Whether you’re a hotel manager, a bar owner, promoter, or a caterer, it’s essential to your marketing efforts to do an effective job of branding and promotion. If you regularly host, work, or throw events, custom portable bars offer you a unique opportunity to promote yourself, your company, or a client. We’ve found there are a few different ways to use custom portable bars effectively and wanted to give you some tips to see if you can take advantage of them.
Personal or Professional Branding
If you’re representing yourself or your business, custom portable bars offer you an extra level of professionalism and style in your branding and marketing efforts. We’ve often seen them used at trade shows by event or wedding planners as a way to make their booths stand out.
It’s also a valuable marketing avenue for private mobile bar tending services. By using a custom portable bar, bar tending services are able to take advantage of the functionality of a bar while using it to market themselves. This can be particularly effective since a custom bar will make it easier for attendees to remember your service’s name and stand out so you’re more likely get referral business. It’s also a potential way to bill yourself as premium service and charge the accompanying rates.
Product Promotion
Another way that custom portable bars can be used is to promote specific products. We worked with Smirnoff to design a set of custom portable bars for their Black Mamba promotional campaign in Africa. The portability of the bars allow you to move them from event to event without limiting your venue options. The custom branding creates the exclusive and premium associations that you need to connect with your product.
We’ve also seen this used by some event and wedding planners. Having the family’s name or a message custom printed on a portable bar creates the feel of a truly exclusive event. Make sure you choose a modular portable bar so you’re not stuck with a bar that can only be used at one event.
“Inside Marketing”
Another way we’ve seen custom portable bars used is as a piece of “inside marketing” for venues such as hotels, clubs, and bars. “Inside marketing” is a way to market to customers already inside your venue to create loyalty and increase the perceived value of the venue or event.
For hotels that offer happy hours or serve drinks, a custom portable bar is a great way to utilize space effectively without sacrificing branding or promotion. You can roll it out and serve from it during the afternoon and evening then store it while it’s not in use. This creates a more exclusive and professional feel than just serving from a table in addition to being an effective use of “inside marketing.”
For venues like hotels conference centers that may have multiple spaces they use. Whether that’s two different conference rooms or, in the case of a hotel, a lobby and club or bar area, a custom portable bar can be moved easily between the two spaces as needed. This works well for bars and clubs as well. For nights you’re expecting larger than average crowds, having another point of sale can let you maximize revenue on big nights without having to set up another permanent bar.
Aesthetic Considerations
If you’re looking for a custom portable bar, you’re likely to have specific aesthetic considerations. Make sure the bar you’re looking at works aesthetically with the rest of your branding materials and in the venue where it’s going to be used. Some portable bars, even when customized, don’t have a clean appearance and come off as cheap. Portable bars with exposed casters and cheap looking panels tend to defeat the point by negating the premium feel.
We specifically designed our portable bars to appear seamless with hidden casters, clean corners and interchangeable panels on the front, sides, and bar counter. This gives them a polished and permanent appearance and allows you to maximize the space used for customization while still letting the bar remain easily portable.
Truly Custom Design
Though custom paneling satisfies most people’s needs when looking for a custom portable bar, sometimes there are specific aesthetic designs that need to be met. If you have a specific environment or brand image to design around, you may want to start from the ground up in customizing the bar.
Consider what the main purposes and uses of the bar will be. Where will it be used? Indoors or outdoors? How will you transport it? Is it going to be a focal point or an accessory? If you’d like to learn more about a custom designed portable bar, please contact us. We have over 20 years of custom design and manufacturing experience and have worked with brands ranging from Smirnoff to Google to design pieces that embody their brand and design needs.
