Noah Cisneros

Be More Than Noise

It’s hard to stand out from the crowd on social media. It is even harder to stand out from the crown when it is a literal crowd at an event.

I had the opportunity to develop some incredible event booth experiences for a variety of products and teams.

A lot of times, event marketers do the basic: nice backdrop with a table and some free pens. Maybe some candy.  If you’ve ever been to a conference and trade show, you know exactly what I am talking about.

While a powerful value proposition will drive traffic to your booth regardless of the design, there are lots of great options offered by a wide variety of competitors in most spaces.

For that reason, it is paramount that your booth is recognizable, memorable, and engaging.

Even if it is as simple as having a paper airplane contest, an Oreo stacking contest, or an incredibly awesome backdrop like this, do something different so you are not just more noise in a sea of endless advertisements.

There are three major elements I strive for when marketing at an event.

1. Booth Experience
2. RAD Swag
3. Connection

Let’s get into it!

1. Booth Experience

You do not want people to stop by just to grab some free swag. You don’t want people to walk past you with a blank stare, hoping to avoid eye contact. While it can be argued that just being there has its advantages, strive for more than that.

A black table cloth, a stock photo image with your logo as a backdrop, and some free pens and candy to entice guests to speak with you, are not the way to go.

Shitty preparation = shitty conversations

And without good conversations, you cannot convert from event marketing.

What makes a good booth experience? A memorable interaction. You need to engage people there. It can be simple, it can be cost-effective, but it needs to be creative and appropriate to the audience at the event.

Here are some ideas that I have ran at events which proved to engage well:

• Have a paper airplane contest: We did this for a Public School teachers conference. They deal with crafts to some extent all the time. The idea is simple, the activity required very minimal skill, and it was a competition with a leader board. There was a prize at the end of the day for whomever won. The real catch? All we needed was a target to hit and a stack of papers. It was fun and it got people to line up at our booth ready to engage.
• Cookie stacking contest: We were promoting a checking account at a local event. The marketing material we had used as billboards and digital ads utilized cookies to portray a “us vs. them” message. This displayed the stark contrast of interest earned when consumers banked with the brand vs. traditional larger banks. To tie in this messaging and multi channel tactic for the event, we invited guests at this event to stack Oreos. They would compete in sets of three, whoever had the highest Oreo stack that could stand on its own would win a cupcake. This too got people lining to participate and talk with the team at the booth.

Having an engaging activity at your booth is one excellent way to provide a positive event experience. However, much can be said for having a creative and unique booth design.

I had a team going to a Third Party Payment Processing conference. We wanted to create a booth that would stand out in a usually minimal show floor. We worked with creative agencies to design, build, and deliver a booth experience that was interactive and attention-grabbing:

The cubes in the back would rotate showing different collars or product elements. The swag items correlated with this booth backdrop and the messaging was also utilized in emails and ads. The booth was bright, the branding engaging, and the booth had an actionable QR code. The talking points and the functionality of the booth aided and supported the sales team when speaking with prospects at the event.

2. RAD Swag

R – Radical

A – Actionable

D – Different

Swag – that free stuff that you get at an event booth.

In the booth example above, a create theme was utilizing Rubix cubes to address a pain point of that audience. “Solve the puzzle” was the message.

What better opportunity than that to actually provide Rubix cube swag?

We had the swag branded, and custom. The box had information and call to action resources printed on it. It was much more than a boring pen.

If you want your brand to be memorable at an event, you need to provide them with something radical. Something that they won’t get at another booth. Something that they want to bring home. Something that won’t end up in the hotel trash can. Something that is worth an awkward conversation with a sales associate.

But swag costs money! So make it worth it. Actionable items are critical. In the Rubix cube example, there was a QR code for the attendees to submit information on a corresponding web page. The leads were captured by the sales team and later contacted. The swag was branded. The point is not just to have a fun time at an event or to give out cool items; The point is to gain awareness and gain customers.

This is often something that event marketers miss entirely! Even if they are creative, they forget that most customers do not give a damn about you. So make it easy for them to care when you are providing a fun experience with a worthwhile, branded, R.A.D. piece of swag.

3. Connect

The emails you send before, during, and after the event need to look and feel like the event booth.

The retargeting Facebook ads need to look and feel like your event booth.

The mailers you send the attendee list after the event need to look and feel like your event booth.

The web pages for the products promoted at the event need to look and feel like the event booth.

I think I share nothing new when I say that awareness marketing does not get you ROI. Retargeting that awareness does!

Event marketing is crucial as it can automatically place you were your ideal customer is. It does a great job of added legitimacy to your brand while growing awareness. However, the effectiveness of event marketing must be measured AFTER the event in how those contacts interact and engage with you afterwards.

While many decision makers attend events, deals are rarely signed at them. The point of being memorable is to be familiar when you reach out afterwards. But the point is to reach out afterwards.

From a marketing perspective, you need everything to connect and feel consistent. Eric Johnson said “repetition deepens the impression” and he is right.

Summary

Focus on giving customers a memorable experience when they engage with you at an event to improve conversion after the event.

Event marketing is about standing out from the wave of marketing noise and sales chatter.

Booth Experience + RAD Swag + Connecting = Great Event Marketing

Disclaimer: I am an employee of TAB Bank. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TAB Bank or other TAB Bank employees. No TAB Bank products, rates, or services are offered on this website or by me in any form at any time.