How to Create a Marketing Recap That Actually Helps You Sell More Tickets

When the dust settles after an event, the real work begins. A solid marketing recap isn’t just about patting yourself on the back—it’s about analyzing what worked, what flopped, and what can be improved for the next show. If you’re not tracking your ticket sales cycle, advertising efforts, and promo success, you’re flying blind for future events.

At Backstage Event Marketing, we’ve created a Marketing Recap Checklist to help you break down event performance and fine-tune your strategy. Here’s how to do it right:

Step 1: Gather the Basics

Start by logging essential event details, including:
✅ Event date, tour name, and supporting acts
✅ Promoter details
✅ Any important event notes (special circumstances, weather issues, etc.)

Step 2: Analyze Ticket Sales

Understanding the sales cycle helps predict trends and optimize future pricing strategies. Be sure to track:
🎟️ Ticket prices (advance & day-of-show)
📈 Total tickets sold and breakdown by price level
📉 Drop count (how many tickets were scanned vs. sold)

This helps you determine whether people were buying in advance or waiting until the last minute—and whether ticket prices were a factor.

Step 3: Track the Sales Cycle

Map out when tickets were sold:
📅 At announcement
📅 One month out
📅 Week of show
📅 Day before show
📅 Day of show

Seeing when the spikes happened (or didn’t) gives you insights into whether your promotions and advertising efforts hit at the right time.

Step 4: Record Ticketing Sources

Where are people buying their tickets? Break it down by:
🔹 Online sales
🔹 Phone orders
🔹 Box office purchases
🔹 Outlet sales (if applicable)

Remember to log any promo codes, special offers, group tickets, or Groupon deals. These can be powerful tools—if they’re actually driving sales.

Step 5: Document Promotions & Advertising

Marketing is more than just throwing money at ads. Log every effort, including:
📢 E-blasts – Dates sent, open rates, and click-through rates
🎁 Giveaways – Any contests, influencer collaborations, or social media promos
📲 Social Media Ads – Track your paid promotions, organic reach, and engagement
🎙️ Radio & PR – Who covered the event? What was the reach?

💡 Pro Tip: If you used Bitly tracking, pull those reports to see what links got the most clicks!

Step 6: Look at the Audience Data

Beyond ticket sales, who actually showed up? A zip code report can tell you if your audience is local, regional, or traveling for your events.
🚗 Where did most ticket buyers come from?
🎯 Did any unexpected demographics show up?

This data helps shape future marketing efforts and refine audience targeting.

Step 7: Take Notes for Next Time

Every event has wins and lessons learned—and you won’t remember them all if you don’t write them down. Document anything unique that impacted ticket sales, promotions, or event turnout.

📌 Did certain ads perform better than expected?
📌 Were there last-minute sales pushes that worked?
📌 Did any sponsor activations stand out?

This is where your event marketing checklist becomes a game-changer. Keeping detailed records throughout the process allows you to analyze, improve, and sell more tickets next time.

Final Thoughts

Creating a Marketing Recap is a powerful tool that lets you track sales cycles, audience behaviors, and marketing effectiveness to ensure every event gets better and more profitable.

At Backstage Event Marketing, we help venues and promoters fine-tune their strategies so they sell more tickets and maximize event success. Want to step up your event marketing game? Start keeping a Marketing Recap—you’ll thank yourself later!