Here are the 10 essential marketing must-haves, you’ll be needing at Ireland’s biggest annual trade show. The next National Ploughing Championships in takes place on the 17-18th September, Ballintrane, Fenagh, Co Carlow and will have more than 1700 exhibitors and close to 300,000 visitors in 2019.
Ready to amplify your pulling power at this event in a sea of competition? Make sure to check these off ASAP, If you are exhibiting.
Quick Pro tip
Don’t forget to plan your route if you’re scoping for new contacts. Arrive earlier than the rush hour crowd to get a decent conversation in and be prepared to leave late. Check out the Ploughing Championship site for more location and layout details.
Ready to ‘Sow the Seeds’ of your success? Whether you are building your list of viable contacts, selling direct to attendees from a stand or handing out important information for your cause and organisation, here are some sales and marketing essentials you need to consider. Even if you are just visiting on the lookout for new business contacts, ideas and prospects, it is still a good idea to check some of these sales and marketing tips.
1. Reach Out and Advertise your Attendance in Advance
Don’t forget to let your target audience know you will be there well in advance. No point investing in a stand or a visit if you don’t tell your customers or online audiences. Be sure to add your location, stand name, number and contact details so they can find you on the day.
Tell everyone “Visit us at Stand #(insert number) at the 2020 Ploughing Championships.” Add in detail of your special offers or giveaways if you can.
Go one step further and follow up by arranging prescheduled appointments
Reach out to fellow exhibitors in the run-up by researching the exhibitor list with email/direct mailshots and get in touch with relevant brands in your territory.
2. Design Consistent Social Media, Email and Web Banners
Talk to Snap if you’re not sure how to go about it. Here’s a Handy Online Graphic Design Checklist we made.
Be sure to get them out on:
- Social media cover banner, posts and ads.
- Email shots to your client base and prospects.
- Web banners for your home page and blog.
- Email and Postal signatures
- Direct mail inserts to your clients
Brand Integrity Matters
One simple branded graphic can go a long way. Our graphic designers routinely adapt these for any campaign and resize them to any online template platform so as to keep messaging clear and consistent.
As brand custodians of our corporate customers, we understand that a simple graphic has to be branded consistently with all the other imagery that your brand generates using the same style guide and palettes that your customers are accustomed to.
3. Consider On-Site Promotional Partnerships with other Brands
Further, enhance your sales promotions onsite so its a win-win double exposure whammy at the show.
Examples
- An organic strawberry farm partners up with the dairy producer to create strawberries and cream tasting station and recipe booklet.
- A tractor supplier partners up with workwear specialist to create specially branded health and safety gear to release as a bonus to their clients.
- An outdoor furniture supplier teams up with a Food truck to create a foodie pit stop where they sample the products.
- A charity teams up with a hospitality company to create a kiddie play area whilst their parents get free head massages
4. Have a Clear Call to Action in all Collateral
It doesn’t matter what you’re making whether it’s a flyer, signage, or a promotional product – make it really clear to your audience that they can act on it.
Give them something to do next, with a clear call to action AND a clear way to contact you easily whether you’re communicating in advance of the show, during the show and after the show.
Add value to your Call-to-Action so it is more than mere ” Contact Us” message.
Examples of Value-Added Calls to Action
- Call us for a free consultation
- Use this Promotional code at our stand
- Talk to (insert name) for your bonus gift on the day
- Subscribe to our newsletter to get a discount at the show
5. Create Smart Business Cards for You and Your Sales teams
It’s a simple obvious one, but also a make-or-break one. Don’t get caught without a calling card. If you have more than one sales consultant at the stand, make sure everyone has adequate supplies and up to date info presented on their business cards.
- Go one step further and make sure your online details are easy to upload with a printable QR code so they can be scanned into your recipient’s mobile phone contact list.
- Don’t forget to add your social media handles if that’s where you want to connect online.
- Some brands stand out from the sea of business cards by generating clever postcard versions or business cards in different shapes and sizes too.
- Lots of ways to stand out with the creative use of print finishes as well.
Learn more about our Business Cards service.
6. Incentives and GDPR compliance for Business Card drops / Subscribers
If you have a stand, adding to your prospect and leads database would be an important sales objective. Be sure to have a clever incentive to encourage business card drops or would-be subscribers for your mailing list.
Some examples:
- Competition Lucky draw for a hamper or voucher
- Sign up for a free trial run of your service
- Sign up for a discounted first -use offer of your product or service
- Check in to our stand on Facebook to get a special discount at the event.
