How to Market Your Event Like an Event Planner, Part II

Earlier this month we covered how to market your event before it happens, which is really key because you won’t have much of an event if people don’t show up. But once the day comes, what happens during the event and after can be just as important because those people actually showed up.

Also, while some people didn’t show up for one reason or another, you can still engage them during and post-event. Here are our tips on how to maximize your event’s success through day of and post-event marketing tactics.

On Event Day

Assign someone the duty to engage with attendees, grab quotes and take photos. Depending on the event and how hard this will be for one person to manage, this person might also be assigned to social media duty meaning have this person live tweeting during the event and sharing those quotes and photos, as appropriate. The idea is to let people who can’t come see what’s happening and, if they’re nearby, maybe stop by. Or, at the very least, know the event is happening and make plans to attend the next one. Regardless, you’ll want those photos and content for post-marketing so be sure someone is responsible for capturing these moments!
A great way to collect information about who attended (and who you can contact for future events) is to have a drawing at the end of the event. Collect email and street addresses on the entry form.
Post your photos and what’s happening on Facebook, too (although be a bit more judicious here because Facebook isn’t meant to be a live stream platform like Twitter). After the event you’ll want to take those photos and create an album. You’ll want to encourage those who are in the photos to tag themselves on the Facebook pictures if they’re in them because that image/post will appear on their Facebook feed, too.

After the Event

Immediately after the event jot down notes about what did well from a marketing standpoint and what you forgot to do or can improve next time.
Gather all of the photos you took and put them in a folder on your computer. You’ll want access to those photos for the next event as well as to curate which ones to include on platforms like Facebook. If there are some really fun ones that you feel the recipients would love, print them out and send it to them with a thank you note. Add some text at the bottom to remind them of the event date and your shop’s name.
Is a survey something you can ask attendees to complete (this will depend on the type of event you’re hosting)?
Is a post-event Blog something that you should write, given the nature of the event and what you learned? Did a presenter share something really interesting and unique that would be a great reminder for those who came as well as those who couldn’t make it?
Send an email to everyone who attended and thank them for coming. Share the link to the photos (which you will have hopefully uploaded to Facebook by now) so they can opt to share the album with their friends AND the blog post.
Send an email to those who weren’t able to make it and be sure to send them the Facebook album link and blog post link so they can see what they missed. If you have your next event on the calendar, be sure to mention it so they can add it to their calendar now, too!