10 Beer Budget Event Marketing TipsWritten by Sharron Senter
Are you planning an event or participating in a trade show any time soon? If so, consider following 10 low-cost marketing tactics before mailing your payment. Event Marketing Tactic #1 -- Is purchase decision-maker attending event? Are you certain? Let's say you sell gifts that help increase employee moral and you're considering exhibiting at National Association of Human Resources annual conference. Is your decision-maker attending? Who attends this event -- HR directors, managers or VPs? Perhaps all, or a small percentage of all three attend. If your decision-maker is a human resources director, then you'll want to make sure event management company can provide you statistics supporting what percentage of participants have director-level titles. You need to drill down to your target audience. It's not good enough to say that it's a human resources related event; rather, is job title you're targeting attending? And if so, what percentage of attendees hold this title? I recommend at least 50-60% before spending any money. Event Marketing Tactic #2 -- What value-added benefits is venue [trade show organizer] making available to your business? Will they allow you access to attendee mailing list so you can implement a premailing promoting your one-day trade show special, as well as location of your booth? Well organized events, at minimum, provide a list of attendees after event so exhibitors can follow up. More organized events provide participant contact information BEFORE event as well as after. Other value-added benefits to inquire about include: being included in participant email distributions promoting event, as well as an advertisement in event show guide. Event Marketing Tactic #3 -- Target your event qualifying questions around "who?," instead of "how many?." Event Marketing Tactic #4 -- Giveaways should be relevant to your business. Don't give something away for free just for heck of it. Who cares if you collect 10,000 names because you ran a really cool promotion giving away a free 48" TV. If you're a personal chef, what does a TV have to do with your business? Nothing! [Unless you're Emeril.] Therefore, you've just collected 10,000 NON-qualified leads. Instead, as a personal chef you could try, "Sign up to receive our special report, "How to Live Like Rich; Tips to Hire an Affordable Personal Chef." One can assume majority of business cards deposited in your fish bowl have an interest in personal chefs. Event Marketing Tactic #5 -- Location, location, location. If prospects can't see you, then you're wasting your time. Don't be fooled into purchasing a cheap booth at a last-minute special, such as "One booth remaining at 50% off." Chances are no one will be visiting you, since your booth will be tucked away hidden from all eyes. The most ideal locations are found at entryway to event and near pathway to food stations and restrooms. Corner booths between major walk-throughs are ideal.
| | MARKETING THE REAL YOU Written by C.J. Hayden, MCC
I often wonder how practice began of pretending to be someone else in order to market your business. You know what I'm talking about -- it's marketing face, selling voice, that you often put on in order to attend a networking event or make a sales call. Who taught you to do that? I have a suspicion where we learn this behavior. Most of us spend a lifetime observing showroom salespeople, product spokespersons in media, and hucksters on street corners. What we see demonstrated there is artificial enthusiasm, manipulative use of language, feigned interest, and in some cases outright deception. Sounds awful, doesn't it? So why copy any part of this distasteful way of selling? Psychologist Abraham Maslow said, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Perhaps we believe this is only way we can sell because it's only way we know. I'm not accusing anyone of consciously deceiving prospective clients. What I'm suggesting is that what we do unconsciously and automatically is to behave nauthentically around them. Intuitively, many of us feel as if something is wrong with this way of operating. When we have to sell ourselves, we find it unpleasant, disagreeable, even repulsive. But what if all those negative feelings were simply because we hate artificiality and manipulation we think must be a part of selling? Imagine what it would be like to go to a business networking event as yourself. No facade, no pretension, just plain you. When someone asks your reason for coming, you tell them truth. You don't have to claim you wanted to hear speaker (if you didn't). You can come right out and say, "I'm hoping to make some contacts that will lead to business for me." You wouldn't have to invent reasons to start a conversation. You can walk up to someone who looks interesting and say, "Hi, I haven't met you yet." If you're shy around strangers, you can tell first person you meet, "I'm sort of a wallflower and feel awkward at events like this. Could you introduce me to some folks?"
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