How to Design Effective Crowd Pullers for Your Roadshow Activities
Long gone are the days when traditional event marketing was limited just a handful of materials and activities you didn’t have much creative room with. These days, planning marketing events is ALL about endless creativity and standing out from the crowd – because, in the end, this is the very first step to making sure your events yield the ROI you are looking for.
Overall Event ROI
Even with all the creative freedom, choosing the right type of marketing event for your business goals is still extremely important. In the end, you’re not planning this just for the sake of planning itself – you’re doing it because it needs to actually have an effect on your business.
Where does a roadshow event fall into all of this? Why are these among the most popular types of marketing events, and more importantly, what are some crowd pulling activities you can incorporate in your roadshow?
We’ve gathered all of the answers right below – so read on if you want to find out more.
Why a Roadshow, More Exactly?
The main objective of a roadshow is to create and strengthen brand awareness. This is not to say that roadshows aren’t good for your sales team’s efforts of taking clients down on the sales funnel, or that you cannot generate leads by planning a roadshow. Roadshows are great for that as well. However, their main purpose is that of showing the world what an amazing brand you are and reminding your audience of the best selling points and benefits your products or services offer.
How are Roadshows different than Larger-Scale Events?
Some of you may be tempted to believe roadshows don’t do as much as larger-scale events because they’re smaller and they target a more restrictive audience (e.g. people who are geographically clustered around the location(s) of your roadshows).
However, the small size and the restricted audience are actual benefits of roadshows. By focusing on a smaller audience, you get the chance to know them better. You get the chance to create a truly personal relationship with them. And you get the chance to adapt your roadshow according to that particular area and target audience, so that you increase your chances of eventually converting those potential customers.
Let’s take an example:
you are an agricultural technology manufacturer and you want to take your products on the road to show them off to your potential customers. However, farmers’ needs can differ a lot from one location to another. A series of roadshow where you exhibit the best products for those particular locations’ needs will be a lot more beneficial in the long run than a large-scale event that doesn’t allow you to tap into the particularities of why your products are better for one geographical area, as opposed to another.
What Are some of the Best Types of Roadshow Activities?
As also mentioned above, there’s no secret recipe on how to attract crowd to your event – it all lies in the way you analyze your parameters and the creativity you put in this. However, for the sake of inspiration, we have gathered some of the best types of engaging roadshow activities ideas you could include in your next event.
Remember, though, these are just for inspiration – don’t be afraid to get creative with these ideas and turn them into something completely new, of your own.
A. Interactive Activities
These are the games and activities you plan for your guests to engage in. It may be an oversized puzzle featuring your brand, or it may simply be a giant wall that invites people to write good wishes, hopes, things they are thankful for, and so on.
Giant Chalk Wall
Creative Whiteboard
B. Prize Draws
No matter where they come from and what their backgrounds may be, people will always love free things – and that is precisely why prize draws are still successful. Our advice is to make yours as interactive as possible – instead of simply tossing names into a hat, why not make this look like a “professional” lucky draw or prize wheel? It can be something that includes your brand name, logo, and/or color – so that it is truly in line with the event you’re planning.
C. Competitions
Who doesn’t love a good challenge? Organizing a small competition for your roadshow can be a great way of attracting more people to your stand. Again, this depends on your brand and what you are selling, but the competition can be based on a wide range of things – from ping-pong tournaments to drone races.
D. Family and Children’s Activities
If you know your audience is likely to come to your event with their children, why not organize something for the little ones? Not only will you make the kids happy, but you will make their parents happy too (and this will give you a chance to present your products to them). Some examples here include children’s games, climbing, toy car races, and so on.
Giant Snake & Ladder Game
Memory Card Game
Wall Climbing
F. Technology and AR / VR
If your target audience is likely to be attracted to tech-news and video games, you have plenty of ways to include that in your roadshow. For example, a VR headset could present your product in a realistic way and it could give your visitors the chance to visualize themselves using it. Even a gaming console, a big screen, and a comfortable chair can do the trick here if you can connect this to your business (e.g. if you are selling fishing and hunting products, you could allow your visitors to play a game based on that).
G. Photobooth
From weddings to high-tier events, photobooths are everywhere – and there’s a very good reason they’re spreading like wildfire: they work. These fun, simple booths can turn your event into a real attraction for a lot of people, from a wide range of backgrounds – because who doesn’t love taking a photo as a superhero, driving their dream car, or just plain and simply in a very fun background (e.g. flying)?
H. Food and Snacks
Cotton Candy
If there’s one thing people will ALWAYS love, that is a good snack. Hire a food truck to embellish your roadshow stand and you are guaranteed to have people lined up in no time – because who can resist a scrumptious doughnut in your brand colors, or a good, old-fashioned popsicle shaped like your brand?
I. Coffee and Mocktails
Nestle Yogurt Bar
Coffee Booth
Serving alcohol at roadshow events may not be a good idea because it can very easily turn into a complete disaster. Serving coffee and delicious, unique mocktails, on the other hand, is absolutely brilliant. People love coffee and they will always love a good refreshment – and if it’s presented in a nice, original way, it’s even better for them!
J. Samplings and Goodies Giveaway
This idea may not work for everyone – but if you sell any kind of foods, ingredients, or simply if you can pick smaller items from your offer that you can giveaway, then you are bound to attract a pretty impressive crowd to your stand. Why? For the same reason lucky draws are still very popular: nobody says “no” to something free, even more so when it’s something qualitative.
How Do You Plan a Successful Roadshow?
Same as any other type of event, great roadshows don’t just happen – they take a bit of attention to detail and diligence. And while there’s no magic recipe to planning the perfect roadshow, there are a few ingredients you absolutely need to consider, regardless of what type of business you’re running.
- Attentively select your Locations
As mentioned above, marketing events aren’t planned just for the sake of, well, doing something. They are planned with a clear goal in mind – and most roadshows have brand activation ideas at the top of their list of priorities.That being said, it is extremely important that you put some thought into the locations you choose for your roadshows.
Think of where your brand needs to (re)enforce its presence, where your potential customers need you the most, where it is more likely to eventually close the deal. Doing this will help you actually achieve your event activation goals.
- Think of your Audience
Who are they, and what are they more likely to enjoy? Are they Millennials who shop in particular stores? Then you could think of shopping mall event ideas that suit them, centered around the shops and brands they enjoy . Are they busy, young moms trying to balance career and family?The types of activities you plan for them might be different, then.Take your time with this, don’t rush through it. At the end of the day, you will conclude that there’s truly nothing more important than knowing who your potential customers are. THIS is where truly amazing roadshow activity ideas are born.
- Plan Original, Engaging Activities and Content
The most successful roadshow event management ideas lie at the confluence between you, your brand, the location you choose for your events and the audience you’re targeting. This might take a bit of search and plenty of brainstorming, but it’s more than worth it to actually invest time, patience, and dedication in this – in the end, it will pay off.