How to Promote Pub Events Effectively and Fun

Why Some Pubs Go Viral (and Others Stay Empty)

Every pub landlord knows the feeling. You’ve prepped a cracking quiz, lined up a guest singer for Saturday night, or spent a fortune on posters for the big football derby — and come the night, the place is only half-full. Meanwhile, the pub down the road (with far worse beer, let’s be honest) is somehow rammed every week.

What’s going on?

It’s not luck. It’s not even just location. It’s science.

Marketing professor Jonah Berger, in his bestselling book Contagious: Why Things Catch On, cracked the code of why some products, ideas, and events “catch fire” while others flop. His answer? The 6 STEPPS framework:

Social Currency – people share things that make them look good
Triggers – people talk about what’s top of mind
Emotion – when we care, we share
Public – built to show, built to grow
Practical Value – news you can use
Stories – information travels in narratives

Think of it as the recipe for pub buzz.

And when you apply it to pub events — quiz nights, live bands, Sunday roasts, karaoke, darts finals — you stop relying on luck and start engineering contagious nights people can’t stop talking about.

The Cheesesteak That Changed Marketing

Let’s start with food (naturally).

Back in Philadelphia, a steakhouse called Barclay Prime wanted to stand out in a crowded city of steakhouses. So instead of pushing the same old cuts, they made a $100 cheesesteak. Kobe beef, lobster, truffles, champagne on the side.

The result? National press, celebrity endorsements, queues of curious diners.

Here’s the kicker: hardly anyone actually ordered the £100 cheesesteak. But everyone talked about it. It gave Barclay Prime a story that spread far beyond their four walls.

Now swap cheesesteaks for roasts: imagine your pub offers “The £50 Wagyu & Truffle Sunday Roast — comes with a free pint and bragging rights for life.” Most punters won’t order it. But everyone in town will mention it.

That’s Social Currency in action.

Why Ads Don’t Work (and Banter Does)

Traditional pub marketing is broken. A poster outside that says “Quiz Night Thursday 8pm” might tick the compliance box, but it doesn’t cut through.

People don’t spread posters. They spread stories.

In fact, research shows that word of mouth drives 20–50% of all purchase decisions, and that a single recommendation from a mate is 10x more powerful than a paid advert.

The good news? Pubs are perfectly placed for word of mouth. Your customers are already socialising. They’re already swapping stories. You just need to give them the right material to share.

📸 A lively pub scene with people at tables, one person showing off a giant roast dinner while others take photos on their phones. Caption: “Outrageous pub experiences = stories worth sharing.”

The 6 STEPPS Applied to Pubs

Let’s break each principle down with pub-ready examples.

People love to share things that make them look smart, funny, or like an insider.

How to do this in your pub:

Secret Menu Drinks: Have a cocktail only available if you whisper the quiz answer from last week.
Challenge Food: A giant “Landlord’s Burger” that’s impossible to finish solo.
Status Rewards: A “first pint on us” token for locals who share a post.

Your goal: give punters something they’re dying to brag about.

🎯 2. Triggers – Pint of Tongue

People talk about what’s top of mind. That’s why KitKat sales shot up when tied to coffee breaks.

For pubs:

Anchor quiz nights to a specific weekday: “Wednesday = Quiz Day.”
Run rituals tied to football fixtures: “Every time England score, shots are half price for 3 minutes.”
Use weather triggers: “Rainy day? Free Yorkshire pud topper with every roast.”

The trick: make your event so tightly tied to a trigger that people can’t think of one without the other.

Boring doesn’t spread. Banter does.

High-arousal emotions (awe, joy, pride, outrage) fuel word of mouth.

For pubs:

Nostalgia Nights: 90s music quizzes, retro cocktails.
Local Rivalries: Friendly competition between darts teams, or North vs South pub quiz rounds.
Charity Stories: Frame events as supporting local causes — punters will share with pride.

It’s about making people feel.

👀 4. Public – Built to Show, Built to Grow

If people can’t see it, they won’t share it.

This is why Apple flipped their laptop logo upside down years ago — so when people opened their MacBooks in a café, the glowing logo faced outwards. Free advertising, just by being seen.

For pubs, “public” means making your events impossible to miss, both in the venue and online.

Photo Walls: Create a “Winners’ Wall” with quiz champions, darts finalists, or karaoke stars. Snap and tag them — they’ll share it.
Visible Trophies: Cheap but effective. Engrave funny categories (“Best Wrong Answer”, “Loudest Singer”).
Pub Merch: T-shirts, mugs, even a pub dog on a pint glass. Every item someone wears or uses outside your walls = free marketing.
TikTok & Insta Moments: Set up a “pub challenge corner” (think fastest pint pour or Guinness cascade cam). People film, people share, pub gets buzz.

