Sonas Blog

When setting up a store or booth at a convention or trade show, it's important to have the right staff. As the business owner, you have a unique role at the convention: engaging with high-value attendees, making business connections, and driving large-scale partnerships. If you get stuck answering every question that comes to your booth, you may miss out on some key opportunities. Furthermore, many conventions are so large that one or a few people simply cannot meet the booth's demands.

In the food and beverage industry, evoking your products taste and smell as a means of marketing is irreplaceable. Sampling remains the most important way of reaching consumers in a taste-driven market. After all, sampling allows consumers to trial a product without obligation - future or current. While product sampling is a key ingredient in any balanced business marketing strategy, it also remains important for consumers. It allows consumers to indulge in a product without capital. For many consumers, this means that they can explore if the taste of a product is right for them. Food sampling toes a fine line between customer acquisition (via reaching new customers) and customer retention (via increasing brand value and awareness).

Have you ever received a free sample for a product you've never bought?  Did you use the product?  More importantly, if you used it and liked it, did you subsequently buy that product, even if it meant switching from a trusted brand?

Appropriate trade show staff can make or break your campaign. They are the essence of your exhibit strategy, and if it wasn't for them, your pre-event marketing efforts would be near pointless.

No doubt a demo marketing campaign with a clever "hook" will have the effect of sticking in the heads of the audience forever. The crazy thing about demo marketing is that the script doesn't even have to make sense. An audience is there to see a performance. Onlookers are prepared to be dazzled. If a company chooses the right demo marketing company with the skill to craft an amazingly effective demonstration that is pure theater, everyone that is "hooked" will turn right around and spread the word. Here are 4 demo marketing strategies used by some of the most famous brands to hook and dazzle the world:

A product sampling campaign can be so exciting. You think 'all they need to do is try my product and they will be hooked.' Many go into their product sampling campaign with that mindset and they end up with a lot of money down the drain and nothing to show for it. How did they spend so much on samples and come back empty-handed? Product sampling can be an effective way to grow your business but you have to have the right strategy. So, how can a company make the sampling investment work for them?

Every brand faces the unique challenge of finding the ideal way to market your products. While everyone today is involved with social media, inbound marketing, and strategic paid advertising, the specifics of your campaigns and the things that make it special compared to every other modern business must be determined both by the product itself and the preferences of your target audience. Some audiences like flash with big live presentations and world wide online events. Others prefer a more modest and practical approach with coupons and reward codes as the primary interest driver.

There are dozens of reasons to use product sampling either in your venue or for your product. People love product samples and are much more likely to buy when there are samples offered, but why? What is that special little reaction inside someone's mind that influences them to buy when given a sample? There are more than one and they are shaped by who the buyer is, what you're offering, and whether or not they take it. The responses are emotional, personal, and often completely unplanned for. Sampling appeals to people on a psychological level and by being aware of that psychology, you can influence your target audience.

In-store sampling programs are a tried and true marketing technique. They introduce new customers to your product in a fun and engaging way and give everyone a taste of something you'd like them to buy regularly. However, like any multi-stage marketing technique, a sampling program requires accurate targeting, the right venue, and a well-configured conversion plan. How you configure your events should be determined by the set of goals you wish to achieve. Naturally, you want to boost conversions, but every marketing campaign has at least one or two ulterior motives like spreading product awareness or getting more positive feedback. This will determine who you target, how you target them, and the way in which you present your products to targets during the event itself.