Events and Trade Shows:
Impact’s
8 Key Must-Win Moments for Brands
Impact’s 8 Key Must-Win Moments for Brands
Brands, whether big or small, are constantly on the lookout for innovative ways to showcase their products or services. Digital marketing may have taken center stage in recent years, however, the face-to-face interactions and immersive experiences of events and trade shows must remain an integral part of your marketing strategy. That’s where events and trade shows come into play.
Let’s dive into how industry events can benefit your brand and how you can make the most out of this must-win moment.
What are events and trade shows?
Events and trade shows provide a unique opportunity for your brand to leave a lasting impression on your potential customers. By encouraging that step away from the screen to engage with real people, you can create memorable experiences that stick in the minds of attendees. Additionally, you will also develop a better understanding of your audience’s wants and needs.
From innovative booth designs and captivating product demonstrations to interactive games and giveaways, events and trade shows offer a platform to showcase your brand personality – resulting in a stronger connection between your brand and your target audience.
Impact’s 8 Key Must-Win Moments
What are they?
Over our 20+ years of branding experience, we’ve learned that the most effective brands connect with their audience in key must-win moments. Now, these moments vary across industries, but we’ve narrowed them down to the eight most common.
- Events and Tradeshows
- Point of Sale Presence
- Campaigns and Promotions
- Gift With Purchase
- Educational Campaigns
- Onboarding
- Rewards
- Calendar-Based Events
You may find that your brand focus is just one of the key moments. On the other hand, your brand might find the most success in three, or five, or all of these. Whichever it is, if you can bring your brand to life in these key must-win moments, you can make a meaningful connection with your audience.
Why are events and trade shows one of the key, must-win moments?
Events and trade shows are firstly, a unique opportunity to generate leads and drive sales. Attendees at these events are often actively seeking new products or services, making it easier for you to target your ideal customer. Consequently, by collecting contact information, offering exclusive discounts or incentives, and following up with personalised communication, your team can convert qualified leads into buying customers.
Secondly, the face-to-face nature of these events allows your brand to establish trust and build relationships, resulting in customers with longevity that evolve into brand advocates.
Finally, events and trade shows provide an opportunity to learn from your competitors. Your event team may observe how other brands position themselves, which strategies they employ, and understand how customers respond. This information provides you with valuable insights into industry trends. Subsequently, you can make informed decisions about your own marketing efforts.
Never miss a deadline with our latest free events resource – Impact’s Event-Ready Checklist!
Create epic events and trade shows with promotional products.
Be helpful
For maximum return on investment, you are expecting high traffic, high engagement at events and trade shows. This means that you’ll need a good stock of promotional merchandise to pass on. For large scale events, you need high quantities of low cost “swag” that your prospects can take with them. Things like pens, tote bags and notepads are the most common. They’re popular because they are practical. Their use makes them last longer than a phone number on a business card.
However, it is critical to choose your products carefully. You must keep in mind that anything with your logo represents you brand and should not be perceived as tat.
The way to increase perceived value? Solve a problem. Products that relieve your prospects’ pain points will always be well-received. If they can continue making their lives easier long after the event is over, that’s even better. You can read about how to choose the perfect pen or the best environmentally friendly tote bag in our other articles.
Be desirable
On the other hand, a low quantity of promotional products with a high perceived value can be just as effective. These products work to draw attendees closer to engage with your booth. They encourage passersby to talk to your team and see what they need to do to get one of your high value giveaways.
As mentioned above, one of the beauties of promotional products is that they have a life beyond the event or trade show. When attendees take your items home or to their workplace after the event, they continue to be exposed to your brand. Your products extend the reach of your marketing efforts, sparking conversations with more potential customers who may not have attended the event – who’ll also want to know how to get their hands on your merch.
Co-branded products are effective high-percieved value giveaways for your trade show booth. We talk about co-branding as a promotional product strategy in this blog. But the short version is that your branded partner lends credibility to your own brand and allows you access to their existing customer base. Think of quality product brands like Yeti, Skullcandy, Moleskine and Titleist.
Create on-brand experiences.
Interactive displays create memorable on-brand experiences. At a trade show or an event, using experiences to convey your brand is key to creating a meaningful moment. Impact client, Allegion included a prize spinner to their industry trade show experience and offered exclusive giveaways as prizes. You can read about their success in our case study. The interactivity and click of the spinner wheel made for a memorable moment that increased engagement and brand recall.
Setting your brand apart in a room full of your competitors is a challenge almost exclusive to events and trade shows. As well as interactive elements, you can also engage more senses than just sight and sound. By adding elements further than the visual you can create a multi-dimensional experience that resonates and stands out from the competition.
For example, Prime Super needed a cost-effective solution that would help them create a branded event experience right down to the smallest details. So, we created a custom-shaped coffee stencil. Every coffee that left their area carried their brand further. Consider bringing your branding into every detail, making every interaction at your booth or marquee a brand experience that lasts.
Events and trade shows offer a multitude of benefits that cannot be replicated online. From creating real on-brand experiences and building brand awareness to generating leads and fostering brand advocacy. Industry events and trade shows provide a unique opportunity for your brand to connect with your audience face-to-face and bring your brand to life. With real products to deliver unreal results, you’ll be able to make lasting impressions at scale at your next event.
