What Are the Best Outdoor Marketing Strategies for Summer Events?

AUGUST 7, 2019| SpeedPro Santa Rosa

When it comes to positioning your brand front and center among your local customer base, there are few better opportunities than summer events.

Summer events can run the gamut, focusing on music, visual arts or crafts, dance, theater, film and a wide variety of other types of activities. Music festivals are among some of the most popular events, drawing in large crowds. More than half of Americans attend a live music event each year, and among those individuals, 66 percent attended a free outdoor community event involving music.

At the same time, there’s often an explosion of sporting and athletic events, including local Little League or youth soccer tournaments and 5K, half-marathons and marathons – all of which draw large crowds of participants and supporters.

As a result, the opportunity for local businesses to capitalize on strong event attendance is hard to understate. Expertly designed outdoor marketing displays give businesses of all sizes the chance to not only associate their brand with already popular summer events, but build awareness and craft direct, in-person experiences with existing and potential customers.

Here a couple of thoughts to keep in mind as you put the finishing touches on your summer event marketing strategy:

Keep the Community in Focus with Your Outdoor Displays

The community aspect of many of these events is paramount. For example, a study from the National Endowment for the Arts found roughly half of all outdoor arts festivals take place in towns with 250,000 residents or fewer.

At the same time, the majority of these events are located in plazas, parks and streets, with event organizers working hard to make the area family-friendly and easy to navigate. Particularly during the summer months, children are out of school and parents are more inclined to head out to local festivals.

As you decide what to give away at a fair or event, keep your potential audience in mind. Kids are often the key to getting parents to stop by your outdoor display, so you may consider giveaways that appeal to both the young and those trying to wrangle their youngsters.

Meanwhile, athletic events are great opportunities for businesses to help keep participants and onlookers hydrated and energized with branded water bottles or quick grab-and-go foods.

When you settle on the offer you’ll use to attract potential customers at the event of choice, it’s just as important to select the right display to invite attendees to stop by.

Select Outdoor Displays that Will Help You Achieve a Business Objective

Outdoor displays are an indelible part of summer events. There are tents, banners, flags, bars and counters, sidewalk signs and countless other ways to attract event-goers’ and your existing customers’ attention. However, the display you choose should be used as a mechanism to help you achieve a specific business objective. Here are a few examples:

Building Brand Awareness

Most festivals are annual events that have been going for several years, if not decades. To ensure your brand gets noticed among other businesses, it’s important to have an outdoor display that grabs the attention of passersby. A clever use of a standard 10 or 20-foot popup tent is to recreate your business’ storefront. With either a full wall or half wall option, you can have a printed version of your restaurant’s façade, for instance, on display, which can help event-goers remember your business when they leave the festival area and are thinking about where to go out for lunch or dinner in the following days and weeks.

Promoting a Product or Service

If your business has a new product, service or a limited-time offer, you may consider using a summer event as a way to give attendees exclusive first access to it. Through product sampling or a coupon for free service or consultation, you’re able to showcase the latest and greatest from your business to brand-new customers. A campaign counter is an effective outdoor display that gives you the opportunity to promote the product or service with eye-catching visuals and concise, persuasive text. In addition, you may consider promoting the exclusive product or service offering at your primary business location with a sidewalk sign, telling your regulars to visit your display at the event to have the chance to get access to your exclusive offer.

 Give Customers an Experience

While giveaways are a standard for most summer events, you may consider setting up an outdoor display that encourages attendees to interact with your brand. You’re only limited by your imagination when it comes to experiential marketing. For example, you can give event attendees a chance to work on their bags – or corn hole – skills by setting up branded boards in front of your tent or other display. This way, attendees won’t just remember your brand, they’ll associate it with a fun experience. There are countless ways to create branded experiences with lawn games and other outdoor activities that are sure to motivate event-goers to stop by.

In need of help to put all the pieces together for your next event? Let the experts at SpeedPro Santa Rosa align your business objectives to your marketing strategies with any event you attend this summer.