Kitted Trade Show Items

Trade shows are an essential component for stimulating sales for many different types of businesses. Being prepared for your trade show visit is of the utmost importance, and can have a significant impact on your organization’s growth. If your organization depends on trade shows, it may be worthwhile to consider developing pre-made trade show kits that can be quickly and easily deployed to your trade show locations. Trade show kits can contain: raffle item/tickets, gifts for different demographics/customers, high-end promotional items for preferred customers or hot prospects, trade show banners, brochures, catalogs, etc… In this article, we will outline some of the benefits of kitting your trade show presentations.

Benefits:

1. Convenient, fast deployment – Trade show kits help you maximize your trade show impact, while minimizing the preparation time. It is especially helpful to find a company like Powertex Group to help you design, source, decorate, package, and distribute the trade show kits directly to your location. This way, all you have to do is arrive at your location, pick up the kit, and set up your booth. You can leave behind a large portion of the pre-trade show logistics and planning difficulties.

2. Consistent, professional message – Many organizations have different locations or related entities that will be participating in regional trade shows in their area. By kitting the essential branding components, you can take an essential step in ensuring your brand’s integrity in trade show presentations. This, in turn increases your brand’s professional reputation within the market.

Trade Show Kit Item Ideas

3. Increased purchasing power – Because you are kitting your yearly trade show presentations at once, your purchasing power will increase through bulk buys. You may find that your giveaway quality may go up, while your overall costs may go down significantly.

4. Decreased administrative costs – By utilizing an outside organization who is equipped to handle the logistics involved in trade show kitting, you can drastically decrease the manpower and internal assets needed to prepare for your yearly circuit. Companies such as Powertex have an extraordinary amount of experience in trade show presentations, and can guide you through the preparations with a minimum of interaction necessary on your part. They can even help with added advice such as how to cost-effectively devise several different levels of trade show kits, and how to develop strategies to make the overall program work best for your organization.

There are many different aspects to planning and properly executing every single trade show appearance. By working with a qualified organization who can design, source, decorate, warehouse and distribute your trade show kits on demand, you can eliminate a large portion of your trade show planning process. If you are interested in learning more about how trade show kits can benefit your organization call Powertex today at (800) 588-7111, or email us at customerservice@powertexgroup.com. Our knowledgeable staff can help you develop a plan to make your upcoming trade shows more profitable and successful.

Planning for event sales can be a very complex task. In this, the second entry in our two part series, we will talk about merchandising techniques and increasing your sales at events. If you missed the first article, you can read it here.
In this article, we will walk you through things you need to keep in mind when setting up your event promotion:

Proper Signage: One of the first and most important steps in ensuring successful sales and happy customers is setting up proper signage. First of all, make sure your signage is clearly visible from as many angles as possible, and can be read from a distance. Secondly, make sure that your signage is professional and attractive to the eye. Thirdly, make sure that the language is concise and makes sense. Try to eliminate any language that might be confusing to customers at check out time. Make sure that pricing and specials are clearly marked. Finally, make sure customers know and can find where to go for what. Whether it be a certain type of product, or the checkout, you want your customers to find what they want easily.

Managing traffic flow is critical to event success

Traffic Management : Be aware of the traffic flow through your area, and try to anticipate potential bottlenecks and traffic problems. The better flow of traffic you have through your event merchandising area, the more success you may have. You want people to be able to find what they want, checkout, and get out easily. Many event purchases are impulse buys, and you don’t want traffic congestion to interfere with that.

As was mentioned before, make sure the signage and P.O.P properly reflects the locations of things, and that the pedestrian traffic lanes are clearly defined. If you have some areas that you know will most likely be traffic problems, and you will have no way of alleviating the problem, put some product there. Let people stare at your product while they wait, you may just get some add on sales.

Product Merchandising: Proper product merchandising can be a major factor in determining the success of your next event sales promotion. Make sure to keep your product selection in mind, and make it easy for customers to pick up add-on sales. Place like products together, and make sure to display add-on items next to the other products. Invest in proper P.O.P to properly and attractively display your product. Product will most always sell better when attractively displayed. Lastly, don’t make people look for your product. If possible, display your product at or just below eye level, and keep it visible,

Staff Appropriately: Make sure you have the appropriate staff available, and that you have a contingency plan if one or more members becomes ill. Not having enough staff can be disastrous, leading to high customer wait times, frustration, and lost sales. Plus, events can be extremely stressful on staff.
The loss of a key employee or under staffing can result in high levels of frustration and can lead to other problems as well.

