Businesses spend billions of dollars on advertising in print, on radio and television, and online.  Coming out of Covid we’re seeing numbers climb back to the nosebleed section. The U.S ad market is expected to exceed $300 billion for 2022 as reported by Forbes. If you’re a small business, you may not have the luxury of big marketing dollars at your disposal. That’s why small businesses need creative solutions that fit their budgets.

Event marketing offers the small business owner a host of advertising and brand elevation opportunities to reach their customer base and not break the bank. So, if your business isn’t taking advantage of the marketing opportunities right in your own backyard, you’re missing out on reaching those most likely to visit your shop: Your Neighbors.

Festivals, business expos, sporting events, farmer’s markets, health fairs, parades, and job fairs are excellent marketing opportunities for small businesses. These local events bring out hundreds of folks that live in your community as well as drawing tourists from across the country or region.

Small businesses just don’t have the marketing budgets of big corporations or larger businesses. For this reason, many don’t invest time or money in marketing plans or campaigns. When the busy season hits and customers are rolling in, they believe they don’t need to market. (This is a myth by the way.) In the lean months, they don’t want to spend what little cash they do have on hand on traditional expensive marketing.

Some reasons why marketing is the first thing cut or ignored by small business owners include;

• They don’t have a big marketing budget

• They believe social media is enough

• They don’t know what local opportunities are available

• They don’t know how to measure the impact of their efforts

The good news is small business owners don’t have to spend a fortune on marketing to get traction in growing their customer base. I’m sharing in this week’s blog the benefits of event marketing along with some creative ways to make your investment deliver better returns.

There are several ways to employ marketing at local events including sponsorships, donations, presentations, partnerships, and trades. We’ll get into these later, but first things first!

DO YOUR HOMEWORK

What is our goal for the event marketing? Do we want more leads? Do we want to elevate our brand and reputation? Do we want more subscribers? Do we want to fulfill a core company value? Do we want to engage a new market? Do we want a business-to-business outreach or business-to-consumer outreach? All of these are viable marketing goals for any company.

Having a goal is always the first step in any marketing effort. Once we have our goal, we determine the numerical value of that goal. For instance, if we want more leads, we are going to have to know what it costs our company to get a lead or Cost Per Lead. (The formula for that is: Total $ spent on campaign/ # of leads generated by the campaign=CPL)

So, let’s say we want to sponsor an event at $1,500 and we want 75 new leads from this event. If it costs us a total of $2,500 (labor, swag, etc.) then our CPL is $33. But what happens if our costs stay the same, but we only get 25 leads from the event because of low attendance? That takes our costs for each lead up to $100! That’s a little spendy for small business and therefore, not a good investment. This brings me to my next point.

 FIND EVENTS THAT FIT

Research all the reoccurring community events in your county that are relevant to your business or match up with your ultimate customer. Depending on your goal, here are some examples of reoccurring events that provide marketing opportunities:

• Community Festivals

• Trade Shows

• Farmers Markets

• Business Expos

• Sporting Events

• Community/Holiday Celebrations

• Church bingo nights

• Networking Events/Business Events

• Schools/School Projects or Programs

• Nonprofit Programs/Events

• Hiring Events

• Podcasts

• Radio Shows

• Blogs

When looking at events/programs for sponsorship consider the following. Does the event line up with my company core values and core focus? Does the event have strong attendance record? Have others in my industry sponsored this event? What was their experience? Do they have varying levels of sponsorship? Do the benefits of sponsorship line up with my goals? Is it appropriate for my marketing goal?

Some great examples of what constitutes a good fit would be a florist sponsoring the local farmer’s market, an insurance company sponsoring local car show or race, a restaurant sponsoring a gym’s race or lifting competition. For those looking for business-to-business marketing think about sponsoring industry expos, trade shows, podcasts, blogs, and networking and professional development events.

Many of these events offer several options to fit all budgets. For example, if you own a carpentry business that is just starting out, why not sponsor a kid’s derby car race that occurs within a larger event. You could hold a demo or workshop where attendees can take home what they make. A restaurant can sponsor a tasting booth at wedding trade show or snack time for the local Little League. A local music store can be the band sponsor at any event or partner with the local music venue to work out a partnership that benefits both businesses.

 A few of things to answer when deciding on which event is the right opportunity for your business are;

• How often the event occurs

• The average attendance from recent years

• The customer demographics and other vendors

• Know what comes with each level of sponsorship

• Get a written contract with all the benefits outlined

• Ask for backlinks in all publicity 

MAKE AN IMPRESSION

 If you decide to have a booth or make a presentation at the event, make sure you leave an impression with guests. Create offers that either draw guests to your shop after the event, gather emails, or simply have them remembering you long after the event occurs.

 A mere business card or brochure is not going to get you the action you are looking for at these events. Think fun, think big. Provide an activity or product that reflects the nature of your business and your brand. If you are a sporting goods company, have a dunk tank where guests sign up to get a chance to dunk the executive in the suit. Consider offering a new product, or bundle package that fits your business and the audience. Some fun ideas include partnering with other vendors to create a scavenger hunt for guests that have them going from booth to booth to find the big prize. A great way to get customers engaged is have your logo decal on the floor in front of your booth. As people step on your logo, play a snippet of a song, and have a spotlight shine on them. It’s a great ice breaker and pulls them into your booth. A fun photo booth is also another enticing vendor booth idea. Give them props and again, always collect emails or business cards.

 An interactive wall is another idea. You can use post-it notes, a chalk board or white board. Pose a question at the top and ask guests to write their answers. If you sell products, set up a Price is Right game booth where you have a few products displayed and the guest that guesses closest to the actual price wins a prize. Trade Show Labs has a great list of ideas to make your booth stand out at any event.  

SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS

 Attendees to trade shows and events come prepared to spend money, discover new things, and learn. While these events provide the leads, it’s up to us, the small business owner to convert those leads into sales.

 As your team plans out the sponsorship opportunities, make sure everyone is on board with the marketing goal, the offer, and what their role is making it all happen. You may get 50 leads from an event but if nothing happens when they call or visit your business, you’ve lost that lead.

 Consider creating a unique email or using a QR code to capture guests’ information, this way you can track your ROI from the event much more efficiently. Create a landing page all about the event sponsorship and how it ties into your company’s mission, vision, and values. You can offer discounts to new customers, offer free trials, or a free appetizer or dessert with the purchase of a meal. This helps to continue providing them a memorable experience with your business. Remember, earning new customers is a journey that doesn’t end at the event. We need to guide them across the customer bridge to their ultimate solution: what we provide.

 Plan ways your business can promote the event or opportunity on your own website or social media by creating a landing page, or a blog post. Send out an email announcement with a link to the event. Schedule social media posts around the event two weeks before and add it to your own calendar of events. Invite followers to visit your booth and create even more opportunities to earn new customers. During the event, consider a live feed to show the excitement and fun and encourage people to attend or visit your business. Make sure you tag the event host and other businesses that you interact with during the event. Cross promotion is a powerful marketing tool that costs little more than kindness and consideration.

Finding the right event for your business may take some time, and that’s okay. Realize that you are also making an investment in your community and building relational capital as you find ways to plug your business into the community it serves.

Event marketing gives your brand an uplift, offers exposure to new customers and markets, elevates your credibility, provides an opportunity to live out company core values, provides lead generation, and creates relational capital. All good for business!

 HAPPY EVENTING!