If your events are built to show, they’re built to grow.

💡 5. Practical Value – News You Can Use

People love sharing useful stuff. It makes them look helpful (and clever).

That’s why life hacks spread so quickly online — they carry value.

For pubs, this is your chance to be the go-to helpful voice in the local community.

Ideas that spread:

Roast Hacks: Pairings of beers with roasts (“Try a stout with beef, IPA with chicken”).
Match Day Survival Guides: Kick-off times, drink specials, half-time food offers.
Student Hacks: “5 ways to make your loan stretch further (including £2 pint night at The Crown).”
Local Tips: Bus times, takeaway cut-offs, even local trivia — all wrapped in pub banter.

By mixing humour + value, your posts become “too good not to share.”

📖 6. Stories – The Pub as a Trojan Horse

People don’t just share facts. They share stories.

Think about urban legends, or even just the last night out you told your mate about. It wasn’t bullet points. It was a story.

That’s why you need to wrap your pub marketing in narratives.

Examples:

Legendary Locals: “Big Mick has played every pub quiz since ’09, but never won. Last night, history changed.”
Pub Dog Mascot: Give your dog or cat a recurring role. People will follow the saga.
Epic Rivalries: Frame darts, pool, or quiz rivalries as ongoing sagas: “The Southside Six vs. The Townies: Chapter 4.”
The Roast Quest: Market your roast as “The Roast Worth Posting”. People will retell the story for you.

Your events become “Trojan horses” — wrapped in tales punters want to pass on.

Putting STEPPS Into Action

At this point you’re probably thinking: “Alright, clever stuff — but how do I actually do this without turning into a full-time marketer?”

The answer is small, consistent tweaks.

Here’s a starter plan:

Week 1 – Social Currency: Add a secret drink only available to quiz-goers.
Week 2 – Triggers: Brand Wednesday as “Pub Quiz Wednesday” everywhere.
Week 3 – Emotion: Add a nostalgic music round.
Week 4 – Public: Launch a Winners’ Wall on socials.
Week 5 – Practical Value: Share a match-day guide with times and offers.
Week 6 – Stories: Spotlight a regular or rivalry.

By the end of 6 weeks, your pub calendar is buzzing — and your regulars are spreading the word for you.

The Parasite Marketing Edge

The magic of STEPPS is that it doesn’t stop at your pub walls.

When you bake stories, humour, and value into your posts, they’re not just “ads” — they’re content fit for anywhere:

LinkedIn Article: “How a Local Pub Doubled Quiz Attendance with Psychology.”
Medium Post: “Why a £50 Roast Can Save Your Business.”
Reddit Story: “We turned karaoke night into a town-wide rivalry — AMA.”
Substack: “Contagious Pubs: How to Turn Your Venue Into the Talk of the Town.”

This is parasite marketing done right: one idea, many platforms, new audiences.

From Posters to Packed Pubs: Your Action Plan

Here’s the truth: most pubs market like it’s still 1998. A poster in the window, a half-hearted Facebook event, and maybe an A-board outside if the rain hasn’t washed the chalk away.

That’s not enough anymore. Attention is scarce. Competition is everywhere. But the good news? The 6 STEPPS give you a proven playbook.

Let’s break it into an action plan you can actually use next week:

1. Audit Your Current Events

Take a hard look at your pub calendar. For each event, ask:

Does this give punters social currency? (Would they brag about it?)
Is it linked to a trigger? (E.g., “Wednesday = Quiz Night”.)
Does it spark emotion? (Joy, nostalgia, rivalry, pride?)
Is it publicly visible? (Trophies, photos, videos, hashtags?)
Does it carry practical value? (Tips, deals, useful guides?)
Can it be wrapped in a story? (Legends, rivalries, mascots?)

If the answer’s “no” to most of these, it’s time to refresh.

2. Choose One STEPPS per Week

Don’t overhaul everything at once. Landlords are busy enough. Instead, make this a rolling plan:

Week 1: Add an outrageous food/drink item for social currency.
Week 2: Tie quiz night or roast to a natural trigger (like a weekly habit).
Week 3: Build in emotional hooks (retro round, charity angle, pub rivalry).
Week 4: Make winners visible — trophies, TikToks, walls of fame.
Week 5: Publish a “pub life hack” on socials.
Week 6: Spotlight a story worth retelling.

