While the marketing landscape has an overwhelming number of options to reach target audiences, still one of the most engaging opportunities is face-to-face. Amidst your social efforts, digital advertising, emails, and mailers – don’t forget the value of personal interaction.
One, often overlooked, way to tap into these opportunities is through event marketing. Event marketing is engaging. It allows consumers to participate in the brand and really learn to love the product or service being offered. Event marketing can mean planning and hosting your own event as a business, but more simply (and often more economically) can mean being a sponsor or partner for a special event with mutual audiences. Either way, here are some benefits you may not have thought of:
- Low Cost Media Mentions and Brand Exposure – Simply put, your business name and logo will be included in the event program, news stories, advertisements, and digital media. Your business gets the benefit of media coverage that could otherwise be excessively expensive.
- Easily Reach Your Mass Target Audience – By sponsoring an event where your target market is likely to attend, event managers will do the work in terms of advertising and bringing in attendees. From there, your job is to create eye-catching displays and materials to attract attendees to your booth.
- Network – Beyond being a prime opportunity to connect with shoppers, an event sponsorship provides a great opportunity to network with and identify other business leaders and like-minded potential partners.
- Generate Revenue – Events offer plenty of opportunities to recoup costs. Many have booths or stores that will allow sponsors to sell their products for not only additional brand awareness, but also to bring in a little extra cash over the course of the event.
- Build Community – Partnerships like these enrich your visibility in the community. Sponsoring a community event like a food festival for example helps keep your brand top of mind with customers.
We were fortunate enough to team up with Tyson Foods and Rouses Markets to collaborate as partners of the 2017 Fried Chicken Festival in New Orleans, LA. This platform was the prime opportunity and example of the advantages to event marketing. By sponsoring the event, Rouses Markets’ logo and brand received millions of media impressions across regional publications, digital platforms and news stories. At the festival, a Rouses branded stage provided both musical entertainment and cooking demonstrations with renowned local chefs. Tyson and Rouses were able to educate shoppers on the ways to use fried chicken from the deli to create tasty and easy meals. A Rouses vendor booth provided the retailer a chance to greet customers one-on-one, showcase their product, receive feedback and add a personal touch in a fun atmosphere – beyond the store setting. Not to mention, the weekend event had over 166K attendees. Having the Rouses names behind this local festival provided a fresh boost of awareness and engagement.
So you’re ready to jump in? We’re armed with the resources to get you headed in the right direction; from purposefully selecting a brand-appropriate event to creating displays and materials to concepting day-of sales strategies. We’re here to develop you and your business an experiential event marketing strategy that promises to engage, excite and influence consumers! Give us a shout.
