MARKETING TIPS

Engage your team for trivia success:

Want to sustain a lean, mean Trivia machine week in, week out? Well, it takes practice, dedication and understanding from your whole team. It's often overlooked how influential a venue's staff can be to bring in punters AND build up the atmosphere on the night.

A regular, brief refresh of trivia night details with your team - day, time, specials, what's involved etc.- and having a regular rotation of staff rostered on the night is key. This ensures everyone is across the event and gets the right info out to potential attendees during the week.

Plus, it gets your team hyped for the night and joining in on the action.

Harnessing word-of-mouth and user generated content:

There’s nothing like word-of-mouth to get punters in the door week after week - aside from social media. Spread the word about trivia night by mobilizing your regular patrons. Incentivise them to share snaps, videos and posts about the show with a special deal or prize competition.

Not only will you get the word out there, but you'll also garner user-generated content to use for future promotion.

Every week we offer a bonus point for the best photo from our punters. After a year, it still garners a huge amount of super useful promo material we can use and share every single week both on stories and feed posts.

The constant reinforcement of people having fun at trivia is one of the most useful pieces of promo we post. Couldn't recommend it more!

Managing crowd flow and encouraging early attendance:

Quite often trivia players will arrive right on the posted start time. Whilst logically sound, this can often cause delays at the bar, in the kitchen and at the show. When everyone arrives all at once it can be a challenge to keep things moving.

If you want to get punters in, ordering, and seated earlier consider 1) offering earlier table reservation times when they book and 2) offering a special food and/or drink deal that incentivises early attendance. This helps to stagger patron traffic and ensure you're not consistently having to run late to accommodate latecomers.

Effective paid social media advertising:

Want to run paid ads promoting the quiz? Here's my guide for best practices:

Use Facebook Ads Manager for more detailed targeting options. 'Boost post' targeting options aren't as robust.

Focus your targeting on people living in your venue’s suburb (and specific surrounding suburbs). Don't use the radius feature.

Segment by 'Interested in: Trivia'.

Keep post text short and to a couple of sentences. Highlight an offer or something special about the trivia night - prizes on offer, specials etc.

Include a link in post text to your venue’s What's on' Page / a specific trivia Event page with more info.

Capturing engaging content and attracting new punters:

Encourage your staff to capture photo and video content in bulk during trivia nights. Not only does it get staff contributing to the content pool, but you also benefit from new perspectives to share on promotion channels during the weeks.

Sure, you may have regular trivia heads coming week after week, but it's always a good idea to bolster that crowd with new punters to keep things interesting. Keep the content flowing even when your trivia nights are full, to capture the atmosphere and keep bums on seats week after week.

Last-Minute Promo and Booking Reminders:

Looking to fill those last few tables or seats on trivia night? Try posting content about trivia along with a booking Call-to-Action a day before. This will act as a little reminder for those who said to themselves ‘maybe next week’ and act as a prompt for those who don’t like to think long term. Plus, it gives everyone time to convince their crew.

Deals and Specials for Trivia Night:

Give your punters an offer they can’t refuse - put on a drink or food special on trivia nights. Maybe both? Heck, go all the way and do a ‘trivia only’ menu. Differentiating your offering adds another incentive to come in, makes your trivia night more of an event, and keeps crowds coming back for more.

For an extra personal touch, why not name the special after your host? This adds a fun twist and helps attendees remember the offer. For instance, they'll be more likely to recall and order "The Matty Taylor" rather than a generic "Trivia Night Special."

Naming the special after your host creates a strong connection between the event and the offer, making it more memorable for attendees. This personalized touch can boost customer engagement and foster a sense of community, ultimately enhancing the overall trivia night experience.

Amplifying Organic Reach with Paid Promo:

Consider complementing your organic social with paid promotion. Targeting options on social are quite robust and you can get a lot of traction for the cost of a pint per day. It can be a great booster shot for attendance. Plus it introduces new punters to your trivia night. Get the most bang for your marketing buck by targeting people in adjacent suburbs to your venue who have similar interests to your regular patrons.

