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Orange Jelly

pub marketing

find out why trade is quiet, and what to fix.

We run a pub. The Anchor is our own venue, and everything on this page was tested there before it was offered to anybody else. Written for pubs, and it applies just as well to restaurants, bars and cafés.

Let's talkSee the numbers

most pubs do not have a marketing problem.

They have a diagnosis problem. Trade is down, and the explanation everyone agrees on is the economy, the weather, the estate, the new place up the road. Sometimes it is. Usually the actual cause is somewhere nobody has looked, and more posting won't find it.

That's why we start by looking, not by proposing a campaign.

what we look at first.

Whether people can find you
Google Business Profile, the search terms locals actually use, the photos, the review replies. It's the cheapest fix in hospitality and the one most often left undone.
Whether there is a reason to come
A clear midweek hook beats a full content calendar. One repeatable reason is worth more than thirty posts.
Whether people who want to come can actually book
Most venues lose people between wanting to come and having a table. That gap is measurable and almost nobody measures it.
Whether the extra trade is worth having
More covers at the wrong margin is more work for the same money.

proven in our own venue.

Every figure below is from The Anchor, measured against the numbers before we started.

+828%Google Search visibility

How often people found The Anchor on Google: clicks and impressions, against before.

Create demand
+403%Table bookings

Bookings taken at The Anchor, compared with before the work started.

Convert more
+567%Private hire bookings

Twenty confirmed in six months, against about six a year before.

Create demand
89%Fewer booking no-shows

No-show rate fell from around 20% to around 2%.

Protect margin
+98%Food revenue

Within three months, at The Anchor.

Protect margin

how it works.

  1. 01HEAR.What is actually happening in the venue, from the people in it and the numbers.
  2. 02CHALLENGE.The explanation everyone has agreed on, tested against the evidence.
  3. 03BUILD.The fix. Visibility, an offer, a booking journey, a menu, a system. Whatever it turns out to need.
  4. 04OPTIMISE.Measured against the numbers we took before we started, and kept at until it moves.
The method in full

if takings are actually falling.

Everything above assumes there's time to look properly. If takings are falling week on week and the wage bill is not, that is more urgent, and there's a page on finding out why.

where we can get to in person.

We work with pubs anywhere in the UK, and most of what we do works the same either way. These are the counties close enough to The Anchor for us to turn up.

  • London
  • Surrey
  • Berkshire
  • Buckinghamshire
  • Hertfordshire
  • Kent
  • Hampshire
  • Oxfordshire

questions publicans ask.

Do you do it for me, or show me how?
Either, and we decide which in the first conversation. Some venues want a plan and the templates to run it. Others want it done. What we will not do is sell you the hands-on version when the plan would have been enough.
How quickly does pub marketing work?
Local visibility moves in days, because it's mostly correcting things that are wrong. Bookings and repeat visits build over weeks, because they depend on people coming back. Anyone promising both in a fortnight is selling you the first and calling it the second.
Can you help with Google Business Profile and reviews?
Yes, and it's usually where we start. It is the quickest win for local footfall: accuracy, photos, replies, and posts that actually get seen.
What does it cost?
The rate is £62.50 plus VAT an hour, and that is the only number we advertise. There are no packages, because what a single quiet midweek session needs is nothing like what a venue where the whole week has slipped needs. The first conversation is an hour and it's free, and you get the hours in writing before anything starts.
Will this work for a tied pub or a managed house?
Yes. Almost every win here is about how the place runs or what it says about itself: events, local visibility, the booking route, repeat visits. None of it depends on who supplies the beer.
Do you work with restaurants, bars and cafés too?
Yes. The page says pub because that is what we run and what most people search for, but finding you, giving people a reason to come, taking the booking and keeping the margin are the same job in any venue that serves food and drink.

we're a tenant too.

Whatever is happening in your venue, we've probably had a version of it in ours. Tell us what it is.

Let's talk