Wednesday, November 21st, 2018
How to Successfully Organize an Exhibit Event
Exhibitions offer a real chance to enhance the visibility and credibility of your business. Whether it’s a product or service, the right event can prove to be a real shot in the arm for your enterprise. A meticulously planned and executed exhibition with well-designed booths, eye-catching posters and banners along with a bunch of other attractions like giveaways and promotional items adds an aura of credibility to your company. These events are unique in a way that they allow you to meet new customers and cement your relationships with the existing ones.
This helps in augmenting customer loyalty by helping you build a more established and reliable brand. People will attend those events and exhibitions which they believe can satisfactorily fulfill their requirements. For example, people hoping to shore up their home gyms will seek suppliers and information for different types of gym equipment.
Events and exhibitions are a kind of marketing initiative designed to acquire and convert fresh leads. A well-planned and carefully executed event generates valuable exposure and sales you may struggle to achieve elsewhere.
Planning
Careful planning is imperative to the successful execution of any event. Failing to plan is planning to fail, and nowhere is it truer than in hosting an event. Developing a great event is all about meticulous planning, which in turn is about the correct identification of the aims and objectives you seek to achieve through the exhibition.
The aims and objectives of an event will vary depending upon the kind of event that you are planning to organize. For example, the prime objectives of organizing a trade/industry event could be to:
- Build awareness about your offerings
- Generate a buzz
- Facilitate face-to-face interaction with present and potential leads
- Enhance the opportunity to carry out further market research
- Augment your sales
On the other hand, if it is a fashion exhibition, you aim could be to:
- Promote your fashion line
- Create a buzz around your offerings
- Generate a fashion following
- Increase awareness and sales
Once you are crystal clear about the aims and objectives you want to achieve through the exhibition, it is time to correlate aim and objective with the planning stage. This helps you validate each decision against your objectives. It is important as it streamlines the entire planning process and ensures it is aligned to your goals.
Budget and fund utilization
As with any other major event, exhibition management will cost you money and other valuable resources. Your aim from the beginning should be to organize a blockbuster event without putting additional strain on your budget. Achieving your objectives within the confines of your resources is a significant determinant of the outcome of the event.
The primary areas you need to budget for include:
- Venue
The success of an event significantly depends upon the venue you choose. Ensure that the location where you are hosting your event is easily accessible to your guests and target audience. You need to also pay attention to what type of image the venue represents. For instance, do you want an opulent location to portray a glamorous feel or do you believe that a less ostentatious venue is fully capable of delivering the goods?
- Marketing
A considerable part of your total budget goes into boosting your marketing efforts. You need to publicize the event you are organizing so that it is well-attended. This is a major area that needs immaculate planning as you need to vary your approach to marketing depending on whether you are communicating with visitors or exhibitors. The former need assurance that there is something of value for them at the exhibition, while the latter will need to be persuaded that the visitors will make purchases.
- Use of social media to promote your event
We live in a world dominated by social media and it would be a great travesty if you do not look beyond traditional forms of marketing like fliers, word-of-mouth publicity, mail-invites, pamphlets, banners etc. to promote your event. You need to leverage the scope and reach of social media to generate awareness and interest in your business expo or exhibition.
Social media strategies that could help you reach out efficiently to current and potential consumers/clients include the following:
- Facebook promotion
Facebook has over 650 million active users which makes it a vital medium to spread the buzz about your event. Effective utilization of Facebook could go a long way in helping you engage more efficiently with your audience. Engaging, entertaining and informative posts and images related to the event will boost publicity and ensure that the event is well-attended.
- Make use of videos
Video as a marketing tool is growing at an unimagined pace. Studies suggest that video traffic is predicted to drive 82% of the global Internet by 2021, which attests to the importance of this medium as a promotional tool. Utilizing video marketing to promote your event could be that X factor that could help you reap rich dividends. Engaging, short and to-the-point videos have the potential to increase attendance and turn leads into customers.
- LinkedIn promotion is important
With over 350 million active users, LinkedIn is another important medium you can utilize to generate awareness about your event or exhibition within the industry. Keep posting frequently and try and make your posts fun and informative.
- Décor and Technology, Furniture
The success of your event depends to a considerable extent on what type of visual treat it offers to the people attending it. What impact it makes will be strongly influenced by the internal décor and the overall aura of the venue. Furniture, images, banners, booths and screens are a great way to create an impressive visual experience.
- Furniture
Furniture should be comfortable and of good quality. A proper place for people to sit, converse or hang out could increase traffic to your exhibit. Quality furniture lends a comfy and inviting atmosphere to an event allowing visitors to go about their business peacefully.
- Booths
The overall look and feel of the booths says a lot about the event. Ensure that your booth emanates a classy feeling so that it is successful in capturing and holding the attention of the visitors. Top event planners offer highly customized booths designed to meet the specific needs and brand requirements of their clients. Made of the finest quality materials, these world class booths tick all the right boxes with respect to design, mood and theme.
- Digital and printed signage
Marketers are often at a loss when it comes to choosing between digital and printed signages for their event or expo. Both come with their own unique set of advantages which makes selecting one instead of the other rather difficult. Traditional printed display solutions have enjoyed unbridled popularity for a long time; however, in recent years, digital display solutions are making their presence increasingly felt.
Digital signage is costlier but worth the investment owing to their long-term usage. The messaging can be easily altered to reflect updates. For example, any change in the product specifications can be easily updated in the digital signage. Another important feature that establishes digital signage superiority over printed materials is that it is lighting-based. This offers enhanced visibility and does an excellent job of capturing people’s attention.
A successful event delivers the message that your organization is reliable, trustworthy, serious and competent enough to mark its presence at leading events and conferences. But successful conception, planning and execution of your business expo requires impeccable synergy at each and every stage. An Asset Management Software is a vital tool to administer and supervise all elements of the planning and procurement process complete with a data capturing feature to track and analyze the results.
Access to information (or the lack of it) determines outcome of an event. A reliable Asset Management Software allows you to keep track of all your assets, keeping tabs on where they are, who has access to them, and how are they being utilized. Armed with this information, event managers can go about their business with the confidence of knowing their decisions are backed by solid data. Also, the consolidation of all event, visitor, exhibitor, and booth management records and other data puts you in a strong position to track, manage and report on the usage of materials, the cost associated with them and the ROI they are generating.
With unwavering commitment to quality and professionalism and an impeccable reputation for delivering highly customized software solutions, icon1 offers Asset Management Systems, Conference Management Systems, Registration and Onsite Solutions and Event Express Management under a single roof. icon1 is a one-stop shop for all your marketing needs to keep your trade shows and exhibitions running smoothly.
Give us a call or write to us with your queries and we will be happy to respond to you.