Live events are not cheap. Especially when food is involved. Live cooking demonstrations require both a time and financial investment by manufacturers' reps, from buying and prepping the ingredients to setting aside half of a working day for the event. So after all that investment, will the event be worth it when it’s over?

Before you begin to plan your next live event, ask yourself and your team these questions:

• Who do we want to attend? Do we care more about the actual butts in the seats or the number of businesses represented in our audience?

• What is the ROI of our event? If just one person makes an equipment purchase after attending the event, is it a success? What’s our follow up strategy?

• Why is our live event a “can’t miss” experience? What will get our target audience to devote a few hours in their busy day to get in a car and drive to our event?

The Who, What, and Why of your event marketing strategy is the crucial foundation to your demo’s success. If you already know the answer to most of these questions, you’re off to a great start.

So what’s the next step?

Creating an Event Marketing Blueprint

You’re obviously planning on the menu, the time, the location, the print marketing. Why shouldn’t your digital strategy be included? An email is great. But it’s not the end-all be-all solution to boost attendance. We want to use this event to create content to reuse and re-purpose for events all year. And that includes more than just an email blast.

It’s photos, videos, blog posts, testimonials, and a whole lot more. And that content creation occurs before, during, and after the live event.

Here’s a checklist to make sure you and your team are maximizing the tools at your disposal to drive registrations and run a memorable event.

During the pre-event process, it’s important to map out your timeline. Plan out at least a month’s worth of marketing for your event. Your goals should include all of the following:

GENERATE BUZZ

How are you going to promote your event? Through compelling content. The obvious method to generate interest is with an email blast. Include the date, time, location, and a few details. Direct your email list to a registration page on your website, featuring photos, videos, and a form or chatbot where visitors can register. But that’s just one step.

[SEE ALSO: How One Manufacturers' Rep Is Maximizing Their Test Kitchen]

Social media is a powerful event marketing arm if you want it to be. How? Video. Shoot live and recorded video of your chef inviting the public to sign up. Post it on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Share photos of the food you will be cooking up. Ask your followers if there’s something they want to see.

TEASE THE EXPERIENCE

While you could list out every benefit of attending your cooking demo in an email, why not SHOW the end-user, consultant, or dealer what’s in store if they sign up? Shoot a video tour of your test kitchen and have your chef or a team member showcase the equipment and food that will be on display. It might take you five minutes to capture all of that footage, and in return, you’ll have content to use for a full year.

USE YOUR CHEF

Your chef is the face of your event, so get their face out there to the public. Have him or her take short videos for social media and emails, encouraging registrations and previewing what's in store. Make sure they have fun with it. Convince potential attendees that they are not going to sit through a boring demonstration, but rather a fun, interactive event with someone they already feel comfortable with. Keep the chef top of mind throughout the lifespan of the event, from Facebook Live, to Instagram stories, and everything in between. 

[SEE ALSO: The Power of Play Case Study]

SALES TEAM OUTREACH

This is where reps can really make their mark. Are there Marketing or Sales Qualified Leads that you just know would benefit from seeing a combi oven demonstration? Even though they haven’t signed up yet, a personal touch from a sales rep might be the push they need. How? A phone call, a personal email, a 30-second video that speaks directly to your lead, telling them what the event means to THEM.

AUTOMATE WHENEVER POSSIBLE

At the end of the day, your event is just a part of your job. You still have to make sales calls, visit installations, and talk with customers. Automation alleviates some of that stress. Create a workflow that sends registrants blog content related to the event. Have a reminder sent to anyone who opens your first email but doesn’t register. Send a different reminder to anyone that makes it to your registration page but doesn’t submit. All while you’re in the car, asleep, or closing a sale.

The alarm goes off. The big day is upon us. Not only do we need to provide our guests in attendance a great show, we need to collect content that will help us for future events. Even though today is super important, think about the next event too. What can we capture today that will help us next month?

Here’s what you should do:

BROADCAST THE EVENT

Physical butts in seats may matter to your factories, but what about virtual attendees? Just because someone doesn’t register, it doesn’t mean they don’t want to see the event. Have a member of your team record the event with an iPhone, video camera, laptop, or a combination. Livestream it on YouTube, Facebook, and Zoom.

[SEE ALSO: 4 Quick Tips to Shooting Better Video Content with Your Phone

RECORD EVERYTHING

Record the event in full, pull out the best moments, and post a recap on your blog, use moments for a video trailer for your next event. Have another team member take photos and short video clips and share them right to your social media channels in real time, using hashtags to garner live engagement.

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS

Odds are, you’ll have a few existing customers in your audience. Why not ask them to sit down for a few minutes and provide a success story about their foodservice operation and how your rep firm helped them achieve it? Ask all of your attendees to provide their feedback on the event, both good and bad, and get them to say it on camera if you can. If a school foodservice director sees someone in the same position rave about what they saw and learned from the event, chances are good they’ll sign up for your next demo.

Your event is over. Time to relax, right? The marketing never ends. Check the calendar. We have another event in four weeks! Fortunately, if you followed the steps above, you are armed with a whole bunch of new content, from just one event. Now what to do with that content?

FOLLOW UP

Following up with everyone who attended is a must. Keep the equipment fresh on their minds. Have your sales team send personal emails and videos to thank them for attending. Did someone register but not show up? Send them a message as well, recapping what they missed, and encouraging them to join you for the next event.

VIDEO ON-DEMAND

The most valuable piece of content in your arsenal is the event recording itself. Create a page on your website for visitors to view the recording when it’s convenient for them. Place it behind a gate if you want to generate leads from the video, and then automate an email invite for the next event to anyone who watches and never attended. Check out our Webinar Recap Page to see how TMC is doing it.

USE YOUR CONTENT

Take your customer testimonials and turn them into blog posts. Encourage your chef or salesperson to write a recap of the event. Use your event footage and create a video recap, a trailer for your registration page, email campaigns, and social media posts.

Make Your Next Foodservice Demonstration the Best Yet

To recap, there are plenty of ways to promote a live event – before, during, and after. Remember to include these things as you map out any event marketing strategy: video, email marketing, social media, and automation.

Ready to plan your next live cooking event, equipment demonstration, or industry webinar? Schedule some time with TMC and we’ll help you create a blueprint to grow your live events and your overall foodservice business.