As a small business, participating in events like business expos, craft fairs, community jamborees, or pop-up farmers markets can be extremely beneficial. Not only does participation in events like these give you the opportunity to spread awareness about your products or services, but it can also be a great avenue for building strong relationships within the community.
If you’ve been considering participating in local events, but still aren’t convinced that they are worth your time, here are three advantages to participating in events that you should take into consideration:
Access to a specific (niche) audience: Events are meant to draw a core group of people together for a specific mission or activity. Each event will draw a niche audience in, depending on who that particular event is promoted to. Participating in an event allows you to select events that are of interest to your potential customers.
For example: If you are a real estate agent and are of service to the Hispanic community (if you are bilingual and speak Spanish), than participating in a Latin Festival would be a great avenue to reach that Hispanic target audience.
Opportunity to Network with potential customers: An often overlooked benefit to participating in events is the vast opportunity to network with potential customers. Choosing the right event could garner you more access and opportunity to chat with attendees and to help you educate them more on your product or services.
For example: If you sell handsoaps, you know that you want to attend an event that will allow you to talk with potential customers a little more and explain what organic ingredients your hand soaps are made of. A farmers market would be a great option since you know that attendees will be in the mood to shop (spend a little money) and won’t be in a rush.
Meeting and Networking with other event participants: From personal experience, I can tell you that taking the time to walk around the event prior to start time to meet the other event PARTICIPANTS or vendors is a great way to make new connects and start building relationships. Some of the best partnerships I have formed over the years with organizations have come through meeting them at local events and exchanging contact information for future partnership opportunities. Also, don’t forget that many of these event participants or vendors may turn into great referral sources for you.
As you can see, participating in events can be advantageous for a small business – however, the key to making a good return on your investment is in finding the RIGHT events to invest your time and resources on.
Watch this video to find out what 5 Questions you should be asking before you decide to participate in an event.
**FREE DOWNLOAD** If you found these 5 questions useful, I’ve created a free download that includes an additional 5 questions you may want to include in your decision making – to download the list of questions, go to: https://www.TheSeasonedMarketer.com/events
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