How to Leverage Festivals and Trade Shows to Grow Your Brand

Summer in the food & wine world means one thing: festival season. Bottlerock, Coachella, NYC Fancy Food, the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen; the list goes on. Beyond the big headlining events, brands can leverage events, festivals, and tradeshows of all kinds that can help them connect with their target audience, from consumers to buyers, to ultimately grow their sales. These events can, however, be expensive, so ensuring that the ROI is there for you this summer--and in the future--is key. Whether a veteran trade show showcase or a festival newbie, we’ve outlined a few steps below to help you ensure that you’re taking the right steps to maximize these meaningful, and fun(!), opportunities:

First, do your research.

It’s important to consider which events are likely to garner an audience that is inclined to engage with the company or product you are promoting to maximize brand visibility through festivals and tradeshows. To effectively reach your target audience, examine the impact the festival has had and its attendance in previous years, the cost to participate, and the other brands that showcase. Do these brands look like ones that you want to be aligned with? Are the attendees hitting the mark for your target audience?

Then, plan your presentation.

Whether you are setting up a booth or promoting your brand in some alternate way, it is important to plan an engaging and meaningful, on-brand way to reach your audience. Elements like samples, demonstrations, or even side parties and stunts, can make your brand stand out to festival goers. Putting an effort into your booth, or creating a memorable way for attendees to engage, is crucial for leaving a lasting impression. And of course, don’t be afraid to find ways to keep them hanging around (pop up shows, lounge areas, etc.) and don’t forget to get them to share their info so you can create a post-festival relationship (QR codes to your site/Instagram, giveaways + contests to drive contact information sharing, and the like. Be creative!).

Of course… Promote yourself.

In the lead up to your presentation make sure to let your audience know that you will participate in whichever festival or trade show you choose. Make fun posts with reminders of the details of where and when you will be there, and of course, what you’ll be doing. We love a heavy use of images coupled with short and sweet copy-and-paste details. Of course, make sure you are not the only one promoting yourself--harness the power of the festival’s PR and marketing team as well.

Once you have done all this planning, show up and get it!

Make sure your staff is well-trained to engage audiences: this means being able to answer any questions that people may have about your company or product. But this also means: have fun and get out there! There will likely be many other brands competing for audience attention. Your staff should also be able to draw in festival goers and encourage booth interaction in ways that feel appropriate to the brand. And of course, encourage sharing, taking photos, sign ups, and the like to capture the fans who stop by your activation or booth--and be sure to engage with them in the future.

After your festival appearance, assess your impact. 

In addition to engaging with folks after the festival or show--follow ups in the case of trade shows, follows/engagement and email or SMS brand ‘welcomes’ in the case of festivals--examine the data collected by your staff at the festival, and assess your return on investment. Look at the time, money and effort you put into your festival appearance and compare it with the engagement you received, and your increase in brand visibility following the festival. Of course, don’t forget that some of these effects may have a long tail impact, and that the work done after the show can be even more valuable than the show itself. 

With all that said and done, of course, enjoy it as another way to learn about what works for your brand and your audience. If you want to connect more about the best way to build a holistic communications program that drives impact--online and IRL, festivals or not--don’t hesitate to drop us a line.