Conversion rate breakdown:
39 QR scans out of 350 invitations handed out = 11.14%. In this industry, when things are “going well”, the average is around 2%.
Here we’re at more than five times that.
So why did a small bar pull off a result this high?
So why did a small bar pull off a result this high?There’s a question every bar owner ends up asking sooner or later:“How do I promote an event without wasting money on flyers people ignore?”It’s a classic problem. Bar marketing usually turns into colorful flyers, loud posters, flashy graphics…And despite all that visual noise, people don’t read.In this case, though, the bar got 39 real scans.
That means 39 people actually picked up the invite, opened it, and decided to act.
No discounts. No aggressive promos. No big promises.
The invisible problem with bar marketing
Most printed materials in this space fall into one of these traps:
- too “salesy”
- too noisy
- focused on color instead of message
- no clear visual path
- no measurable CTA
Result? People don’t read them. And if they don’t read, they don’t convert.
The real cost isn’t printing.
It’s lost attention.
The solution: disguising advertising as a personal invitation
So we took a different route:not a flyer, not a poster, not a promo.A small folded invite in a mini letter format.Tiny. Elegant. Simple.Personal enough that it didn’t feel like advertising.Basically, the Trojan Horse effect applied to bar marketing.
Why did it work so well?
Because the invite:
- didn’t look like a promo, so readers didn’t put their guard up
- had to be opened. The folded format automatically creates curiosity
- used a clean visual hierarchy, no noise, just clear messages
- included a QR code as a measurable CTA, so every scan was real data
- was dirt cheap to print, small format, maximum impact
From a DRD (Direct Response Design) point of view, it’s a perfect case: high readability, a guided visual flow, nothing unnecessary.
The technical principle behind materials that convert
If you wanted to replicate this, these are the non-negotiables:
- Typographic readability: clear fonts, correct sizes, no decoration for decoration’s sake.
- Guided visual path: first the message, then the invite, then the CTA.
- Non-advertising look: seeming personal boosts opening rate and attention.
- Measurable CTA: a dedicated, trackable, specific QR code.
- Lower cognitive effort: fewer elements = more action.
These principles are universal in direct marketing, but they’re even more powerful for bars, where printed materials only live a few seconds in the customer’s hand.
A review that says more than the numbers
The bar owner left us this feedback:
“They build the relationship not only on work, but on shared goals and strategy.
They also help with technical aspects like printing.
I trust them with all my projects because I know I’ll get support and reliability.
It’s hard to find professionals of this level.”
That kind of relationship happens because we don’t just “make graphics.”
We work on strategy, readability, materials, and everything needed to make the campaign
actually work.If you want to try this approach yourself, you canYou can create a folded invite, keep the tone personal, add a clear CTA, and test a QR code.It’ll outperform 90% of standard flyers.But if you want an experienced eye to optimize readability, visual flow, and format
(and save you from the usual printing and layout mistakes), that’s where we come in.Want to see if your materials could get results like this?We can review one of your pieces for free with a graphic video checkup:you’ll get a video analysis within 72 hours, plus a document listing improvements by priority.All you need to do is upload your material.We’ll look together at what’s weak and what you can fix right away.
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