Build FOMO by Going Live:

Why not try going live?

There is no better marketing tool than FOMO. Simple photos of your trivia shared on social media are a great way to get new people quizzing.

An even better way? Pick a certain dynamic moment in the show - like rooftops or flats - and go live on your Instagram or Facebook. It's a super simple way to tap into that FOMO and have your followers wishing they were at your venue right then and there!

Also by going live, it lets them know what day and time trivia is on in a more engaging way. Give it a shot!

Embrace the Content Snowball Effect:

Each trivia night is a great opportunity to capture content for the following week. Make the most of a captive audience and gather content that you can use to bolster future promotion. Providing audiences with snippets of the experience, week after week, shows them what they’re missing. Eventually they’ll take action!

Good event content taps into the FOMO we all have and sustains positive perceptions of the event from your regular patrons. Whether created by your staff or punter-generated content, use it to your advantage and maintain awareness over the long term.

Optimise Posting Strategies for Maximum Impact:

When posting about your weekly events (like trivia), make sure to mix up your posting times and spread out your content. Posting at the same time, in bulk, each week inhibits the reach of your content and dilutes the message. Keep it fresh by changing up your content types (video, static image, text etc.), keep it timely, and don't be afraid to post when the event is on as well. It might just spur people to come along, or avoid missing out the next week.

Make Your Regulars Feel Special:

Everyone likes to feel like a SIP (Somewhat Important Person). Whether it’s via an organic interaction with staff, a freebie or discount here and there, or even a formal loyalty scheme. Something as little as remembering their names and making a bit of a deal of their visit can be a good hook. Offering your trivia regulars a standing reservation at their favourite table for trivia, or even a small discount on their first round can also go a long way. These patrons are likely to be evangelists and bring new people to the venue. One good interaction can go a long way - 77% of customers would recommend a brand to a friend after a single positive experience.

Encourage Bookings for Consistent Attendance:

As your trivia nights develop a following, encouraging people to book ahead for trivia is a great way to ensure a steady crowd long-term. It helps identify and retain regulars and means your patron numbers become a lot more predictable. That way, not only do you keep the show performing at its peak, it helps you better estimate staffing requirements. Whether it's through Facebook DMs, phone calls or a dedicated booking form on a website - letting punters book can genuinely contribute to the continued success of your trivia nights.

Diversify your Promo for Wider Reach:

Something we've noticed recently is that a lot of venues stick to one style of promo. They might post really great stories, but never post anything to their feeds. They might post in their feed, but never add anything to their stories.

The easiest way to reach as many of your followers as possible is to diversify what and where you're posting. We've got a heap of different styles of promo posts, shaking up the designs you use and where you post them will ensure that your followers actually see and engage with your promo. The more people who do that, the more people who come and quiz!

The Power of Advanced Promo:

Something we've noticed recently is that a lot of venues post their first piece of promotion on the same day as the quiz. While that may seem like a good idea in theory, we've found in practice posting a day or two in advance is the best way to get butts in seats.

Humans are creatures of habit, and chances are they're not going to make plans to come and quiz if they only hear about it the day of. Posting at least a day in advance gives people the time to decide to come, organize a team, book a table etc. Post in advance, and it should lead to consistent and stronger crowds.

Utilise Instagram Event Reminders for Promo:

If you've got a professional account on Instagram, you can now add event reminders directly to your feed posts! This means every time you promote trivia you can tag the specific show time and date as a reminder for punters. They tap the reminder and BAM, they remember trivia and you get more bums on seats. Too good!

Here's how to do it:

1. Create a new Instagram Feed post.

2. Under New Post, tap Add Reminder.

3. Input your Event Title and select your Start Time. You can also include an optional End Time.

4. Finish creating your post and tap Share.

Those who see the post can opt to receive three notifications for the event - one 24 hours before the event, one 15 minutes before the event, and one at the time of the event.