Event and Trade Show Marketing 101

By Jennifer Thompson

Between trade associations, Chambers of Commerce, outdoor festivals, community events, school carnivals, etc., there are countless opportunities to showcase your company to potential customers on any given day throughout Central Florida. Signing up and paying the fee for booth space is one thing, but having a plan on how best to work the event is another. No matter what type of show you’re working, your event plan is one of the most important aspects of your next event. It is critical to have a booth that will draw and engage potential customers while also helping you to determine if trade show and event marketing is worthwhile to your bottom line.

We have seen it time and time again where so many small business owners will sign up for an event and then show up on event day with only three items: a table, some literature and a banner. Consider what your booth looks like from the customer’s point of view. If like many small businesses you have a limited budget and cannot afford to have a professional trade show booth designed and built for your company, incorporate small touches into your booth display that will set you apart from your competitors. For example, if you have a landscape business, you might consider using a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet as the foundation of your display area. Add some visual appeal to your booth by bringing plants and brick pavers – actually creating a backyard landscape where your customers can visualize what it is your company does. Be careful not to get carried away with decorations. It is important to have a booth that is visually appealing but also one that is tidy and neat and stays ‘on message’ with what you are trying to accomplish.

Many times, signage is an afterthought to an event display. Small business owners will order a banner with their name on it and show up at the event without a plan for displaying it. Banners can be tricky. Should they be hung from the table or on the back of your tent? If you are planning to display your banner on the front of your table, try it out before your next event. Often times, the banner is the wrong size or is too heavy for tape. Grommets are usually in the wrong spot, making it difficult to use string or rope. Hanging it from the back of your tent can be a hazard as one gust of wind will make your outdoor display tent a virtual weapon (Tip: always bring something to weight your tent down at an outdoor event). When planning for signage, consider ordering a professional sign display unit or a custom light weight banner that can be easily adhered to your table. If you participate in a lot of outdoor events, you might want to order a custom ten by ten pop up tent with your logo on the canopy. Establish an event toolbox complete with Velcro, tape, scissors, pens, pencils, hole punch, etc.

Have a plan for engaging your potential customer. Just like planning how your booth will look, you need to have a plan for getting people to come into your booth and staying a while. Communicate, even practice, with your staff so that everybody is on the same page (staff are your front line to a successful event). Develop a list of open-ended questions for engaging your audience. If it is a family event, consider how you might occupy the children so that you have time to converse with the parents. You might hire a face painter, pony rides or bounce house whereas the kids and parents will line up to participate in your activity. Once you’ve got the kids occupied, the parents will be more apt to hear about your products and services. Work to create word of mouth advertising for your business booth amongst event goers. While working an outdoor festival last summer, we saw one booth with only a generator, a freezer and a banner. They handed out frozen pops to all the kids and parents. Every person who received a frozen pop was also asked to wear a sticker with the company name on it. By mid-day, just about every person was walking around the event with a sticker on their chest or sleeve. The company handed out over 4,000 pops that day. The point is, you must think outside the box if you want to get noticed.

More often than not, events are great for building brand awareness but not necessarily for increasing sales. It is critical to have a plan for capturing customer data and for following up on potential leads generated from the event. Having some sort of prize drawing or contest is a great way to collect contact information from event goers – although, a typical prize drawing will not necessarily set you apart from your competitors. Keepsake photos are a great way for capturing customer data. Consider hiring a celebrity, popular character or creating a fun scene for families to pose for their keepsake photos. Don’t print the photos at the event but rather email the photos post-event. Or better yet, send potential customers to your website to pick up their photo (There are actually companies that will do this for you). It is essential to have a post-event plan for sending out email, regular mail or making telephone calls to follow up on the contacts and leads you made during the event. The faster you reach out to your new prospects, the more likely you are to stand out from the crowd.

Events and trade shows can be a great source for building your brand, engaging with potential customers, establishing a customer database, generating sales and even building employee morale. When it comes to the unpredictability of working events, having a game plan is critical. Events are an investment in time and money and should be treated with the same seriousness as any other aspect of your marketing plan.