Do likes, shares, and comments in the social media world outweigh a smile, handshake, or even a little small talk? In our opinion, nothing is better for your business than close-up, in-person encounters with your community. It’s the second best marketing tool you have, next to creatively and beautifully labeled products of course!
We attend several local business events in and around Louisville throughout the year to increase the exposure of our business, nurture existing business partnerships, and meet potential clients. These events allow us to give a (friendly) face to our business and make lasting connections with people.
Time is a precious resource for any business, and when connections happen at an event, if done right, they can make a lasting impression that doesn’t fade away into the noise of social media, emails, and advertisements.
Attending Events to Elevate Your Brand’s Marketing
We could easily go on to explain the numerous benefits of attending festivals, industry shows, networking events, and conferences. But it’s all just talk without real life examples. So we thought we’d give you a little case study – how events elevate our own business. These are the events we attend each year and how they relate to our marketing and labels:
Mellwood Center Arts & Craft Show and Cherokee Triangle Arts & Craft Show – These shows are great opportunities to connect with our current customers and continue to grow our relationships with them. We also get the chance to meet artists, specifically graphic designers, who we can refer our clients to when they are in the branding and design stages. Having a vast network of connections lets us serve our customers better.
LIBA Buy Local Fair, St. Matthews Chamber Business Expo, and Jeffersontown Chamber Business Expo – In addition to supporting our local community, we attend these fairs and expos to meet local vendors, businesses, and creators who are ready to take their product marketing to the next level with professionally printed labels. We love seeing our community grow by enabling local businesses to grow. Regularly attending local fairs also allows us to keep a familiar face. We’ll always value word-of-mouth referrals and even if every interaction we have doesn’t make a direct sale, we know that one day Louisville Label will come top of mind when the people we meet are looking for a label printer.
Winchester’s Beer Cheese Festival – This event is just plain fun. But did you know we actually produce labels for 2016’s Beer Cheese Festival first place winner? Full Circle Market continues to produce new flavors of tasty beer cheese, and we continue to print their labels! Besides enjoying the delicious beer cheese, we take the opportunity to catch up with our customers and meet other local businesses, vendors, and beer cheese connoisseurs. Looking for these unique, unconventional events to attend can be a great way to meet new potential customers.
Beyond networking and growing existing relationships, attending events can be the perfect place to showcase your products. We go to all the events above in order to meet people who are proud of their products and ready to get them in the hands of customers. If you have a locally made craft, art piece, or product, then you should consider events a part of your yearly marketing plan. Fairs and expos let you get your products in front of crowds, while also letting you network with potential customers, brand evangelists, and business partners.
Staying Up-to-Date on Industry Trends, Continuing Education, and Emerging Technology
Of course, we’d be amiss if we did not mention the importance of attending events for educational purposes. Occasionally you need to invest in learning new things about your own industry and growing your business from the inside out.
Every two years we attend Label Expo to learn and keep in check with where the industry is going. We also have the opportunity to network, make new business connections, and promote our longtime connections. You never know when you’ll find a new company that can help you out, or when you can position yourself to come alongside another business.
These are just a few of the events we attend each year and why we choose to attend them. As you can see, they are really important for our business development and marketing. The reasons someone from your business attends events may look a little different depending on what product or service you offer.
Before you head out to the next event in your area, don’t forget to make sure your branding is poised to help sell your product – this includes your product labels! If you’ve got questions about labeling, check out our FAQ page or send us your questions.