By the end of six weeks, your events will have built-in viral fuel.

3. Leverage Parasite Marketing

The genius of this system is that it doesn’t just live inside your pub.

Every time you post a quiz recap, roast highlight, or karaoke fail, you’ve got content fit for other platforms:

LinkedIn Article: Case study tone — appeals to business & hospitality readers.
Medium: Long-form storytelling about “pub marketing psychology.”
Reddit (r/marketing, r/hospitality): Honest, no-fluff breakdowns.
Substack: Serialized series (“Contagious Pubs: 6 Emails to Fill Your Bar”).

One story → four platforms → endless reach.

4. Tools That Save You Time

Here’s the reality check: most landlords don’t have hours to sit at a laptop writing witty posts.

That’s why tools like SmartPubTools exist. Instead of staring at a blank screen, you just say: “Quiz Night this Wednesday, £50 bar tab prize” — and the AI generates:

A funny Facebook post (“Think you’re smarter than Dave from accounts? Prove it this Wednesday!”).
An Instagram caption with emojis, weather banter, and hashtags.
Even a meme or reel script.

All done in the voice of pub humour — cheeky, warm, and designed to catch attention.

This is how you scale STEPPS without losing your sanity.

Outbound Inspiration

Want to go deeper? Here are some brilliant resources to sharpen your pub marketing:

David Ogilvy’s Principles of Advertising – timeless lessons on headlines & hooks (Ogilvy on Advertising).
Robert Cialdini’s Influence – the psychology of persuasion that underpins STEPPS (Influence book site).
CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) – insights into the British pub industry and community events (camra.org.uk).
UKHospitality – trade body guidance and reports on pub/restaurant growth (ukhospitality.org.uk).
HubSpot Blog – practical marketing tactics (social proof, email hacks, content calendars) (blog.hubspot.com).

Learning from the best → applying it with pub banter → that’s the SmartPubTools way.

Final Pour

Promoting pub events isn’t about shouting louder. It’s about making your nights contagious.

When you use the 6 STEPPS — Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories — you engineer word of mouth. You give punters something to talk about before, during, and after the event.

Do this consistently, and you’ll stop chasing footfall and start building a pub that markets itself.

🍻 Ready to make your nights contagious?
Check out SmartPubTools.net — the landlord’s shortcut to viral posts, banter-packed marketing, and full pubs.

❓ Pub Event Promotion FAQs

Q: What is the best way to promote pub events?
A: The best way to promote pub events is by creating experiences that people want to talk about. Use Jonah Berger’s 6 STEPPS framework — Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories — to design events that spread by word of mouth. Combine this with social media posts tailored to your community for maximum reach.

Q: How can I increase footfall for quiz nights or karaoke?
A: Make your quiz or karaoke night stand out with a unique hook (e.g., outrageous prizes, nostalgia themes, rivalry rounds). Promote the event consistently on the same day each week (a trigger), celebrate winners publicly, and post highlights online. Small tweaks like a “Winners’ Wall” or “secret cocktails” make people more likely to share and return.

Q: Do pub posters still work for marketing?
A: Posters still have a role in pubs, but they’re not enough on their own. People rarely share posters. Instead, focus on creating stories and content that travel beyond your walls — Facebook posts, Instagram reels, TikTok challenges, and even local press stories about quirky events. Use posters as reminders, not as the core marketing driver.

Q: What’s the cheapest way to promote a pub event?
A: The cheapest way is to use word of mouth and social media. Encourage punters to share their experiences by giving them photo-worthy moments (e.g., oversized roasts, funny trophies). Free promotion comes when you give customers something worth posting. SmartPubTools can also generate banter-driven posts in seconds, saving time and money.

Q: How do I make a pub event go viral?
A: To go viral, design your event with at least one “STEPPS” element:

Outrageous or remarkable (Social Currency)
Tied to a regular habit (Triggers)
Emotional or funny (Emotion)
Publicly visible (Public)
Helpful or useful (Practical Value)
Easy to retell (Stories)
The more elements you combine, the more contagious your event becomes.

Q: Can AI really help with pub marketing?
A: Yes. AI tools like SmartPubTools let landlords create ready-to-post social media content in seconds. Just describe your event (e.g., “Karaoke Thursday with £25 bar tab prize”), and the AI generates posts with humour, sports fixtures, and local flavour. It saves hours of work while keeping content fresh and shareable.

How to Promote Pub Events (and Make Them Go Viral with the 6 STEPPS)