In 2017, Altuglas International wanted to promote our full line of diffusion acrylics to the lighting market, including a new Diffusion grade, but the lighting trade shows were far too expensive to get a good booth. Instead, we opted to rent out the private loft of a restaurant across the street.
We accomplished a lot to increase attendance at our event, but there were three primary drivers. First, we reached out ahead of time to all of our existing and potential customers that we expected to attend the show and extended invitations. Second, we had large banners made (Image A) that were approximately 2′ x 4′ and had them positioned throughout the show to spread word of the event. This grassroots marketing spread the word quickly among attendees and created a lot of excitement. Third, we all had invitations as we walked the show, which we handed out to people interested in doing business, utilizing our products, and networking.
As guests entered the space, they were greeted by our branding in light reflected on the floor (Image B), which was my favorite detail.
Inside the loft, the lights were dimmed so our products would truly shine out above anything else (Images C & D, which look much darker than the space actually was). We had name tags for our employees and distributors, and numerous large- and small-scale examples of each product in use. We also had slideshows playing on the televisions, which featured the specs of our diffusion acrylic offerings and how to best utilize each one. We had tables for both sitting and standing to encourage mingling and increasing connections, in addition to a full buffet and modest bar. We had a steady crowd of people coming and going – between those who wanted to wait out the traffic to those staying in the city – from the time the trade show ended until around 8pm.
Overall, the event was quite a success. We had a wonderful turnout mixed with new, existing, and potential customers in both B2B and B2C markets. We received enough new leads that led to a measurable growth in sales of these products from distributors and manufacturers, and created new connections that continued to expand our opportunities years down the road.
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