing strategy or by themselves, and they are a great way to reach an audience on the street level such as a shopping district.”
    Used strategically, both outside and inside the walls of a venue, flyers and promotional cards work as well or better than they ever did, says Dustin Turicik, director of marketing and design at Tampa, Fla.’s Print Quickness.
    “By using promotional flyers at your venue, you are increasing your current consumer’s awareness of the events, specials, and functions,” Turicik says. “The more educated your customer is, the more likely they are to return time after time.”
    Outside the four walls of a bar or club, flyers and promo cards, by their very nature, hold their own by comparison to other popular forms of on-premise marketing, he says.
    “The importance of the Internet, text messages, and mass radio cannot be downplayed.  All of these avenues provide an effective way to get the word out about your establishment. However, can you directly hand someone your Web site, text message, or radio ad?  The relevance of the flyer is easily attributed to the ability for you to hand it directly to your target audience.”
    Saladino and Turicik both advise operators not to be shy about using flyers for both everyday occasions as well as special promotions.
    “Because they are so cost effective and so direct, they can be used for numerous different applications, daily, weekly or monthly,” Saladino says.
In regards to everyday occasions, “Flyers posted or passed out at a lesser volume provide a consistent reminder to customers of the weekly events or drink specials you are providing,” Turicik says.

Hitting the Streets
    Though similar in design and in their direct, personal means of distribution, Turicik says promotional cards have a somewhat different purpose to flyers.
    “Promo cards are best used for bars and nightclubs in the form of free drink cards, free admission passes, and VIP cards. Promo cards are most effective when distributed to existing customers at the close of an evening, in order to provide a compelling reason for them to revisit your establishment in the
near future.”
    Just how effective are flyers in creating that enviable line of club-goers at the door?
    “Assuming you have an effective flyer design and distribution plan that is properly spaced out over 30 to 45 days, if you pass out 50,000 flyers, you can expect 1,500 to 1,750 people to turn out,” Turicik says. “At a cost of $1,625, if each person purchases one $2 drink, you have more than covered the initial cost of the marketing campaign. Also, take into consideration that this scenario does not include charging an entry fee.”
    How and to what extent a venue makes use of flyers and promotional cards depends a great deal on the footprint and theme of the establishment itself, where it is located, and whom the operator is trying to reach, Saladino says. But he says there are some basic tips for club managers to keep in mind when considering or employing flyers and cards into an overall marketing plan.
    “Have a competent designer and make sure that you proof all of your information for its accuracy,” he says. “The keys are Who, What, When, Where, What Time.”
He also says that there is more than one way to get the word to the streets.” “Generally they are passed hand to hand, but they can also be mailed to a clientele.”
While it is important to reach the potential patrons outside the door of a venue and bring in new traffic, Turicik advises owners not to ignore the captive audience they already have.
    “The first step in the distribution process is to fully penetrate your existing customer base by passing out flyers and promo cards at the close of the night as patrons exit the building,” he says.
    “Also, each car should have a flyer of the next upcoming event within one month of the show. Other key marketing strategies include providing a clear understanding to staff members that it’s partially their responsibility to promote all upcoming events or specials,” he says. “If you help them rationalize that larger crowds bring a higher volume of tips, it should be an easy sale.”                                   NCB