What's Your Best Bridal Show Tip???
Business By ButtercupMama Updated 31 Jan 2010 , 3:53am by Mencked
you could hand out something else in addition to a business card. after every trade show i've attended i always have a mound of business cards accumulating in the bottom of my bag. give away things that people use frequently and may keep, like notepads or koozies. i had koozies made with my logo and number and happened to see one on the dash of a car parked next to me at wal-mart!
I had an idea. I have never done it before, but my first show will be on Sept. 27 and I'm trying to get some ideas. I have already gotten so many good ones. I am planning on having a cupcake tower with a 6" dummy on top. After the show I was planning on going around to all the other vendors and hand the cupcakes out along with my business cards. Is this even something I could do? I don't know what it is like at a show. But I've heard a lot of people talk about networking. What do you think about my idea?
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at the end of the show, vendors are kicking butt to get torn down and get the heck outta there. Some will shut down and pull out before the show officially closes. Schmooze time is BEFORE the show opens. You'll have plenty of time before the doors open to mix and mingle. After the show? No way. Bu DEFINITELY spend time networking and exchanging cards before that shows opens the gate!
Are these cupcakes going to be full size cupcakes for display only or for giveaway to brides? I would worry that a full size cupcake will be too much for a bride walking around a show. Twice, at two different shows, I had other vendors come over to me and tell me they were seeing a lot of half-eaten cupcakes in the trash (they were not my cakes). They thought it indicated the cakes tasted bad. I said it could be taste but it was probably just too much cake to eat at a bridal show.
Advice from a bride's perspective: don't badmouth other cake vendors. That was one of the most offputting things when I attended last year with my sister. We knew I was going to make her cake, but we visited the cake booths anyway to see what the cake vendors are like in the area. A couple of them were so negative about the other cake people. There's no way I would've paid them to do anything for me. It's great to be positive and build up the upside of getting a cake from you, but don't tear down the others in the process.
I had an idea. I have never done it before, but my first show will be on Sept. 27 and I'm trying to get some ideas. I have already gotten so many good ones. I am planning on having a cupcake tower with a 6" dummy on top. After the show I was planning on going around to all the other vendors and hand the cupcakes out along with my business cards. Is this even something I could do? I don't know what it is like at a show. But I've heard a lot of people talk about networking. What do you think about my idea?
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I did my first show this past March. I checked with the venue to be sure I would be permitted to bring cupcakes to hand out. I made mini cupcakes, and they were such a huge hit I can't begin to tell you how valuable it was for me. First of all, the brides and grooms-to-be got to have a cake tasting right on the spot as we talked. Not a single person ate just one cupcake, and most tried at least several of the different flavors I brought. I actually made 6 different flavor combinations. It kept people talking, had them upbeat and the trash can was right at our booth, and only cupcake papers and napkins ended up in the can. Plus we looked like the most popular booth which made even more people want to join us. It also had the other vendors coming over to see us and we made great contacts with them. So if your venue will allow it, I can say that the mini cupcakes were the best thing we could have done. (btw, this was a mock wedding, with sitdown dinner and a wedding cake supplied by another cake vendor. Less than 1/3 of the people stayed after dinner to even try that cake. They were out to party at our table)
i did my first wedding show. i enjoyed it. the greatest tip i got was putting the cake in individual lidded cups. i had samples left over and as all the brides were leaving i gave them more samples to put in their bags later. i also had a sign up sheet for a drawing and it was a huge success. i posted pictures of my booth in my gallery. just wanted you all to see how it looked.
I did my first wedding show a couple of weeks ago. I did cake truffles (had a freezer full of cake top), chocolate and vanilla cake in lidded cups (huge success here-no one had seen such a thing and I had a couple fill up their purses to take home to the rest of the wedding party), and also had 3 dummy cakes, pictures of past cakes in a digital picture frame and in 3-ring binders that people could take to where there were chairs so they could look at their own leisure. For literature I gave away business cards, and several other Vista Print freebies--I had some postcards printed with business card info, magnetic business cards, and magnetic calendars with my business card at the top......they snatched those up! I also did a drawing for a $100 gift certificate and to top it all off our booth made the front page of the newspaper the next day!!! I've booked several weddings and have other consults scheduled. I loved every minute of it! Did lots of networking with other vendors and the store that was putting on the bridal fair came and bought my left over samples to give to their employees!
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