As a restaurateur, events can be a very lucrative part of your business strategy. They bring a lot of people into your establishment and also create an appeal that makes people want to come back. Are you doing everything you can to maximize your event marketing?
Effectively market your events by breaking each event down into three categories:
- Pre Event Marketing - Marketing designed to get people to attend your event
- Event Marketing - Market to the people at the event. This step is also critical to post event marketing
- Post Event Marketing - This is designed to let people know how fun the event was and to entice them to come back and share this information with their friends
Pre Event - Building Interest
If you are well prepared, you know what kind of revenue an event can bring in and you may actually have a marketing budget to promote it. The key factor to pre event marketing is writing an enticing post about the event. Post this page on your blog. This will be the key piece to your online marketing.
Pre event marketing options?
Traditional:
- Newspaper
- Radio
Digital:
- Website
- EventBrite - Or other event promotion website
Social Media:
Getting people in the door is a huge deal here. You want to try and establish how people hear about your event. That will allow you to know where to invest most of your time and marketing dollars.
If you are paying for any of the above it is strongly recommended you try to establish a pecking order. Some channels will be better than others. All channels consume resources, be it time or money. Make sure your resources are providing results!
Live Event Marketing
Don’t let your marketing stop when the event starts. Live event marketing is incredibly effective not only during the current event but also for future events.
How do you do it?
Encourage people to use their social media!
Here are a few ideas.
FourSquare Mayor in the house? Have the band dedicate a song to them and take a vine of the dedication. This not only shows everyone there that you treat your Mayor as a VIP, it also makes the Mayor want to keep his or coveted spot.
Promote Twitter #hashtag. Promote the use of the Twitter #hashtag during the night. You can use a projector to display the #hashtag feed on the wall during the evening.
Post Event Marketing
Follow every event with a blog post. This post should include a slew of photos you have taken during the event. The goal here is to get your visitors to come back to your website and check it out. You can use these opportunities to market coupons or other upcoming events to your visitors.
CAUTION: In Post Event Marketing from a restaurant/bar perspective, be very careful not to post people in compromising situations. You want to keep this fun for everyone or your post event marketing could turn into a nightmare.
Social Marketing Channels and Ways to Use Them
- Facebook: Create a Facebook business page and post your specials, events and just cool things about your establishment. Frequency: once or twice daily
- Twitter: Post your daily specials & Happy Hour Specials. Post the working bartender.
- Pinterest: If you have a good photographer, post your menu. Just make it look appetizing.
- Vine: Great for Event pieces.
- Foursquare: Post coupons and offer rewards for your visiting Mayor.
Do you have your own event marketing tricks? I would love to hear about them in the comments!
