NRF Big Show event is one of the mostly awaited event for the retailers and technology marketers. This year’s event is taking place from January 11 to 13. With over 27000 retail professionals and 500+ exhibitors, NRF is rated as the one of the 50 fastest-growing trade events. As an exhibitors, in a short span of time you’re competing with 500 other companies to get people visit your booth and influence the technology decision makers. Tweeting your messages like “Visit us at xyz booth” and with the hashtag #NRF15 is not going to get the attention of your target audience. Check the twitter timeline here to find out the recent messages. So, as an exhibitor, what else you can do? Don’t worry; we have compiled a list of 5 tactics which will help you to drive more visitors to your booth.
1. Competitions
Competitions is one of the mostly used tactics by the exhibitors. It’s an easy way to steal some limelight and caught the attention of the attendees. Giving a gift which is more relevant to your product you’re promoting will be more relevant than an Amazon coupon. The context of the gift with your product will help the users to recall your brand even after the event is over. For example, if you’re a SAAS product company instead of giving away an Amazon coupon or an IPAD you can give 1 year subscription to your product as a gift. Below are few contests/gifts for this year’s event.
Visit Resourcebox’s NRF page to view the news and contests from NRF exhibitors. Also, signup for the limited edition “Resourcebox NRF newsletter” (Only till Jan10th, 2015) newsletter for NRF exhibitors which will have information on the trends in this year’s NRF and what your fellow exhibitors are doing this year in NRF.
2. Linkedin Ads
Instead of just targeting #NRF15 hashtag through Twiiter you can do a better targeting through Linkedin. You can target the members of Linkedin groups through Linkedin ads. Customize your target setting to include all NRF related groups in Linkedin and further you can narrow down your targeting based on the roles you want to target. Below is a list of few groups to consider:
– National Retail Federation Visit
– NRF’s CMO Council Visit
– NRF Retail IT Leadership Community Visit
– NRF Big Show 2015 (Only for Retailers) Visit
3. Workspace in your booth
With a lot of space to cover users will be exhausted and will look for space to relax and hangout. If you have enough space in your booth, allocate a part of your real estate to set up a “cooling pad” for attendees. Also, instead of the workspace you can create a “noise free” zone for attendees to make phone calls. Be creative and look for ways to use that space for branding without being intrusive to the users.
4. Build Momentum Pre-Event
Engage your target audience with the pre-event campaigns. This helps you to build momentum pre-event and better brand recall at the event. Unless you’re technology giant like SAP or Oracle you’ll need a lot of pre-event momentum to build awareness for your brand. Instead of shooting in the dark, target the right audience from your core audience group (ex: targeting merchandiser or only supply chain) with personalized messaging. Make sure your target audience knows you’ll be in the event and that’s what matter the most.
If you’re not sure how to target NRF event retail attendees prior to the event, check out Demanzo’s NRF pre-event campaign service which is customized for NRF exhibitors to build awareness and drive more traffic to their booth.
5. Product Launch
Guy Kawasaki said, “Enchantment is the purest form of sales. Enchantment is all about changing people’s hearts, minds and actions because you provide them a vision or a way to do things better. The difference between enchantment and simple sales is that with enchantment you have the other person’s best interests at heart too.”
Event is a wonderful place to launch new products. Generate excitement among your target audience by doing a product launch in the event or in case you have a product you can launch an exciting feature in your product. You can announce contests/gifts for users to test drive your product. Be generous in your gifts and if you compare the pricing with cost per acquisition through PPC networks you will be amazed to see the effectiveness of this tactic. Also, it’s a great way to influence your user base and leave a lasting impression.
Hope you liked our tips. Please comment and let us know your thoughts. To summarize, if you’re interested in implementing in any of these tips, please remember, execution is the key. Implementing your ideas with creative and apt communication will get you success.
All the best for your NRF promotions. If you need a hand in building pre-event momentum for your NRF campaign do let us know we will be happy to assist with your efforts.
