Almost every city has some sort of event that takes place in their community and attracts potential clients.
The events that take place are most often dependent on the area in which you live, local attractions and customary practices. Some towns have yearly festivals, home shows or other events that attract a large number of local people.
When you first begin your local marketing campaign, it’s a good idea to do some research and search for events for the area you live in as well as other surrounding communities. Make sure you choose the events that will be attended by the people whom you feel may be looking for the virtual assistant services.
For example, in my area of White Rock, Canada we have a WhiteRock Sea Festival which reaches over 100,000 attendees yearly, The West Coast Women’s Show (my market is mainly women), a SOHO Expo plus many other networking events that attract a ton of locales
Once you find the events that seem to be the right match for you, you will need to contact the event organizers and find out what opportunities exist at these events. Many events will have opportunities where you can sponsor them by donating money so that you can advertise your business during the event. Another possibility is that the event may have vendor space for rent where you can set up and sell products or give information to event-goers while the event is taking place.
When you find events that interest you, it’s always a good idea to talk to other business owners in your area and see if they have ever participated in the event. It doesn’t hurt to get feedback from them as to whether or not the event proved to be worthwhile for their business.
If you decide you will be renting vendor space at any event, make sure you prepare everything well in advance. Whatever your goal may be, take ample flyers, business cards, brochures and other information about your business with you. You want to make sure you have everything you need in order to give prospects all the information they need. It’s also a great idea to have free business card draw for leads. People love to win free stuff!
Take time to set up a nice display area that is neat and organized. Don’t forget about your appearance too as first impressions are important. Dress professional! Engage with people who walk up to you and educate them on the benefits of your services. Never be pushy but do be informative and answer any questions they have about how you can help them in their business success. Remember to always talk about what’s in it for them!
If you happen to live in or close to a tourist town, you will also find there are usually many special events on a year-round basis that take place. This is an excellent resource because you can market to some of the locals and there will also be visitors from other areas as well. Many of these special events will have sponsoring opportunities and vendor space for rent.
Last but not least, flea markets are another way to market your business. Some indoor flea markets are year-round but the outdoor spaces you will find are most often limited to the warmer months. Many people visit flea markets all over the place so that’s a great way to target locals as well as individuals from nearby towns.
I have good luck picking up new clients at my local Chamber of Commerce events. You can grab a table fairly cheaply at the back of the room or just sponsor the meeting. If you sponsor the meeting then you get to give a 5-10 minute blurb about your business too.
Yes sponsoring at a C of C event is a great idea 🙂
I signed up and went into one of our local farmer’s markets. It was a huge success for me as I got to connect with a bunch of the locals and get the word out about my business. I did get two new clients that were vendors there also so don’t forget about marketing to the people who have table around you too 😉
Yes it amazing the local entrepreneurs that need VAs that have booths at events like this so good to network with vendors too 😉