Are you making money using your roadshows?
We get customers booking us for Roadshows and Product Launches targeting family crowd regularly. Because of the pop-up nature, in general this sells better than normal retail shops. Some of the possible categories of roadshows which you can apply our concepts on:
- Property Launch – Eg. Condominium Property Launch
- Event Space Sale – Eg. Shopping Mall Atrium Sales
- Pop-Up Stall – Eg. In-and-Out Burger Pop-up Stall
- Tradeshow / Exhibition / Fairs – Eg. IT Show, Travel Fair,
- VIP Event / Closed Door Event – Robinson Member’s Sale
- Product Launch – Eg. Supermarket Product Sale
I will talk how you can maximise each of the above roadshows in the next post.
I realised that a lot of the smaller companies think that booking entertainment will naturally bring in the crowd. The answer? Yes and no. In general, entertainment like balloon sculpting, sound system and emcee do create hype at your roadshow and hence bring in the crowd. Does more crowd means more profit? Hence it is important to plan so as to reach the objectives which you want to achieve.
For purpose of this article, what we are discussing here are B2C roadshows targeting consumers and general public (i.e. not exclusive events for media as this serve a different purpose.
N.B. VIP Event or Closed Door Event in this case is still for general public and it is a method to attract crowd to your roadshow.
Here are some tips on how to maximise your money to achieve your ROI.
1. Set a Goal for your Roadshow
Mr Bottle’s Kids Party have done different kinds of roadshows with different objectives. Even if making money using roadshow is not your primary objective, doesn’t mean our formulas doesn’t work. It is important to set what is your primary objective before you even book your venue:
- Sales – This is probably what 90% of our clients want: more revenue and profit! Once you have this measurable obtainable goal in mind, for instance $10,000 of sales per day, then you can calculate your costs. (N.B. Set an obtainable number as a target; it could be about 10-20% more than your retail shop or about 1-10% of the expected mass footfall, depending on your product. If you have not done a roadshow before, it is prudence to calculate a conservative number. In general, the higher the rent, the higher the footfall too.)
Take your goal figure, minus the costs of goods, venue rental costs, manpower costs, etc. With this number, you can calculate the discount you can give, the type of programme you can book to put in the people in.
We usually recommend to put about 10-20% of your sales target into event marketing. With this, you can have a ‘number’ for every lead and hence create better communication between the event company on how much you want to spend per customer.
Database
–In this age, database is more valuable than sales! This database can be a ‘Like’ on your Facebook page, email, telephone number etc. In this case, the price per lead is more straight forward. It is common to see financial consultants giving small gifts like air walkers and smartphone rings holders; so they are simply buying your information with the gifts.
Brand awareness / Information / Dissemination
–Some of our customers booked our services because they have a new product which they want to showcase or a promotion you want to inform the customers. In some cases, this brand awareness can also test how their customers reacts to their new product.
For instance, we recently did a product launch in a supermarket for a brand of Yogurt from Australia. We analysed the competitors on the shelf and understood their unique selling point. Hence we suggested very customised balloon sculptures which not only increased their brand recall, children carrying the balloons also became walking advertisement for them too.
Why a sculpted balloon and not helium balloon? The company’s core values is about sustainability and they understood about the World Shortage of Helium and we used biodegradable balloons. The perceived value of the former is also higher and hence giving the brand a better targeting reach.
2. Pinpoint the Target Group of your Roadshows.
Once you have your primary objective, you have to understand your target group.
Sieve your age group segment into different age bands, especially your products is only for selected child group of children. By understanding your customer based, we can prepare the right activities to attract the right crowd for you.
For instance, you may have seen financial consultants giving away balloon airwalkers at insurance roadshows. This probably appeals more to families with children who are 4 years and below. (Cost of acquiring this database is about $3-4 each, and enough for them to do data mining.)
For instance, at a Travel tradeshow, our client had a lot of competitors. A lot of the visitors were just out there to compare prices. As their destination mainly target children between 7-10 years old, so we set up decoration and activities to attract children specifically suitable for this age band. Of course, we also link the above activities to the destinations the company was promoting to increase brand recall.
This took the stress off the parents who to going booth to booth with whinny children, creating a very positive environment for them. Overall, the sales team had more time to explain to the parents their competitive advantage and hence closed more sales. In the end, they made more money using their roadshows compared to past years.
3. Location, location, location.
Find a location or venue which is also your niche market. Targeting will save you lots of money and bring customer conversion rate up. For instance, if you are selling computers, an IT fair though expensive has a lot more targeted customers compared to a mall.
Sometimes, not all roadshows venue or booths has ideal locations and we do have to get creative to bring customers to you. Sound system and emcee are crucial but do have certain limitations due to regulations of venues and other factors.
One of our clients had a very attractive promotion which they were confident of drawing crowd. However, due to the location of their booth, their sales were not as ideal as they wanted to be. Luckily, the boss knew us from our birthday parties, gave us a call and we quickly provided solutions of our roving mascots and other roving activities to draw people to their stall. (Of course, it is not just the mascot walking around which bring the crowd! Talk to us for more ideas!)
(Interesting Fact: Do you know that there is a psychology experiment in which a person in mascot costume, even if the face is showing, is more like to get telephone number from a member of the opposite sex?)
4. Times of your Customers
Every place has different characteristics! For instance, Changi City Point consists of mostly office crowd on weekdays, whereas weekends are packed with family. Can you cater something or marketing angle which suits both crowds for your product to maximise every dollar you spent on rental?
Although booking longer hours of our entertainment may lower the rate per hour, you have to see if it can give you that ROI you need. Optimise your budget by limiting the duration of the entertainment at crucial times. We know that if you earn money by engaging us, you will come back to us again.
5. Choose something suitable for your Roadshows.
If your objective is just to pull crowd to your venue, especially if you are already having a irresistible deal, then a good emcee and sound system is probably sufficient to make money using roadshows.
On the other hand, there are many products which you cannot have deals like insurance, or at a fair in which everyone is giving cut throat prices, you need more than an emcee to attract the crowd. Discuss with your favourite event company to come up with ideas!
Sometimes, malls have events related to your product and services which you can piggyback on to drive sales.
An around the world theme event at a mall. If you run a travel company, this is perfect for your roadshow. Work with venues to make it win-win for everyone.
6. Align Everyone’s Goal: make money using Roadshow
It is important to align your goals with your sales staff with the event company’s entertainer or staff, to ensure you maximise your ROI. In general, our entertainers are there to pull in the crowd, your staff are there to convert the sales and make money using roadshows.
Occasionally, we see sales staff going for their breaks because they thought emcee or entertainers are there to help relief them. Set a KPI and schedule for everyone. Do not leave everything to chance and random. Obviously, when the emcee attracts the crowd, they are supposed to attend them and close the deal!
I hope this article has helped you spend your money better and understand how you can make lots of money using roadshows. There are of course a lot of other considerations as well because every business is unique in some way. We won’t take your money if our programme is not suitable for us.
Make Money at Roadshows; Results Guaranteed!
Talk to us at marketing@kidsparty.com.sg or whatsapp us so we can best advice you to maximise your ROI for your roadshows.