We’re just two months shy of the fresh produce industry’s “Super Bowl” event which means the heat is ON to solidify your strategy for the expo. Fresh Summit is an enormous event and it’s likely that all or most of your competitors will be there, along with many of your key customers. Standing out amongst the sea of booths in the 1.1 MILLION square feet of exhibit space in the New Orleans Convention Center (the building is more than half a mile long, ya’ll.) is not an easy feat. However, with a thoughtful strategy and a little creativity, we have no doubt that determined fresh produce marketers can make a splash in NOLA. Here are our tips to look your best for Fresh Summit 2017:
Have One Call-to-Action and Stick to it!
Tradeshows offer up a huge slice of over-stimulation and noise that can overwhelm attendees quickly. Make things easier on your prospects (they’ll appreciate you for it) by having one straight-forward message at the event with one singular call-to-action that will allow you to measure success. Many companies dilute their tradeshow presence by attempting to showcase all aspects of their business at once; we recommend identifying one call-to-action in your marketing materials that gives attendees one thing to do during the show.
For example, you can focus on encouraging your prospects to sign up for a trial, visit a specific page on your website, fill out a form on an iPad in the booth, watch a video in your booth, enter to win a contest (preferably by giving you their business card), you get the idea. Try folding your messaging up into a theme and make sure every touchpoint and part of your booth contributes to that theme and your singular call-to-action.
Create a Buzz NOW, Before the Event
In order to get the most out of your time in-person at the event, you’ll first need to promote your presence ahead of time. Successful tradeshow marketers have a plan that involves content across various touchpoints before, during and after the show. Now is the time to engage attendees with emails, blog posts and social media updates to generate excitement and interest in meeting with you. You may even want to work toward setting up meetings with your prospects now! And as mentioned above, all of these communications should focus on your singular call-to-action that you want people to do in your booth at the show.
Have a Private Meeting Space Ready
When a customer walks into your booth and is ready to get down to business, you’ll want to have a comfortable and quiet place to go sit down with them. If you don’t have a meeting space plan, you’ll have to fight to find a chair in the hallway full of folks looking to rest their feet (and potential prying eyes that don’t need to peep on your meeting!). Consider two options: Cleverly design your booth space to contain a private meeting space within the booth itself, OR reserve a private room for meetings in the convention center. If you have a larger booth space, creating the private room within your booth is a smart way to go, but if you’re working in a 10×10 or 10×20 space, look into reserving a room. This will also provide your booth workers a place to grab a quick bite and check emails without fear of interruption.
Get Interactive
Digital signage and interactive touch screens are becoming increasingly popular at tradeshows. These elements will instantly add a modern upgrade to your booth and engage prospects in a memorable way. And technology has gone even further than this: Geo-targeting ad services and things like iBeacon make it possible to show attendees who walk near your booth and within the area special ads or offer messages about your company. Imagine if one of your buyers received a message inviting them to come try your recipe or play a game in your booth as they passed nearby?
Have the BEST Swag
Ah, tradeshow swag. We’ve seen folks take it from a booth only to toss it in the trash a few minutes later when no one is looking (or they leave it in their hotel room). But believe it or not, having a well thought-out and desirable giveaway will undoubtedly bring people into your booth. Make sure your item is both unique and high quality (but that doesn’t have to mean expensive). And don’t order something that you saw at a tradeshow a few months ago, because by now whatever trendy item it was is OUT! Do your research on swag and consider reaching out to a company like Marketing Candy to see what the latest popular items are.
Stay Active on Social Media
While tradeshows are all about in-person connections, attendees are often checking social media during the event to see what people are buzzing about. Make sure you have a plan to post using the #FreshSummit hashtag and stand out amongst your competitors who may not be posting. We recommending tweeting as much as possible! Consider live tweeting certain quotes from keynote speakers that are of interest to your business. Be sure to take quality photos of your booth and your staff having fun to post across all platforms. Engagement is the key to success during an event. Retweet, reply, comment, like, tag, reach out to and message as many attendees and stakeholders as possible. Designate at least one team member at the show to post all social media, so that you don’t have multiple repetitive posts.
Are you ready to stand out from the crowd in New Orleans? We know tradeshow planning takes a great deal of time and strategy, so we’re here to help. Contact us today (and we mean ASAP, we only have a few weeks!) if you need additional support in creations tradeshow success for your brand. We can make it happen!
