If you’ve never been to a trade show before, you’re in for an interesting few days-or-so. While these events are fantastic ways to boost brand awareness, you need to be clever about it. There are a vast number of companies that will attend and try to gain custom for themselves. You simply have to stand out, and it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle if you don’t do the right things.
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Even then, lots of custom and interest doesn’t necessarily help you in terms of brand awareness. If you want to create a lasting impression, you have to push the boat out to showcase who you are and what you do. That’s why we’ve put this little article together for you.
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Identify Your Goals
In the first instance, it’s important to identify the goals you hope to achieve with this trade event. You can’t excel in every area, so picking certain elements to focus on is crucial. This allows you to start boosting brand awareness in certain ways, identifying areas of opportunity. Whether it’s logo-based, word-of-mouth-based, demo-based or anything else, establish this early. In other words, it’s important to have a plan in mind.
Use Of Technology
People flock to your stall like a moth to a flame when technology gets involved. It’s something that showcases a modern attitude — a forward-thinking company. It also possesses the potential for interactivity, whether it’s through games, apps or anything else. So, if you come prepared for your next event with an interactive game or a set of videos on a 4K screen, it’ll make an impression. Partner that up with promotional advertising the whole step of the way, and you’ll increase brand awareness.
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Promotional Materials
Everyone likes a freebie. If you can offer free promotional materials for guests that stop by, you’ll increase engagement levels. This can take the form of things like USB sticks and badges. You don’t even have to go that far, with inexpensive giveaways like stickers often proving popular. You don’t have to give your promotional materials away, either. Websites like http://www.customplushtoys.com/steps.php can offer mascot toys for your event. They’re another enticing factor that increases both engagement and brand awareness at the same time.
Social Media Marketing
Some companies make the mistake of thinking that brand awareness only matters inside the building. However, if you’re proactive and you make a good start on social media before the event, you can benefit more. Developing a unique hashtag is a good way of gaining buzz before the big day. You might even want to run a competition in the lead up to the event — more on that later. Ultimately, the more interest you can create through avenues like Facebook advertising; the better.
Feedback Competitions
The next time you go to a trade show when you’re not exhibiting, have a look out for instances of this. You’ll find them everywhere, and you might not initially understand the reason for them. But, feedback competitions are fantastic ways to generate brand awareness and general opinions. The premise is this: you ask people to complete a short survey about what they’ve seen. In the end, you ask them to include an email address to be entered into a competition. Then, you’ve not only built brand awareness and gained feedback, but you’ve got their contact details. If they’re willing to be added to your mailing list, you’ve just added a potential customer. It’s win-win!
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Taglines
Do you remember when McDonald’s first brought in the “I’m Lovin’ It” tagline? In some places, they’d increase brand awareness by offering candy for people to shout the line out. It was clever, and the line has permanently ingrained itself in our minds over the years. You can do the same thing at an event. Think of a catchy tagline, or use websites like http://slogangenerator.co/ to generate them for you. Then, incorporate it into your routine at a trade event, and get others to join in.
Simplified Exhibit Design
Brand awareness isn’t about filling your exhibit with all sorts of complicated marketing material. If you over-saturate your exhibit, it’ll just be too confusing for a passer-by to take in. Remember; a trade show is quite a daunting assault on the eyes. It’s a continuous marketing carousel, and the general public can only take so much. It’s always a good idea to simplify and highlight the elements of your business that need highlighting. So, focus on the name, the logo and a few carefully picked out details about the company. Anything more, and it’ll just become an eyesore.
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Trained Staffers
You don’t have to train your staffers ahead of a trade show event. Many companies don’t! However, if you want to get the most out of them and your business, it’s always a good idea too. Identifying the best ways to behave, market the business and attract customers is important. The way in which they carry out their routines during the event will have a huge effect on the way the business is perceived. It’s possible for an exhibit to harm your company’s reputation, rather than enhance it. Keep this in mind.
Branded Demos
We talked about the power of technology and the allure of interactivity earlier. This is why it’s always a good idea to demo something your company is offering. For many people, this might be the first they’ve heard of your business. Even with all the brand awareness techniques in the world, there’s no guarantee they’ll remember you. However, if you can knock their socks off with an amazing demo, they’ll never forget the experience. So, if you can, get a working demo together and use it as your most powerful marketing tool.
With these techniques, you can work to boost brand awareness at any trade event you end up at. But, as with anything else, excellent planning and hard work must go into them if you hope to succeed. You’ll also find that success comes with experience, and the more events you go to, the easier it’ll become.
Above all; have fun!
