Making Your Brand Stand Out at an Event
Want to showcase your brand and build your clientele? Event attendance is an excellent way to do just that and more. Events such as trade shows, music festivals, county fairs, sports games and other large gatherings provide businesses and other organizations with ample opportunities for increased exposure and interaction with potential patrons and partners. If you’re going to be attending an event with your organization, you want to do everything you can to make your brand stand out. We’re here to help you come prepared.
In this guide, Extreme Canopy’s event experts cover several essentials for making your brand stand out at an event. We cover necessary products to purchase, activities to host, branding guidelines to follow and more.
Invest in a Custom-Branded Pop-up Tent or Inflatable Tent
If you’re attending an event as a business or volunteer organization, you’ll likely be designated a “booth,” or space where you can set up shop. At events across the world, many vendors and organizations set up small booth counters or bland tents in their booth spaces. This is a mistake. To make your brand stand out from the rest, it’s important to think beyond the bland “booth” and invest in products designed to showcase your brand with optimal visibility in mind. The most important of these products is your source of shelter.
While you may not have much space at your event, you’ll want to maximize the space you do have by filling it up with a structure that both provides shelter and showcases your brand. Some of the best products for accomplishing both of these things include custom-branded pop-up tents and inflatable tents. Pop-up tents (or “instant canopies”) are sturdy and portable tents that feature an expandable frame, attachable roof and optional attachable sides. Both easy-to-erect and available in a number of sizes, pop-up tents are great for events large and small. Inflatable tents are strong and user-friendly tents that use pressurized air to stand freely. With inflatable tents, set up is quite literally a breeze. Simply turn on your automated pump, stand back, and watch your tent stand up on its own. Since inflatable tents use air as support, they can also be manufactured in a number of creative shapes and sizes, making them a great choice for organizations looking to stand out.
No matter what type of tent you choose for your next event, it’s important to order your tent from a manufacturer that offers custom options in design areas including sizing, printing and colorization. With custom manufacturing, you can design your tent exactly to your liking to ensure that your brand is displayed with the utmost professionalism and visibility.
Use Smart Signage
Once you’ve got your shelter squared away, you’ll want to look for other ways to attract attention at your next event. One great way to attract visitors is to use smart signage to catch eyes and drive traffic to your booth. Versatile and long-lasting flags and banners can be used both indoors and outdoors and set up virtually anywhere to optimize exposure. Some of the most popular flags include feather flags, which are distinguished by their feather-like shape and unique design that flutters in the wind, and teardrop flags, which feature a sleek tear-drop shape and excellent stability. Event banners come in a number of shapes, sizes and designs, each of which features excellent durability designed for a lifetime of event use. Popular event banners include pull-up banners, pod-pop banners, shuttle pop banners, oval pop banners and custom table covers.
Each of the flags and banners mentioned above has unique advantages and characteristics that may make it the perfect choice for your event-related needs. To ensure that you get the perfect signage for your next event, it’s important to shop from a manufacturer that offers all of the above options to meet your needs. It’s also important to choose a manufacturer that offers high-quality custom printing and sizing options to help you display your brand imagery with the highest resolution and accuracy possible.
Outfit Employees and Volunteers with Branded Apparel
Working with a group at your next event? Look official and attract attention with a dress code. No, you don’t have to make everyone shop up in suits and ties, but you should make sure that everyone is wearing your brand. To do this easily and affordably, make a bulk order for custom-branded t-shirts. You can always sell or give away the surplus. Want to take things a step further? Order hoodies, sunglasses and other pieces of apparel to make your team stand out from the rest. A cohesive, branded look for your employees and/or volunteers will increase your brand’s legitimacy and help attract customers to your booth.
Sell or Giveaway Branded Items
Merchandise is an excellent means of showcasing your brand. If you’re attending an event, it’s a great idea to keep a selection of branded merchandise on hand to give to potential customers. As covered above, branded apparel, such as t-shirts, hoodies, hats and sunglasses, is always a good choice. These items not only interest customers—they also do double duty as portable advertising once worn. For this reason, it often pays to give them away for free.
Other small merchandise to consider stocking at your next event includes items such as pins, pens, phone cases, tote bags, water bottles and small sporting goods. Each of these items is relatively inexpensive, which means they can be ordered en masse and passed out to interested passersby. If you’re looking to make extra money alongside exposure, consider investing in higher-end branded merchandise to sell. If physical goods are your primary business, always bring an ample amount of your merchandise for customers to look at and purchase.
Host an Event Within an Event
Merchandise isn’t the only thing that draws in potential customers. Experience is equally powerful. Recent studies show that “experiential marketing,” marketing through which potential customers interact with a brand or organization through activity, is one of the most effective forms of marketing, bar none. Data collected by Eventbrite, the world’s largest event technology platform, revealed that 95% of event hosts and attending organizations that used experiential marketing in 2017 found that it was effective.
So, how do you implement experimental marketing at your next event? The answer is simple: host an event within an event. At your booth, put on a raffle, skills contest or other game to get people involved. Offer prizes, disseminate information and prompt involvement through activity. If you don’t want to put on an event per se, outfit your booth with music and compelling decoration to synthesize a small experience for visitors. Taking these steps may not immediately increase sales, but they will increase involvement and brand recognition, thus helping build your brand’s reputation and likely earning you more customers down the road.
Drive Action with Special Offers
If you’d rather not put on an event or invest money in building atmosphere at your next event, there’s still one simple step you can take to attract customers and drive sales. That step? Special offers. By advertising deals and discounts on your products and services, you will increase the likelihood that event attendees check out all you have to offer. After all, everybody likes a good deal—just be sure that your deals and special offers are clearly and vividly advertised.
Learn More About Making Your Brand Stand Out at an Event and Shop at Extreme Canopy
Want to learn more about making your brand stand out at an event? Our event experts at Extreme Canopy are here to help. Contact us to speak with a member of our team directly and have your event-related questions answered. Ready to invest in high-quality tents, flags and banners for your next event? Explore our website to learn more about the many great custom products we offer, and shop with us today!