In business, it’s all about getting noticed. The moment people start interacting with your brand — that’s when sales finally happen. But even when you have a bunch of events in your calendar, you’re not in the clear. Yes, you’ll be able to chat with customers in person. But you’ll still need to entice them away from other brands at the event. So what can you do to attract attendees’ attention from the start? Here are 8 attention-grabbing tactics to get you started.
By Team Savant
Image: CHUTTERSNAP
Hand Out Free Food
Why do people go to big business events? Usually, it’s so that they can gorge themselves on free food. But many brands still haven’t cottoned onto this reality. They think that it’s all about being slick and making sales. But it’s not. It’s about what you can give your customers.
Dominos Pizza is a brand that understands this. It knows that by cooking up a few high-margin pizzas for an event, it can create a massive stir. Everyone will immediately flock to its stall and want to indulge themselves.
If you’re not in the food business, don’t worry. You can still hand out food, though. Get a decent caterer and plenty of branded packaging.
Offer Free Consultations
If you really think you can solve your client’s problems, you'll want to prove yourself by offering free consultations (often in groups). This way, you can communicate part of the value you offer while encouraging customers to sign up for the full range of services.
Why does this work? Because it acts as a type of proof. Clients can instantly see that you offer a minimum standard of service. And that helps to make them feel a little safer.
Critically, you don’t have to give all your secrets upfront. Just provide enough to get them interested and then allow them to come to you. If they think you can offer value, they’ll keep coming back.
Market Your Attendance Beforehand
No matter how small your stall, always market your presence at an event beforehand. Doing this gives people the heads up and gives them a reason to attend.
If you can, try setting up a pop-up or landing page for your site. If you want to go further, release a press article to a newswire. That way, you can announce the story across multiple publications and industries.
Make A Statement
If you’ve ever been to a trade show, you’ll know that people naturally gravitate to the showiest stalls. The most visually attractive always get the most attention, whether they’re relevant or not. So if all you have is a table and chairs, then you’re not going to get very far.
If you’re struggling for ideas or don’t have the budget for a bespoke stall, try using inflatable art. It’s affordable and it immediately creates a surge of interest. People see it and want to know more about the brand behind it, whether they can benefit from your products or not.
You can also try using bright lights or banners. Again, these don’t require any spoke stage design. But they still grab attention as attendees make their way up and down the various aisles of the show.
Stoke FOMO
Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a big phenomenon in our society. Everyone wants to believe that they are living “their best life.” And so nobody wants to miss anything.
Marketers can take advantage of this fact. Telling your audience that you’re going to put on a great show with all sorts of goodies stokes FOMO. That’s because, if they don’t show up, they know that they’re going to miss out on whatever you have to offer.
This strategy can be high-risk if you give them junk. But if you actually offer them something memorable — not just a marketing presentation — they’ll feel as though they are getting value.
Promise Big Things
Related to this is the idea that you should make big promises to your audience — and deliver on them.
Going to a trade show takes a lot of effort. People don’t really want to do it most of the time. So there has to be a big pull to get them to show up. Without that promise, audiences won’t know why they should attend.
What you choose as your hook depends very much on your business. But it should either be free or exclusive. For example, you could offer them free food. Or you could say that you’re going to provide exclusive information to attendees first, such as data on a new product launch.
Think it can’t be done? Think again. Tesla often draws crowds of thousands to its events because people want to find out about the car maker's latest innovations.
Start Your Email Marketing Campaign Early
Another digital strategy you can use is to market via email. If you’ve already got a big email list, then you’ll want to leverage it to tell your audience about any upcoming events. That way, you can increase revenues, bookings and so on.
Here are some tips for email marketing for events:
Include a way to book in the body of the email. This could be something as simple as a button that forwards the user to your ticket purchase page
Automate updates, providing breadcrumbs telling your audience how you plan to entertain them during the event.
Use email marketing software to ensure that you properly deliver emails and segment your audience
Make sure that your emails are consist with your brand
Use Social Media To Discuss Your Event Plans
Lastly, you’ll want to consider using social media for your next business event or trade show. Did you know that the average user checks their smartphone over 300 times per day? And mostly, they’re on social media sites?
It’s true — and it’s a massive opportunity for your enterprise. If you can tap into that captive market, you can create buzz for your event and get more people to show up.
For instance, using a hashtag with your event name on it can get people sharing it in advance. You can also ask other vendors at the event to use the same tag to spread the news further.