Preparing for any event can be a daunting experience, even more so for a corporate event, and even more so if the event will be a roadshow therefore knowing the fundamental areas to keep your focus on can lead to an eventful showcase to your demographic. Roadshows can be ideal as they can relate directly to the audience’s leisure.
Roadshows
Roadshows promotional events can reach pockets of wider target markets at a relatively low cost and can also build interest through anticipation and accumulating media coverage, as well as through UGC.
Have a look at another blog which I explain the benefits of UGC.
A road show has aspects of ‘the carnival coming to town’ in that news of it can travel from one location to the next before the actual event, to be anticipated.
A good example of a good roadshow, was Coca Colas ‘share a coke’ campaign, which saw a rise in people drinking coke because of the personalised labels.
Source: Coca Cola
They saw an increase in interest throughout their user base and then moved to open kiosks as well as implementing a 65 experiential stops on the Share a Coke roadshow tour when they would go around the nation personalising coke bottles, the below promotional video from Coke explains all:
Source: http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/stories/history/advertising/share-a-coke/
Your Objective
You have to know why you want to plan this event and for what purpose, and who is your targeted audience, events can be a great communication tool. They can be used to promote a number of things like the sponsor’s brand or the event organiser’s service. Masterman and Wood, (2006) say that this type of promotion has emerged from lifestyle marketing which involves matching the offering to the consumer’s lifestyle.
Alongside these objectives should include the number of expected attendees, an expectation of this would be generated through the interaction and activeness of your user-base that are contributing within social media, once a campaign has been launched on various platforms and a number of those signed up to attend the event can give you a good indication.
Those attending need to be the best prospect of your objective, however you want to attract a new consumer base, therefore you need a mix between those already aware of your brand and those that have not yet been exposed to your brand, those existing customers can be your advocates that would ad credibility to your promotional message.
Adding value
Why should your audience take the time to come to your event, you have to make it desirable by adding some time of value, whether that is having popular artists and music, all the way to giving advice sessions, talks, networking opportunities with the presence of local media etc.
Quality is always better than Quantity, therefore giving away free samples is always accepted in any culture, so by doing this would really give you an edge, and would get your attendees is a good mood for the activities that are ahead.
Holding your Event
Choosing where to hold your events is very integral to the success of any event, therefore…
Areas to think about are:
- Research into possible venues. Contacting local shopping centers, or large areas that can rent out a venue for this event.
- Consider the cost, duration of hire, what time you can gain access, where can you store items, etc?
There are companies that you can consult that can help you with the planning process of your roadshow:
Have a look at On Show Events Website bellow:
http://www.onshowevents.com/roadshows.html
Exhibit yourself
The event needs to communicate something about the product, brand, idea or organisation to the target audience. This would be communicated to your audience through various social media outlets which would be repeated a number of times up to the day of the event. Informing the target market that the event is happening using a range of well-targeted media to reach the desired audience can also ensure that the event has a wider reaching impact than simply those that attend.
Coca Cola
Source: http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/stories/history/advertising/share-a-coke/
Figure 1: The process needed for successful implementation of an event, (Masterman and Wood, 2006)
Collaboration
Enterprisenation.com, (2016) suggest that because roadshows can be challenging, because of the multiple locations that you are to hold an event, they suggest collaborating with with local enterprise agencies, universities or colleges and local businesses. This way they would be able to help promote your event to the local community as well as possibly helping with the support with venues and supplies.
Use Social media
Finally, the use of Social media is your biggest tool both during and after the implementation of the event. Therefore, platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram can be very useful, along with a Hashtag so that you can collect data from those that participants that joined the event, to see their opinions, what they thought, what the company could do differently. From one event to another it wouldn’t be too difficult to incorporate these ideas in the next location during the tour. This can likewise help to involve non-participants, to encourage post-event interest in the brand and create an interest in future events.
Summary
All in all, the advantages of using a roadshow as a method of interacting with your audience directly, in a very cost effective way as a marketing tool. If executed well it can have a positive effect on your sales. Its allows the brand to have a direct and lasting relationship with their consumers, not just a corporation to customers, but putting a face behind to the brand. Consumers must be left with the feeling that they have connected with the brand through a multi-dimensional experience that triggers all of their senses.
The downsides of a roadshow are that that if you haven’t done your research prior to know who your audience is and why and how you aim to reach them, then there is a chance that you wont impact them they way that you hoped, participants may have had a great time at the event with this having little or no effect on their attitude to the brand. therefore, you have to make sure that your message that your trying to portray is relatable to your audience.
References
Enterprisenation.com. (2016). Three top tips to running a successful roadshow. [online] Available at: https://www.enterprisenation.com/blog/posts/three-top-tips-to-running-a-successful-roadshow [Accessed 13 Apr. 2016].
Masterman, G. and Wood, E. (2006). Promotional Events. Innovative Marketing Communications, Strategies for the event industries, pp.215-233.
Filothea.com. (2016). Road Shows | FILOTHEA. [online] Available at: http://www.filothea.com/portfolio/road-shows/ [Accessed 14 Apr. 2016].