When the DMA Solutions team prepares for the United Fresh Produce Show and conference, one of our goals in Chicago is to earmark plenty of time for our team to walk and experience the FMI Connect show floor. That’s right! We spend hours hopping from booth to booth introducing ourselves and expanding our horizons beyond fresh. Why? We find the “other half” of the annual show extremely beneficial on many levels from a marketing perspective and return home after the show with loads of new contacts and ideas that we use to generate new content and concepts for you and our valued fresh produce clients.
Are you headed to United Fresh 2015 this year? Be sure to use these tips to help you make the most of your time expanding your horizons on – the other side of the show.
- Take the opportunity to glean from the mammoth consumer brands present from a brand positioning perspective. Pay close attention to the way that they position their brands and support it with key messages that communicate benefits to buyers. You might be surprised to find our industry’s “fresh messages” scattered all over the FMI show floor.
- Seek opportunities to have conversations with the right people about possible partnerships by introducing yourself and exchanging business cards.
- Check out the ways the companies host booth visitors. Do they give out samples to taste and take home?
- See how business is conducted in the booth relative to business meetings and introductions.
- Look for booth design trends that inspire you.
- Seek signals that suggest that a consumer trend is surfacing through visuals, packaging and product positioning.
- Note the placement of furniture in the booth and identify if it is being utilized effectively by tradeshow attendees.
- Ask attendees about things that they see that they like and that they don’t.
- Use social media to make connections with brands that you want to get to know better and that complement your brand.
- Take the opportunity to educate exhibiting companies about your fresh produce company and use the opportunity to inspire them about fresh products.
- Bonus: Recruit! The fresh produce industry is seeking bright and talented sales and marketing professionals and the FMI show will be full of professionals that may be interested in a fresh career.
Connect with the DMA Solutions team in Chicago! We will be tweeting and sharing our favorite show moments on Instagram at @TheCoreBlog. Still need help getting acclimated with the show and Chicago? We’ve got a tool available for fresh produce marketers with info on restaurants, tips and other conference and tradeshow information that you can download. Safe travels and we’ll see you there!
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