Sep 9

Written by: BeautifulMinds
Friday, September 09, 2011 

As an event staffing supplier to both experiential and exhibition clients Beautiful Minds Promotions have the benefit of learning about both sides of event staffing. We are fortunate to have learnt lessons from both that have put us in great stead to service clients on either side in a confident, experienced and unique manner.

From our experiential clients we learn the importance of event staff that represent the face of a brand and the importance of crucially getting the event staff right to suit that brand. From our exhibition clients we learn the importance of pro actively guiding visitors through their experience. Helping them get the most out of their day and supporting exhibitors to make the most of their presence at a show.

Put these two important lessons together and you have a Beautiful Minds ethos, “event staff who look fantastic, represent a brand perfectly but also care about the people they are working for and go out of their way to make the experience one of delight and positivity”.

Something else we have learnt from our clients who exhibit at shows, rather than our clients that organise the exhibitions, is what they look for, want and most importantly NEED.

With budgets tight and the need to justify every part of a company’s marketing spend our clients are obviously looking for a proven ROI but also much more. We ask our clients what makes a show a success for them and they say:

Return on investment, networking opportunities, cleverly thought out show experiences to attract visitors, quality leads, good management from the organisers, good availability from the organisers to discuss potential problems or issues as they arise, value for money, accurate visitor numbers and good reliable suppliers. More and more increasingly our clients want EXCEPTIONAL PRE-SHOW MARKETING.

WHY DOES THIS WORK? How many times do we see a show that we want to and should really attend? One where we could meet new suppliers, interact with our industry, get our brands known, find new ideas, assess the competition and generally keep up to date BUT get bogged down with emails and bookings, meetings and conference calls, bills and invoices we give it a miss.

A clever organiser will see the opportunity here and hold our hand (so to speak) to the entrance of the show.

What do I mean? Well take Square Meal Venue & Events as a golden example of how clever, well thought out and executed pre-show marketing gets those of us umming and ahhing to the shows that we need to be at.

Square Meal Venue and Events – Old Billingsgate EC3 21-22 September 2011 – the perfect example

My collection of Square Meal Venue & Events show bags is testament to the number of times I have made the decision to head from our Leamington office to Old Billingsgate to meet with our industry. Excellent advertisements with recognisable branding in trade press, mail shots, invitations, promotional merchandise (this year’s branded oyster card holders are superb), marketing calls offering to send you a link to register for your tickets, followed by another invitation and reminder about the show. Excellent visitor perks including taxis and a breakfast or lunch, ‘Tweetups’ for those social media savvy visitors, the list is endless. As a visitor you feel spoilt before you’ve even arrived at the show.

This is great for their exhibitors. Visitors arrive excited, on a high and more inclined to stop and experience new suppliers’ offerings. Last year Lumacoustics offered visitors a chance to experience their YRWall and then have their design printed on a t-shirt to take away with them. What a fantastic way to attract people to your stand. These guys always get it right but are also firm exhibitors at Square Meal.

http://reg.livebuzz.co.uk/2011/sqmeal11/reg/?link=fcfa607b2a9508701bab

So have we registered? Of course we have. See you there.