Be GDPR Savvy If encouraging new subscriptions
Getting clear Opt-in on a subscription form is essential if you wish to follow through with marketing and sales info – therefore all your competition entry forms need a clear tick box to give consent.
Be explicit in your signage in the form of a tent card that you will be reaching out to each competition entry personally to follow up. in your follow up be transparent as to how you received their data and be clear that you will not share it.
Talk to our designers if you need advice on signage options/subscription forms.
7. Flyers and Brochures with Ploughing Championships Offers
You may have flyers and brochures with your generic company contact details already. Here’s how you can take it further.
- It’s best practice to create at least one flyer with a specific offer tailored to the event audience you will be dealing with.
- Don’t have budget or time for a new flyer? Get some stickers made with the unique offer for your Ploughing championship audience. Adapt what you have.
- If selling online, make sure you have a good trackable promo code to measure ROI on the offer.
- here are some Tips for Printing Flyers that drive traffic to your website.
If it’s a generic offer – a trackable code will still come in handy so you can see where the traffic comes from.
8. Branded Promotional Products and Merchandise
Here’s the Secret – make sure it’s a promotional item that’s seasonal, audience-appropriate and genuinely useful. Our Catalogue of Promotional Products have loads of useful ideas – the trick is to create something genuinely useful to your target audience, to make your brand part of their daily lives.
Pro tip – make sure it does something that relates closely to your brand, product or values. For example – if it’s a food product you are selling, then a kitchen or cooking accessory may be just the thing for example.
What’s really trending?
The fight against plastics- Consider Reusable Branded Drinkware.
Available in every type of style and size
- reusable keep cups
- thermos mug flasks
- sporty water bottles
Some ideas here (especially useful if your audience is always on the road or working outdoors)
- Chargeable mobile power banks for people who are always out and about
- A car accessory for someone in constant motion.
- Outdoor weather resistant branded apparel that helps stave off the rain or the cold.
You’ll need to do this ASAP if you haven’t already – as special gift ideas may take longer than a print run. Call your local Snap Centre for easy local options.
9. Have Packaging, Payment Stationery and Forms Ready
So even the seemingly boring operational stuff matters. Why? Because this facilitates your sense of professionalism and enhances customer service and experience.
Think about having stock of items and the right business stationery and equipment for facilitating sales – you’ve spent this much to get there – the last thing you need is to hold up a sale:
- Receipt and docket books
- Wifi and tel line or device for credit card machines
- Point-of-sale collateral like tent cards and extra posters just in case you need to cover a spot
- Easy to amend pricing tags in blank versions as well as pre-printed ones
- Packaging and carry all bags – especially good durable ones branded and big enough to take other purchases ( these are moving outdoor ads, folks!)
- Have extra Product sampling or sample packs to had out
10. Signage, Posters & Display Material
There’s a whole range of stand signage and exhibition display material to consider. Really essential especially if in an outdoor setting as you need event more modular freestanding signage to create a natural perimeter and branded enclosure.
- If pressed for time – consider investing in a clever batch of well-designed pull-up banners that are very reusable and portable.
- Foamboard or Corrib board-backed poster material will also be durable enough to create quick backdrops.
- Supplement with strut cards and tent cards which are easy to reproduce.
See more of our Snap Signage Solutions here.
Some examples include
- Very portable textile backdrops
- Pull up banners
- Feather/wing banners and flags
- PVC outdoor banners
- Freestanding pavement signs
- branded balloon arches
Some Ploughing Championships Extras
Some extra advice – it’s an outdoor event so you need to remember the following…
- Bring key survival essentials for the great outdoors, like sun-cream, wellies, rain gear and baby wipes.
- Fill yer belly. Grab a mega breakfast before set up. Bring grazing supplies and bottles of water for hydration. Keep those mints handy too for the constant conversing you’ll be doing. Don’t forget – there’s lots of foodie action at the event too – you won’t be looking for food for too long if stuck without a picnic basket.
- ATM foresight needed. Did we say it was outdoors? Stock up on the old petty cash and change especially if selling from the stand. Be mindful of the ATM location.
- Here’s a handy Event Collateral Checklist we made to keep you on the right track and help you remember all the little things.
Common sense that’s not too late to activate. But do it now!
There you have it. There’s more than one way to stand out from the crowd at the next Ploughing Championships or any event. These event insights are relevant to any major event coming your way.
We are ready to help you grow your business at the next Ploughing championships or any major trade-show. You can bring any of these ideas to life with Print, Promotional Products, Signage, Digital Content or Graphic design.
Need a handy one-stop supplier for all of the above? Keep calm and …
