The Ultimate Event Marketing Checklist: Your Guide to a Smashing Success Story 

Did you know that events that have a clearly defined marketing plan see a 30% uptick in attendance and 20% more leads? Event marketing strategy doesn’t just create noise; it measures impact. This checklist is your master plan! The list can take you from start to finish on every aspect of event marketing while ensuring your event is ultimately successful! 

Why use a checklist? 

Think of this checklist as your anti-chaos-strategy marketing weapon! Here’s why this will be so valuable: 

Well Organized: With a clear plan established beforehand, you won’t be scrambling last minute. 

Efficient Workflow: You will break down your marketing into tasks so you can have a good plan without chance of missing anything important! 

Risk Mitigation: By having a well-established checklist in place you have reduced your risk of missing important steps. 

Pre–event marketing: setting the table 

Okay the excitement is growing for your event, but before you step on the gas in the promotional work in the next 6 months, it’s important to build the foundation. The next 6 months is the time to build a narrative, figure out who your target audience is, and decide which channels are most effective to reach your target audience. Pre-event marketing is your time to build evidence for a successful and attended event: 

SMART Goals & target audience: Establish the reasons for your event (brand awareness, lead generation) and develop an ideal customer persona by knowing their target audience (age, interests, pain points).  

Brand Image & Messaging: 

You need to create a brand image and messaging that is appropriate and consistent with your audience and carry that through to your marketing materials. 

Selecting Channels: 

Identify your channels to reach your audience. Social media, email marketing, paid advertising, or trade publications should all be evaluated for the target audience. 

Event Website and Landing Pages: 

Design a website experience that conveys all the important details about your event (speakers, agenda, etc.) in an easy way for attendees to register and learn about the program. This is also the time to build landing pages to collect leads and ensure conversion. 

Content Marketing Calendar: 

Plan and produce valuable content (blogs, videos, infographics) to educate your audience, build anticipation, and reinforce your positioning as an industry thought leader. 

Speakers/Sponsors: 

As you plan your event, secure speakers who can speak to the event theme, but also consider if you can find brand partners who can enhance your offering whilst extending your reach. 

You’ve done the heavy lifting for your event plan, now it’s time to ramp up the excitement. As you enter June, you are at the three-month out countdown. Your success will now depend on excitement and awareness, so this pre-event marketing phase is built to develop social media campaigns and conduct email outreach to convert registrations and ensure the potential for your event is fulfilled:  

Social Media Stage: 

Set the stage for your social media campaign to start with engaging content, thumbnails, teasers for the event including paid advertising with promotion to widen your audience potential. 

Email Marketing Stage: 

Create segmented email marketing campaigns with specific audience segments, develop educational emails about the event to go to past attendees (if have one) and contents focused to nurture leads and shared valuable content. 

PR Outreach: 

Develop strategic press releases and media pitches that get media coverage and create hype for your event. 

Registration Process: 

Create a registration process on your event website that is easy to use, ensuring that it is efficient and effortless for the attendees. 

Promotional Materials: 

Create digital and print promotional materials (email banners, social media graphics, flyers) that showcase your brand identity and communicate the event’s value effectively.

With one month to go until your event, it is time to re-evaluate where you are with your pre-event marketing and make a big final push so you can maximize attendance and ensure an incredible experience. Here are ways to make your push for pre-event marketing actionable: 

Social Media Phase:  

In this phase, you Schedule your social media campaign to begin with highly engaging content, captivating thumbnails, teaser content for the event, including paid promotion for paid advertising to help expand your potential audience.  

Email Marketing Phase:  

In this stage, you can segment your target audience, create email campaigns from segmented audience, you can also develop educational email regarding the event to send out to past attendees (if you have one), and the content can nurture leads and valuable content to share. 

PR Outreach: 

You can develop strategic press/media releases and pitches that will land media coverage and hype for your event.  

Registration Pathway:  

You can create a registration pathway on your event website that is user friendly and provides a smooth experience for your attendees.  

Promotional Assets:  

You can build digital and print promotional assets (email banners, social media graphics, flyers) that reflect your brand identity and value of the event.  

Event Marketing: Fuel the Fire  

The months of planning will finally take shape into an unforgettable learning experience at event time, but you still have some managing to do. During event marketing is to keep it going, reconnecting with your audience and getting some good feedback. Let us consider some ways to fuel the fire and make your event experience unforgettable:  

Pre-Event Social Media: 

Make sure the hype on social media continues, w/ countdowns that include high energy graphics or attention-grabbing images, behind the scenes event prep shots, and of course the official hashtag. Hopefully, you have engaged your audience by asking the questions or polls around your theme. 

On-Site Registration: 

Make the on-site registration process as easy as possible. Utilize friendly personable staff, signs, registration materials, etc., to set a friendly and inviting atmosphere from the moment your attendees walk into your venue. 

Live Social Media: 

Keep engaging your audience w/ live social media updates throughout your event. You can engage your entire audience by sharing images from presentations, videos from speaker highlights, and quotes. You can also ask attendees to join the social media fun. It would be a win-win to foster connection and brand relationships and also create a meaningful experience in which the attendee values more than simply the intended content of the event. 

Collecting Feedback:   

Utilize feedback surveys or polls in-session or after to capture the experiences of the participants. This is critical as it is vital to get a sense of what the audience resonated with and areas for future improvement. Be sure to take your time before you write even the surveys and think about ease + accessibility to ensure strong participation and quality data to help next time! 

Post Event Marketing: Impact:

The hype might be over but the relationships you’ve created and value you provided have lasting impact.  

Post-event marketing is now about extending impact, creating relationships, and positioning attendees into brand advocates. Here’s how to keep the conversation going! 

Surveying Participants post event:  

Surveys/polls (e.g., via email or a dedicated landing page) can be used to get feedback about their experience while also inquiring about the content, speaker/engagement, and overall satisfaction with the event. It is helpful to know what you did well and what you could still improve on for future iterations. 

Spotlighting the Events:   

Write creative blog posts, social media updates, or email newsletters spotlighting the best parts of the meeting. Include great photos, quotes from presenters, and a few testimonials from attendees. This serves as a great reminder for attendees on the value received, also acts as a great hook for new attendees!  

Nurturing Leads:   

Follow up with attendees you were able to engage with on a personal level through individualized emails. Organize your leads based on their indicated interests and share relevant information. Provide your attendees with valuable information related to the topics of the meeting, special discounts or preferential access to future meetings. This shows that you not only connected with them but also kept your brand awareness top of mind.