Outdoor events are a great way to market your business. They allow customers and prospects to engage with you in a relaxed, unhurried manner, so they can take a deep dive into who you are and what you offer. They can also be a good training platform for newer members of staff since they get low-pressure experience in dealing with clients.
Another advantage of outdoor events is they’re a treasure chest of data. You can collect customer information and contact details so that you can follow up later with newsletters and email marketing. You can get them to fill out quick surveys which you can use to improve your product. And you can observe how they interact with your brand.
One of the biggest advantages of outdoor events is you can test run a new product or service and see how customers feel about it. Of course, there are many different types of outdoor events. It might be a music concert, a food festival, or an outdoor trade show. The items that you bring will depend on the nature of the event.
There are several key parts of any outdoor display. You need a headliner outdoor ad. This will usually be a massive banner that has your business name, a summary of your offerings, and contact details. You can do this in two ways. One, you can use a large media wall as a backdrop. They can be up to 3 metres and are available in full colour.
The second option is to have a large horizontal banner at the entrance of your display. It can be placed as an arch at the top of the entryway. The advantage is that its vertical height will make it easy to spot from far away. But if this is an event with many other stands, it will easily be lost in a sea of similar advertising displays.
At such times, it helps to have something a little more distinctive. You can use an advertising balloon or a floating zeppelin that will be anchored to your display space and float high above it. Have one customised into the shape of your logo or mascot, so that you can re-use it at every event. It should have minimal wording, for ease of communication.
For your floating balloon ad, use the brightest colour in your brand palette, so that it’s easier to spot. If you have distinctive logo or trademark, you can use that as the basis of your floater, but if not, a ball shape or cube shape will do. It should have your brand name and tagline in the largest workable font. Customers won’t strain their necks to read more details.
Besides, any other information can be placed on ground level banners and flyers. The flyers are essential, and because they have a lot of space, you can make them as detailed as you wish. Use attractive designs, bright colours, and useful content so that your customers will be less likely to throw them away. Don’t forget contact details.
In addition to advertising brochures, be sure to have a lot of business cards on hand. Dish these out freely, but add an incentive. Get a professional designer to make your materials more attractive, and include a discount voucher on them so that they are persuaded to hold on to the cards. You could print cards that follow the theme of the event.
If the event stretches after sunset, get retractable vertical banners. The advantage of these banners is you can light them up, making them more visible in the dark and helping to attract customers’ attention. It’s also a good idea to have perimeter flags that mark out the boundaries of your display area.
Flags can also be carefully placed in other areas of the trade show or concert, giving directions to where your stand is. At the stand itself, desktop banners are helpful for guiding customers on which areas of the stand they should visit. Always include name tags and descriptive job titles, so they know who to ask for what.
Finally, consider installing some outdoor flooring material. It helps to prevent free-standing banners from falling over and provides additional advertising space. Some flooring can have LED lighting installed in its base for added customer appeal.
