Your bar isn’t complete without its TVs. Traditionally, television screens have kept customers engaged by broadcasting content that they care about.
But are you getting as much out of the TV in your bar as you could be?
Nowadays, there are tons of unique things that you can do with a television screen to deliver a better experience to your customers.
Keep reading to get some inspiration and to find step-by-step instructions for transforming your bar TVs with digital signage.
Why do more with your televisions?
Maybe you haven’t thought much about the TVs in your bar. But if not, you really should be. If you use your television screens optimally, you could see meaningful upticks in both customer engagement and sales.
That’s because TVs entertain. And when people at your bar enjoy themselves more, they tend to stick around for greater amounts of time.
The longer that people spend in your bar, the more that they tend to spend on drinks and food. So there’s a very direct correlation between how much entertainment value you offer your customers and the amount of money that you get from your average patron.
What can I use the TV in my bar for?
Gone are the days of only being able to use the TV in your bar for cable television.
Here are six new things that you can do with your TVs to keep your audience more engaged:
Livestreaming
In 2020, about 232 million people in the United States watched streaming entertainment on their devices. That’s a massive number — especially when you consider that the entire U.S. population is 330 million.
Given the big appetite for this type of content, why not start showing it in your bar?
Instead of displaying the same boring broadcast channels, give your consumers what they really want in the form of live streaming entertainment.
Sports
Sports and bars go together like a hand in a glove. If you’re not already, why not make them more of an emphasis at your establishment?
One way to do that is by creating special themed nights during the week that you build around different sports.
For example, you could run a special for Thursday Night Football like giving people a discount for showing up in a jersey from their favorite team.
Getting creative like this can help to bring people into your bar for sporting events that they might have otherwise watched at home.
Betting
There is a growing number of states in which sports betting is now legal. And there’s a big appetite for this in the United States. So why not take advantage of this trend to help out your bar?
One idea is to set up some of your screens as interactive sports betting stations. You can allow your customers to place bets with touchscreens so that they’re even more engaged with the sports that you show on your TVs.
If you’re worried about the logistics of all of this, don’t be! You could partner with an existing sportsbook so that you get a cut of the commissions without having to set everything up yourself.
Internal advertisements
You can also use your bar TVs to advertise your bar’s various offerings.
Digital signage makes this possible. It lets you show the streaming content that your customers want while displaying your ads instead of normal commercials.
We’ve included more information on how to set this up in your bar in a later section.
Trivia nights
Another great way to get more people into your bar for longer is running weekly trivia nights. You can use your existing screens for these nights as well.
If you’re interested in doing this, check out this article we put together. It gives you step-by-step instructions for adding trivia nights to your bar’s slate of offerings.
Digital menus
If you sell a lot of food, then you might also consider using one or two of your screens as digital menus. These are more engaging than standard menus and are much easier to update.
Adding them to your bar could help to speed up the ordering process so that customers spend less time waiting and more time enjoying themselves at your establishment.
Here are some digital menu template ideas to get you started.
How to leverage your TV to increase engagement and sales
Here are some other tips you can use to start getting more engagement and sales out of your TVs.
Show a diverse range of content
The people who visit your bar are diverse. They won’t all like the same type of content. That’s why it’s important to make sure that you’re showing content that’s as diverse as your audience.
You can change what you show based on what you know about the customers that come in on certain days and at certain times of the day.
For example, what your average customer wants to see on a Friday night could be very different from what a Tuesday afternoon visitor desires.
Provide your customers with interactive content
Interactive content like games, trivia nights and sports betting is super engaging. It gets your customers to interact with your TVs in ways that they just can’t when the content that you show is non-interactive.
So if you’re serious about getting more sales and engagement out of your bar TVs, interactivity should be key to the upgrades that you’re making.
Listen to feedback
Even the best-laid plans won’t always work out exactly the way you want. That’s why it’s important to listen to what your customers have to say about the changes that you’re making.
What do they like about what you’re doing? And what do they dislike? Don’t assume that you know better than your customers. By taking their feedback into account, you have a much higher rate of certainty that your bar TVs will show content that truly appeals to them.
How to use your screens for more than just TV
Are you ready to start using your bar TVs for more than TV? Here are step-by-step instructions to make that happen.
Make sure you’re happy with your screens
The first thing you need to do is make sure that you’re happy with the layout and number of your screens. Ideally, a person in your bar should be able to clearly see a screen no matter where they’re sitting.
If that’s not the case, then you may need to either change your screen layout or add a few extra ones to your bar.
It’s also worth mentioning that you may need to invest in touch screens if you want to make interactive sports betting a part of your bar.
Pick a digital signage software
Digital signage software is what’s going to power all of these changes that you’re making to your TVs. It gives you complete control over what you show on your screens.
UPshow’s digital signage software is perfect for bars. You’ll get more than 500 channels of live streaming entertainment to choose from and will be free to choose from templates and create customized displays to fit your exact specifications.
Use the software to set up a customized display rotation
Once you’ve chosen your digital signage software, you’re ready to set up your display rotation. There are tons of different opportunities for customization so you can get creative with what you do.
As you work to create your display rotation, think about what your customers care the most about and make it a point of emphasis.
It’s also worth mentioning that digital signage displays are really easy to update. So don’t be afraid to try some things out to see if they work. You can always go back and make changes if you aren’t happy with the result!
Track your progress over time
Once you’ve set up your displays, you’ll be ready to start sharing them with your customers. As you do this, you can take advantage of the analytical features of a platform like UPshow.
These can tell you how well your content is performing over time so that you can identify what works and what doesn’t for you. Make sure that you’re keeping tabs on this so that you can optimize what you show over time.
UPshow can help you get the most out of your bar TVs
If you’d like to start getting more from your bar TVs, UPshow can help you do it. Our digital signage software makes it super easy to share everything from live streaming video to sports betting options with your audience.
But don’t just take our word for it. You can sign up to get a free custom demo of UPshow today to see exactly how valuable it can be for your bar.
We look forward to hearing from you.
