Bar and nightclub.
Automated.

A bar that relies on Instagram and Facebook for event promotion is renting attention from an algorithm that shows their posts to 5-15% of followers -- if it feels like showing it. A bar with 800 text subscribers who opted in at the door is reaching 800 people directly every time. Building the list -- sign-up incentive at the bar, QR code on table tents, staff ask at payment -- is the highest-ROI marketing investment available to any hospitality venue.

A sold-out event that sold 300 tickets in advance at $15 each grossed $4,500 before the first person walked in. The same event with door-only sales is a weather-dependent, competing-venue-dependent gamble. Advance ticket sales also create commitment -- people who bought a ticket show up even when it's cold. Door-only attendees cancel when something better comes up.

A bar with a capacity of 300 that does a full-venue buyout on a Tuesday for a corporate client or birthday party at a $3,500 minimum spend grossed more on a Tuesday than a typical Thursday night. Private event and buyout inquiries often come from people who've already been to the bar -- regulars planning milestone events, corporate contacts who know the space. A private event promotion to the loyalty list twice per year fills the inquiry pipeline.

A group of 8 people planning a birthday at a nightclub will book a VIP table if the offer is presented clearly -- table minimum, bottle pricing, reservation process -- and responded to within 2 hours. Most bars lose VIP bookings to competitors who have a reservation system that works. A VIP inquiry that goes to a general voicemail and gets called back the next day is a booking that went to the venue across the street.