Marketing on Tap to help the hospitality industry

The new ‘Marketing on Tap’ campaign aimed at helping the Scottish hospitality industry has been set up by The Marketing Society Scotland (MSS) and its members.

The society hopes to support pubs, bars and restaurants across Scotland with free marketing and promotions advice, training and downloadable toolkits spanning social media, PR, influencer engagement and digital marketing.

Timed to coincide with the latest lifting of restrictions, Marketing on Tap will equip small to medium sized hospitality businesses across Scotland as they finally reopen their doors and prepare to welcome more guests across the summer months.  

MSS Director, Graeme Atha, said: “Scotland has a vibrant marketing community, full of bright, creative minds and a collective vision to do good.  It’s also a community that not only works closely with the hospitality sector, but has also relied on it as the birthplace for great creative ideas, award wins, pitch celebrations and of course, commiserations, and we owe it a great debt. 

“Our Advisory Board felt strongly they had an opportunity to give back and add real value to the hospitality sector in a time of need, so have pooled resources to proactively create and launch Marketing on Tap to support businesses with free, trusted advice, real support, and a suite of tangible assets.”

Emma Pollock, Communications Manager with Diageo, who helped initiate the campaign said: “Hospitality venues in Scotland have been closed for the majority of the last year and prior to the pandemic, this was a buoyant industry, contributing £1.8bn to Scotland’s economy and supporting over 83,000 jobs.  It’s now an industry that needs support to recover and the Marketing Society Scotland has the will and the expertise to help make a difference to these businesses.

“Marketing on Tap shows the power of action and the collective support across the Scottish marketing sector to share knowledge and expertise to support our hospitality industry and help get these businesses back on their feet.”

In addition to practical guidance, MSS is also encouraging its members to deliver grassroots support and ‘make your work more social by heading down your local’.  The intention is to drive increased custom at a local level through word-of-mouth promotion, social media support and even justifiably holding meetings over lunch or a pint.

Over a seven-week period Marketing on Tap will provide:

• Practical, downloadable how to guides to
• Brand building
• Digital presence
• Social media management
• ­Photography
• ­PR / Media Releases
• ­Influencer engagement
• In-depth weekly online clinics (based on the above topics) and the opportunity to ask the marketing experts
• Online signposting to financial support and associated links

www.marketingsociety.com/marketingontap