Great Marketing Starts Here

It’s no secret that things are starting to open up again. Golf Tournaments, Trade Shows, and Festivals are here to stay and with a little planning for these events they can become business generating powerhouses!

Everybody knows the game of setting up a booth, passing out brochures, and chuckling over some bad coffee and small talk. But what if at the end of the day you walked away with connections, contacts, and ultimately leads that can actually move the needle?

This is all possible when you take a step back and look at this event as the opportunity it is rather than just another task on the calendar. This event is an opportunity to reach people you typically wouldn’t come in contact with.

Prep starts with the basics.

Who the heck is going to be at this event?

Is it a corporate golf tournament or tradeshow where you’ll run into business executives and their clients? Maybe a festival or baseball game where you’re going to see families with kids?

The better you know your audience going into the event, the better you’ll be able to speak their language with how you present your business.

So, do some research on who’s going to be at the event and plan accordingly.

Now that you know who is going to be at the event, you need to figure out how to grab their attention so that they’re available to hear the message you want to give.

How do I get these folks' attention?

Are you passing out beer? Giving away a big ticket item? Whatever it is, you need to stand out from the crowd because at events like this everyone is competing for the same attention.

This is where you can get creative, and really work some strategy.

To give you an example:

Every year here at Splash Omnimedia we sponsor a hole at a Chamber golf tournament. Everyone on the course is passing out typical domestic beers and swagging out the golfers with branded items as they pass through each hole sponsor’s tent.

To stand out here, we decided to go with some “off the wall beers.” Stuff that grabs a golfer's attention and makes them say “I haven’t had one of those in awhile”. This small shift in beer selection allows us to pass out more beers than other sponsors, which means more branded koozies, and more conversations with our target audience.

So you’ve got their attention, now what?

Look, there is a lot going on at events like these and you’ve got maybe 5 seconds to say what your business does before someone tunes you out. This means your team needs to know your Elevator Pitch.

In short, this elevator pitch will grab their attention with a problem that they can understand, align your business as the solution to that problem, and then let them know how their life will be after you solve that problem for them.

At Splash our Elevator Pitch is:

With people seeing thousands of messages a day, it’s harder than ever to reach your audience. Don’t let ineffective marketing limit your success. With Splash Omnimedia, you’ll gain a marketing team who develops and executes a winning strategy that sets you apart.

This is much more effective than saying:

“uh yeah we do marketing and stuff for people”

Your elevator pitch invites someone into a story with a problem and solution they can understand.

Now that you’ve invited them into a story, ask to follow up.

Tradeshows and events are great for brand awareness and visibility, but that can be very difficult to track. Afterall, you signed up for this dang thing to get results right!

It’s time to get their info. If you’ve given your 5 second elevator pitch and they haven’t run for the hills already, you’ve got someone who will likely listen to you again. So ask them for their business card.

This ask can be done in a hundred different ways, but giving this person something in return seems to work the best. Whether that's dropping a business card in a bucket for a chance to win a Yeti cooler or trading a “like” on Facebook for a $5 off coupon, this little transaction gives you an excuse to talk to them again and over time nurturing this contact into a customer.

With doing a little bit of planning like this up front these events can easily be the spike in traffic that your business needs and getting a game plan laid out for you and your team can make this process easily duplicatable in the future.

If you have an event coming up and are having trouble putting all of the pieces together, we’d love to help. From branded tents to geo-fenced social advertising our team at Splash Omnimedia can make sure that your time and money spent at your event is worth the investment.

Next Level Pro Tip:

Try geofencing the event venue with a social ad the day of the event. This ad can be used to push the visitors to a landing page for your giveaway and capture people who were unable to register at your booth. With the help of a pixel on the landing page you will then be able to retarget them for 30 days or so following the event. The associated cost to this digital strategy will be minimal compared to the overall brand advertising you will get over time.

As our nation braces for the impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic, business owners are facing unprecedented challenges. And while it may seem as if there’s an iceberg ahead, rest assured your marketing strategy doesn’t have to be aboard the Titanic. With the right strategy (and marketing partner), your business will forge full-steam ahead.

Leverage the Power of Digital

As a business owner, your knee-jerk reaction may be to halt all marketing tactics. However, now’s not the time to lose momentum. It’s more important now than ever to allocate your advertising dollars to reach your customers where they are--at home. The digital strategy you create can now become your key source of lead generation. Take advantage of the resources at your fingertips and strengthen your focus to redefine your marketing message by increasing your online presence.