Safety and security are key at events

Conversely, overstaffing can eat into your profit margins and ruin an otherwise successful venture. Be sure to analyze your potential sales numbers and plan accordingly.

Safety and Security: A general rule of thumb when planning for a successful event: expect and plan for the unexpected. Make sure you are acquainted with proper evacuation procedures for you, your employees, and your customers. Know where the fire extinguishers are, and where to find emergency first aid if necessary.

Be sure to have at least one security person for every 500 persons in your area. Depending on what kind of event you are at, you may want a higher or lower ratio. Properly train your staff on techniques to prevent the theft of both products and cash. Many an event has been ruined due to excessive theft. Have a secure system for handling daily deposits, and have a set system of checks and balances in place to ensure that proper accountability is in place for those who are handling money.

Of course each event merchandising and sales are different at every event and location, but these are some general guidelines to follow when setting up your next live promotion. Let Powertex help you set up and plan your next event. Put our experience and vast assets to work for you. Call today at (800) 588-7111, or email us at: customerservice@powertexgroup.com or visit us at: http://www.powertexgroup.com or visit us at: http://www.powertexgroup.com.

Big crowds mean lots of planning.

Planning for event sales can be very complex and difficult. In this two part series we will go through the nuts and bolts of setting up an event, and, in part two, we will talk about merchandising techniques and increasing your sales. Part 1 (below) is a list of important things to keep in mind when planning your next event:

Know Your Demographic:

The first and most obvious step in preparing for a successful event is to know who you are going to be selling to. You want to know the number, age range, male/female ratio, buying habits, etc. Music festivals, air shows, and corporate events, for instance all draw very different crowd types.

When developing your products, keep in mind that women make 60-70% of all purchases at events (even if those purchases are for men). Also remember the kids. Children’s souvenirs are a huge part of the event market.

Plan, Plan, Plan Again:

If you are developing promotional products specifically for an event, you will want to start at least 120 days ahead. This allows you plenty of time to develop the promotional items and source them overseas if you need to. You’ll also need plenty of time to plan out the shipping logistics of your program, the merchandising, and and temporary storage you might need.

Develop Your Key Strategies:

You’ll need to set up a plan to ensure on-time product delivery. If there is a need to store product before the event, or at night during multi-day events, you’ll need to arrange that as well as product transport back and forth between the locations. From a merchandising perspective, you’ll need to ensure you have the necessary trucks, tables, tents, and the proper amount of sales personnel available.

Use the demographic information you gathered (and past sales if available), to try to determine
how much product you will need to bring. Have a plan for dealing with left over product, and make sure you have a contingency plan on how to deal with a complete rain out (for outdoor events).

Get the Location Set:

Live events pose special challenges

Before you go, it is of utmost importance that you take the time to visit and evaluate the site you will be merchandising at. You’ll need to ensure that your location will have the proper traffic flow near it, you will be able to establish the proper signage. You’ll also need to check that you have proper access to electrical outlets, a phone line if you need it, and night lighting for  evening events.

Money, Money, Money:

First you will need to determine what types of payments you will be accepting (checks, credit cards,
etc..) If you are processing credit cards on-site, your site visit should have affirmed whether you have the proper phone access.

Unfortunately, many vendors spend far too little time thinking about cash security procedures. Events tend to be very chaotic, and cash can “disappear” in a hurry. Take special care in laying out how, and who will access your registers. Plan out how you will protect your hard-earned money when you are away from the booth,and during the evenings. Also take extra steps to ensure credit card information integrity if you are collecting the numbers.

Be sure to catch next month’s email article when we discuss event merchandising and techniques that will garner more sales on site. Powertex can help you set up and plan your next event. Put our experience and vast assets to work for you at your next event. Call today at (800) 588-7111 , or email us at: customerservice@powertexgroup.com or visit us at: http://www.powertexgroup.com.

Capture Client Information to Maximize Your Sales Potential.

We all know the value of promotional marketing.

Or do we?

Sample BRP customer satisfaction survey

Think back to the last promotional marketing campaign you ran. Can you say with certainty how your organization benefited from that campaign? Do you know how much your return on investment was, how many leads you gained, or how your customer retention rate was affected? If the answer to these questions is no, then you may be missing out on a huge opportunity to get much more from your promotional marketing campaigns.

