Specialty Blog

Category Archives: Event Marketing

• 5-15-2012 Harris Leather mobile showroom trailer

  One of our clients, Harris Leather and Silverworks, recently sent us some nice-looking photos of their Featherlite mobile showroom. The trailer looks great! Harris Leather makes western show equipment, so they take the trailer to many major equine events across the country.

  
  

  Here’s an article that was published online last fall with more information about how the trailer is being used and how excited they are about what their new Featherlite will do for them: Harris Leather Unveils Brand New Mobile Showroom at Reichert

  See more photos here 

• 5-1-2012 Event Marketing Summit

  This week, we’re at the Event Marketing Summit in Chicago. Below is a photo of Specialty Sales Manager Mark Ackley using interactive technology in our booth to show some of our trailer capabilities. This event is centered on experiential marketing, including new trends and best practices for events and trade shows.  Usually more than 1,000 marketing professionals attend each year. We look forward to continuing to meet with more potential clients today and tomorrow!

  
  

• 4-24-2012 Masters of the Road

  If you are a viewer of NASCAR races, you may have seen it already, but if not, here is Featherlite’s latest NASCAR commercial – Masters of the Road. So many people know us for our NASCAR trailers and our horse and livestock trailers, but we really do some cool stuff when it comes to specialty trailers. This includes medical trailers like the Wright Medical and Medtronic units featured in this commercial. BAE with its Hawk Advanced Jet Training System is also a recent event marketing trailer owner that you may spot in this 30-second ad. Check it out!

• 2-14-2012 7 seconds

  Experts say you only have 7 seconds to make a good first impression. That goes for businesses too, including at trade shows and events. At events, attendees only have limited time and your display must stand out. Of course, we think event marketing trailers help you achieve this goal plus save you time and money in the long term, not to mention the advantages in reaching your target market even outside of trade shows. But beyond a specialty trailer, what else can you do? Here a few things we think are important when trying to engage with customers at events:

  Creative displays that reinforce your messages and build your brand are a must. QR codes and other information on signage or literature around the booth should help to answer questions when the staff is busy with other attendees.

  There are pros and cons to using giveaways. They do usually build interest and drive traffic. They also can make a small claim on a lead’s loyalty. However, they can be costly. It may be a good idea to keep them behind the desk, and use them as a thank you gift after a conversation.

  Be at the front of the booth with a smile. Again, first impressions go a long way. Sitting in the back away from potential traffic says to a passerby that you are unavailable and uninterested.

  Make sure your booth is properly staffed and be prepared for peak traffic times. Experts suggest sending a mix of leadership personnel, salespeople and others, such as a PR rep for media opportunities.  Booth staff should all have a consistent look in terms of apparel, be easily identifiable and be well trained. Can they pick up on all the subtle and obvious non-verbal body language patterns? Make sure they can.

  Avoid well rehearsed, over-used lines like “Can I help you?” Most people are conditioned to answer ‘no’ to this question. Then where do you go from there? Using an open-ended question invites the attendee into a conversation with you. If the event has speakers and other informational or training sessions they may be attending, questions about those make good openers.

  Always follow up. An encounter at an event is just the beginning of the sales process. Follow up first with those that showed most interest and then go from there.

• 1-9-2012 Trailer graphics

  We sometimes like to think that Featherlite is in the ‘wow’ business. Whether it’s one of our horse trailers that’s outfitted with a striking living quarters or one of our 53 foot NASCAR race car haulers or an event marketing trailer, we want people to say ‘wow’. We want people to have that great first impression. And when we’re building trailers for our business clients, that’s especially important. We want to do everything possible to give you the highest level of engagement with your customers.

  One way to do that is through exterior graphics or paint. We have a unique relationship with Featherlite Graphics so the process is seamless. Our Specialty Sales Managers will work closely with you and the graphics team to come up with a design in house, or we can work with a design you select from an outside source.

  Basically you’ll be choosing between paint or graphics. With paint, you choose from various colors or designs like stripes or other shapes. With graphics, we use a full or partial vinyl wrap that uses vinyl decals or photographic images printed on vinyl.

  Think of a wrap as a moving billboard. Not only do you make an impact and get impressions at the event, but it’s with you in between events too, spreading your message on the road. Overall, exterior graphics grab attention and draw people to your display or trailer. They also provide a lasting advertising or branding message. You can also target the message and change it out if you so desire.

  Read more about Featherlite’s paint and graphics options and process.

  By the way, let us know in the comments below what mobile vehicles or trailers have left an impression on you by their exterior alone.