Our team of digital experts can help you reevaluate your marketing strategy and reach your audience NOW through:

• Social Media Advertising – Social media traffic will be reaching an all-time high in the coming weeks as consumers try to pass the time by scrolling through their feeds. A highly-targeted social media campaign would put you at the fingertips of your ideal customer.
• Social Media Retargeting – Want to maximize your social media results? Capitalize on potential customers that have already visited your website through a strategic retargeting campaign.
• SEO – The key to any great SEO strategy is consistency and maintenance, so even in a crisis, you can’t stop playing the long game.
• Advertising via Streaming Services (OTT) – It’s no secret TV is one of the strongest mediums to build brand awareness and drive sales. But with more and more viewers “cutting the cord,” over-the-top applications like Hulu, YouTube TV, and more are providing a new, innovative way for you to reach your audience. The best part? OTT advertising can be targeted, allowing you to directly connect to your ideal customer base as they binge watch their way through quarantine instead of paying to broadcast to the masses.

Work Smarter Not Harder By Reaching Current Customers

Your buyers' journey just got more digital. Keep in touch with your customers while staying positive and encouraging as this will all soon pass. Take advantage of this opportunity to build relationships, cultivate a larger sense of community, and to grow and improve your direct line of communication with your customers.

• Step Up Your Organic Social Strategy - Now, more than ever, it is crucial to engage positively and consistently with your current customers. Every day, people are reaching out more to feel connected to their community. As an influential business owner, you have a unique opportunity to silence fear and set the tone of hope for the future. Take advantage of your organic social media posting on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more to engage with your audience in an encouraging and relevant way and keep your brand at the forefront of their minds.
• Cultivate Creative Content - No matter what’s going on around the world, content is king. Now’s the perfect time to evaluate your messaging and encourage audience engagement with your website. Make sure your website is ranking well with strategic SEO updates that will help you stay relevant and consistent.
• Engage with Email Marketing - Email marketing is also a fantastic touch point to meet your audience where they are. With higher email open rates than normal due to crisis communication, being in their inboxes now can give your audience a personal connection with your brand and could potentially even help you re-engage with previously disengaged customers.

Maintain and Sustain Your Business

As a small business, you know how important it is to adjust your business to the current state of things. How you react now in the wake of the current climate is the key to continued success.

The Splash Omnimedia team can help you create a responsive strategy to reallocate your marketing budget to focus exclusively on web marketing in order to get out ahead of competitors who are slow to respond while helping you maintain a sense of normalcy.

Whether it be social media posts or an email blast, our team can help you craft and distribute your message immediately. Even if we are not currently managing your marketing, we are more than happy to help. Please reach out to us to let us know how our expert team can help you make the very most of your marketing right now!

Morgan Finley joined the Splash Omnimedia team in August of 2016. She loves Sour Patch Kids, and is passionate about graphic design on another level! She leaves everyone with a smile and works extremely hard to design the absolute best pieces for Splash Omnimedia clients. She has a billion nicknames, the most creative eye for graphic design, and true love for music and concerts. 

What do you do at Splash?

As a graphic designer, I design anything our clients need! Things like logos, websites, printed materials, branded materials. You name it, we design it! Anything and everything our clients need.

Have you always been passionate about graphic design?

I started graphic design my senior year of high school and loved it! I always thought I would do something in the science field because I really like science. But, I took a graphic design class in high school and that was that!

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

What gets me up in the morning is the idea that I can make someone’s day better, make them smile, make them laugh. Sometimes you don’t want to get up in the morning but you can make other people happy, and that makes me happy too!

If you wrote an autobiography, what would you call it?

So I spill a lot of things. I spill anything I drink, everything I eat. If I have it on my plate I will most likely spill it. I’d have to use something like “spilling my guts, the Morgan Finley autobiography”.

What is your favorite food?

I will eat any type of Sour Patch kid. They have mango ones now and they are SO GOOD.

What is an interesting fact about you?

I have lots of nicknames. I grew up with punky and punk (we’ve shortened it now to punk). Which I think is awesome and I kind of want it tattooed on myself… I think that’s pretty hardcore. In high school one of my best friends called me smorgasbord which I think is pretty cool, that one has stuck around. People call me Morgs, I’ve got Morgy Moo-Moo as well from high school. And then… the other day someone emailed me and called me Mortgage. I have a ton of nicknames and could go on, but those are the ones used most frequently!