Branding Tips for Small Businesses at Conventions

Conventions in any industry allow you to build relationships with a pre-selected audience AND give you valuable insight into your competition and possible cross-promotion partners. It’s the ideal place for small businesses to spread their branding and make meaningful connections. 

You have a captive audience at a homeschooling trade show. Homeschooling parents attend to be inspired and encouraged in their home education choice, and they are on the lookout for tools and material to provide the best for their family. 

With a face-to-face interaction, you have the potential to leave an impression that is remembered for months. There are various marketing options through virtual events and other digital technologies, but there are few that surpass the impact you can have on a large number of individuals in a small period of time at a convention.

Here is the short list of why your business should invest in attending conventions:  

• Branding: It’s a lasting way to create brand awareness.
• Market Research: You’ll be exposed to products and trends that you may not have knowledge of otherwise.
• Customer Education: You’ll have a unique opportunity to educate attendees in a way that an ad or email blast just isn’t going to do.
• Consumer Needs: You can be educated in regard to the wants and needs of homeschoolers—valuable information that you can use to help shape how your company’s products progress in the future.
• High Conversion Rate: You’ll be able to provide that personal touch that is highly influential on consumers’ intent to purchase goods. According to a survey by Statista, 74 percent of responders said they were more likely to purchase products that had been promoted at a trade show.

Now, check out these planning and branding tips for small businesses, with links to further resources, and get equipped to make the most impact: 

• Chart out a plan ahead of time to make your effort profitable. (See this trade show planning guide for planning tips and a checklist.)
• Create promotional items and deals that are specific to convention attendees. 
• Have contests or giveaways to gather leads. Go the extra step and have attendees take social media action to enter.
• Follow up with the leads quickly when they are most likely to buy, while the event is still fresh in their mind. (Check out some of the options for lead retrieval and lead capture technologies for trade shows.)
• Be ready to sell items and process purchases.

Spring is the popular convention season for homeschooling. Reach out to convention organizers to check on availability any time of the year, and get in their database to be notified of exhibitor registration for their next event. 

Receive individual attention that will help you reach the segment of the homeschooling market that is right for your business by contacting us for personal help with your advertising needs.