The previous article discussed some tips on how to best prepare yourself for showcasing your home remodeling or home services business at your next show. Now that you’re set up, it’s time to relax and let your potential customers come to you, right?
Not so fast. It’s important to remember that while you may be busy at an event, your competitors are never offline. You’ve put a huge amount of effort into creating a booth that is inviting to your customers, so use the resources available to get even more attention for your business.
Go Live
Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube allow live video streaming. So long as there is no copyright content in your video, you can broadcast your booth to the world; live! Show your customers what they’re missing by not attending the event. You can even take the opportunity to conduct live demonstrations which will really engage your potential customers.
At the very least, live videos show the face behind your business and give customers a reason to trust you over other businesses. If you have the staff levels to permit it, you can even do a Q&A on your social media pages. Interaction is a powerful tool which can prompt customers to visit your booth.
Create a Following
It may sound robotic but asking your customers for a like or a follow at your booth is good social media etiquette. The level of the relationship will depend on your business. For instance, if you are a small local business you may want to connect with people on a personal level. Whereas for a larger business you may prefer to direct customers to your page.
Regardless of the particular social media platform you choose, encouraging your customers to engage with you through follows or likes is never a bad idea. Engaging with customers is definitely a win-win. A booth at a local home show is by far one of the best locations to meet with customers face-to-face. Why wouldn’t you want to connect using the most powerful social media tools available?
Collect Email Addresses
When you are meeting with potential customers, it’s important to have a way to contact them after the show (more on this in our next article). There are many ways to collect email addresses.
You can go old school with pen and paper. Either use a clipboard (have a couple for when you have multiple people visiting your booth) or have people fill our slips of paper and enter into a contest. These are both easy to set up and really affordable, however, if people have bad handwriting it might be difficult to read plus you have to spend time typing up the email addresses later.
Upgrade the basic clipboard idea to tablets. Your sales reps could enter email addresses directly into whatever platform you are using for email while they are talking with potential customers. This way they are only doing the work once.
Our favorite option: You could run an online contest that visitors can enter. Create a special page on your website with a form to enter a contest – maybe for a gift card, discount on service, whatever makes sense for your business. Share the URL of that page with the people who are visiting your booth and they can use their phones to enter.