Much of the secret to realizing success in the promotional marketing world is to design your promotions to have a measurable end result. Without an expected end result, and a legitimate to track the results, you can never be sure of a campaign’s success or failure. The examples below are a perfect illustration of why measurable results matter:

A. Salesman A attends the trade show every year. Between travel, fees and promotional items, he invests a significant amount of money into the trade show. He always orders some high-priced pens to take with him, so he has something nice to give his potential customers. Throughout the day, he talks to hundreds of people, handing out almost all of his promotional items, and at the end, he goes home to await the phone calls that inevitably come after the trade show. He knows that he gets more business, but has no idea how much, or what kind.

B. Salesman B attends the same trade show, brings the same pens, and has essentially the same booth, but instead of just handing out the promotional items, he politely asks for a business card in exchange. Once he arrives back at his office, he enters his stack of contact information into his computer – along with notes on who the potential hot leads may be. Throughout the next year, he tracks what sorts of customers he has gained from the trade show, and he can follow up with his hot leads immediately. He knows exactly how much income his trade show appearance is responsible for. Next year, he can make an informed decision whether the investment is worth it. He also has a gauge by which to determine the next year’s relative success or failure.

Mathews Special Offer Example

There are so many ways to gather information on your promotional marketing campaigns. If you run a store front, you could offer a promotional item as an incentive with a purchase of a particular item. You can then track your sales throughout the promotion, and compare it to recent sales data to determine the relative profitability of the promotion. If it is successful, run it again at a later date. If not, scrap the idea and try something new.

Reward your customers for completing a survey. You will get more respondents, plus you’ll get valuable data about how you are perceived by your customers. You’ll also get feedback on how to better serve your clients and improve retention rates.

Getting more from your promotional marketing initiatives isn’t difficult, it just takes a little more planning on the front end. Plan for some way to achieve a measurable result, and set goals for the promotion. When it comes time to make a decision on what sort of promotion to run next, you’ll have reliable data to help you create a more successful campaign. To learn more about capturing customer data during your next promotion, contact Powertex. Give us a call today at (800) 588-7111, or email us a customerservice@powertexgroup.com. Visit us at: http://www.powertexgroup.com.

Summertime is the perfect time of year to focus on event-based promotional marketing.

Golf Outing Event

Summertime is here, and it’s the perfect opportunity to increase your brand awareness through event-based promotional marketing. With all of the summer festivals, sports events, and fairs it’s the best time of the year to use strategic co-branding to grow your brand. Many organizations understand the importance of event-based marketing, but many more totally miss the boat. Below are a few examples of how you can take advantage of summer festivities:

Baseball/Softball Games: If you have a popular baseball or softball league in your area, arrange to give out baseball caps with their logo on it. Then, as a subtle way to brand it, you could have your logo printed in a de-emphasized location like the side or back of the cap. People love to sport their team’s logo, and you can have your brand along for the ride wherever they go.

Golf Outings: Golf events are great for free giveaways. The easiest way to increase the value of your offering is to tie it to an established popular brand. Many popular brands like Nike, Calloway, and Cutter & Buck are available for promotional customization. You could easily get Nike or Max-Flite golf balls branded with your logo. Cutter & Buck windshirts go over well too. Brands like these have a high perceived value, and are much more likely to be well appreciated.

Music Festivals: If you are after a younger demographic, this is a great way to go. Besides the larger music festivals, there are usually countless other outdoor music festivals going on that would really be open to cross-promotion ideas. T-shirts are a staple in this market, but the younger crowd, being more marketing-savvy than most markets really love more subtle trendy items. Things like wristbands, buffs, glow sticks, and nalgene water bottles go over well with music festival goers, and are perfect platforms to showcase your brand.

Charity Sport Event

Charity Sports Events: When planning your targeted event campaigns, don’t forget summer charity sports events. These types of events are the classic triple play of brand awareness. They show: your company’s commitment to the community charities, a commitment to local sports and fitness, and your brand’s leadership in support of causes beyond your own corporate well-being. Sweat bands, t-shirts, and water bottles are staples to this type of event, and are almost guaranteed to be used.

When planning your summer promotions, be sure not to forget events specific to our local events. Just about every town in America has some specific event each year, and they each may draw a different type of demographic that may be suited to you. Consider what events would be best for your brand, and plan accordingly. To learn more about promoting yourself at events, contact Powertex. Give us a call today at (800) 588-7111, or email us at customerservice@powertexgroup.com. Visit us at: http://www.powertexgroup.com.