There’s a palpable excitement around food shows being live again. This year especially, it can pay to show up in a bigger way.
It’s sizzle time.
You already know to go where your customers will be. To that, add something new – an element of the unexpected – to your approach. This applies to the selection of shows themselves: How will your brand proposition cut through the crowds?
Coffee Fest
New York: March 6-8
Chicago: June 24 & 25
Los Angeles: August 28-30
PNW/Seattle: October 7 & 8
Natural Products Expo West
Anaheim, California: March 8-12
National Restaurant Association Show
Chicago: May 21-24
National Confectioners Association Sweets & Snacks Expo
Chicago: May 23-26
Fancy Food Show
New York City: June 12-14
NACUFS National Conference
Spokane, Washington: July 13-16
NACS Show
Las Vegas: October 1-4
Add Your Local Options!
Regional distributor shows: ______
First up is an in-depth Brand Experience Plan. Narrow to an audience of one, per show, to ensure your message is razor-refined.
Consider your brand ambassadors as one of your key targets. After all, they’ll be representing your brand essence to potential buyers.
Build a customer experience kit to help ambassadors replicate what your brand feels like when interacting with prospective buyers. Include guidelines for enhancing everything from booth setup to atmosphere – so you can uphold the gold standard of consistency across various venues.
You have mere seconds to attract attendees’ attention on the floor.
In addition to an eye-catching backdrop, there’s an art to scaling all the elements of your design system to fit the unique blueprint of each show.
At the heart of the tradeshow is connection. Between sales rep and prospect. Between customer pain points and your brand’s solution. And nothing gets to the heart of the matter better than samples – especially when you’re selling food.
Use targeted sampling to draw interested prospects back to your booth and away from your competitors’.
Even at a live show, the virtual space surrounds you. Embrace this melding of in-person and on-screen strategies because it’s here to stay:
Then … the show’s over, and your work is done! OK, we all know that post-event is when the real sales solidify: plugging new contacts into your lead-gen system to establish an effective follow-up cadence. Measuring. Analyzing. Repeating. Making it sizzle, show after show.
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