If you’re an independent restaurant, you may wish to learn five steps to your profitable virtual event.
Note! This post isn’t meant to solve all the problems that plague the restaurant business.
We’re providing a way to supplement takeout and curbside pickup revenue.
Liquid to Lips Marketing recently facilitated a successful virtual event for a well established independent operator in Nashville, TN. Read about it here.
So, let’s get started. Remember, the goal is to build sales for both the restaurant and the spirits, wine, or beer brand.
Step One: If you’re a restaurant operator. Invite a wine brand, beer brand, or spirits brand to take part. This is important. It provides value, additional audience, and most importantly, a company such as Liquid to Lips Marketing or a distributor to help you.
You wine, spirits, or beer brands could reach out to a key account or two and take the lead on this type of project as well.
Step Two: Build the evening’s value proposition. You do this by offering your audience something interesting and fun in the way of an evening.
Offer something that makes the evening different. The chef may be locally or regionally known. Is the menu exclusive? Might you offer a new release of spirits, wine, or beer? Could an entertainer collaborate?
In the case study event, link shared above, the ticket buyers purchased “Dinner Kits” with a red wine and a white wine included.
In some cases it may be wiser to have ticket buyers just pick up their meals curbside.
Important note, the event was ticketed. No refunds. Buyers could transfer the ticket if they purchased it and couldn’t make the event. No refunds were offered. After all, we’re implementing five steps to a profitable virtual event.
Other Important Steps
Step Three: Plan your technology. Liquid to Lips Marketing utilized an upgraded Zoom account so as to host a webinar, not just a meeting.
Be sure your host or hostess is trained on the the technology. You much have a host. He or she needs to facilitate interaction between ticketed attendees and the chef who is facilitating the cooking training and or the wine professional who is describing the wines.
When the meal is pre-cooked and picked up, entertainment might possibly be the chef explaining the dish, sharing recipes, or some other value add.
Step Four: Rehearse the event or at least story board it. People who buy tickets for virtual events now expect production value. Think through your environment. Consider sound quality. Give some attention to lighting.
At this point, you would be well advised to engage with someone on your team to script out the basics. If you’re not exactly who to put in front of a camera, that’s okay. Bring someone in from the outside who can represent your brand on your way to five steps to your virtual event.
You’re on the home stretch!
Step Five: Market the event. Cultivate and market to your following on social or your email list. You have more opportunities for ticket sales than you might imagine.
Now it’s time to leverage the collaborating spirits, wine, or beer brand’s list and reach as well. Reach out to local groups. Pick up the phone and call the people you’ve served in years past.
And finally, you may have success in pulling in a cause. Pick a not-for-profit to promote with a portion of the ticket sales and ask for their assistance in promoting the event. You have to get creative!
Learning more about how Liquid to Lips Marketing helps with virtual events is easy. Reach out. You may also click this link for more info!
