Hosting a product launch party is a great way to get some press, show appreciation to your supporters, and create buzz around your food business.
It’s up to you how extravagant of a party you want to host. A party with 100 of your closest friends and other industry folks could be incredible and so could an intimate gathering of 20 colleagues and media professionals.
Tips for a Successful Product Launch Party
- Choose a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening after work hours in September, October, March, April, or May
- Pick a fun, trendy, unusual, and easily accessible location.
- Booze! Bring in a brewery or other beverage brand assuming you have a food product. If you make a beverage, bring in food partners.
- Allow attendees to bring one guest or more if it’s in the budget. Both the cocktails and the plus-ones will increase attendance. Promise.
- Serve good — really good — food including something from a professional kitchen that you promote in advance.
- Have a greeter at the door to make people feel welcome and point them in the right direction.
- Give a tour, do a demo, have a Q&A, giveaway door prizes. Do something to serve as the main attraction of the evening.
- Music. Definitely have music. A quiet party is an awkward party.
- Provide something for guests to take home (e.g., fact sheet/brochure, product samples, menus/recipes, coupons, gift cards, other gifts, etc. etc.)
- Hire a professional photographer to have on-site. These pics can be used that night on social media, the next day on your blog, and shared with attendees in your follow-up emails.
- If it’s a big party and you will have media at the event, provide a media preview before doors open. It’s important these attendees get all the photos they need and all their questions answered.
Once you’ve got all the logistics of your product launch party worked out, it’s time to invite local food media and bloggers to the event with a media advisory. Same rules apply with media advisories as press releases. You do not want to mass email or bcc a media advisory. Make each invitation personal and conversational. Make the recipient feel like they are special for getting the invitation.
This blog post is an excerpt from our book, Make Your Food Biz Look BIG. If you’d like more tips like these, grab your copy of the book here.
About Sara Lancaster
Sara is The Condiment Marketing Co.’s founder and creative director. She oversees client relationships, strategic marketing plans, as well as a bit of copywriting and social media management.
