Make Your Trade Show Visitors Feel Safe During Cold And Flu Season With Healthy Promotions
Like the U.S. Postal Service, trade shows continue through good weather and bad, even during flu and cold season. Facilities are booked months (or even years) in advance, so you can't postpone the show in case of a flu outbreak.
However, you can plan to keep yourself healthy and make your visitors feel safe by your choice of promotional products and giveaways. You can also incorporate tips for staying healthy in your trade show marketing messages before and during the show. And don't forget to let visitors know to visit your booth first for healthy promotions!
Protecting Yourself And Visitors From Illness
Prepare yourself for the show by getting a flu shot, eating well, taking vitamins and getting plenty of sleep to build up your immune system. Once you get to the trade show, you will be talking with many people and shaking hands. When people approach you, avoid getting too close to visitors' faces. You can still be friendly and engaging from a couple feet away! A large communal container of hand sanitizer can make visitors feel more comfortable about stopping by.
Make sure to have a supply of tissue, disinfecting wipes, paper towels, and hand sanitizer in the booth for your own use. Between waves of visitors to your booth, clean your hands. Take advantage of the time to clean the counter with disinfectant, wipe with paper towels, and properly dispose of the waste in a trash receptacle. Make sure to wipe down your phone, keyboard, mouse, pens, any iPads or other interactive technology and other miscellaneous equipment.
Hotel Safety Tips
If you are staying in a hotel, remember to use extra care there too. Hotel door knobs, TV remotes and clock radios are all breeding grounds for germs. Carry a travel pack of disinfecting wipes with you (aerosol cans are prohibited on flights if you don't check luggage). For extra precaution, consider packing an antimicrobial pillow case cover.
Healthy Promotions And Giveaways
Trade show giveaways won't necessarily buy you customers, but they can go a long way in building goodwill about your company. For low-cost giveaways for mass distribution, consider offering tokens that will help visitors stay healthy like sanitizer gel, pocket sprays, wipes or towelettes, tissues, pill cases, and flu prevention tip sheet/magnets. These are all inexpensive items that can be personalized with your logo, company name and phone number. For more high-end giveaways, you can choose several items to be included in an imprinted flu emergency kit.
Publicize Your Health Consciousness
Before the show, address cold and flu season head on. In pre-show mailings, blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts, offer tips to withstand these seasonal illnesses, at home and on the road. Tell visitors about your giveaways and invite them to stop buy your booth to claim their gift. Even during the show, you can use the precautionary aspect as your hook to pull traffic.
Promotions With A Healthy Twist
Thinking of holding a contest to draw more visitors? Offer a drawing twice a day for coupons for crates of oranges and grapefruits from Harry and David's. Thinking of having a money machine? Include coupons for thermometers, heating pads, soup kits, and other health-related themes. If you distribute dollar bills in the booth, make sure to have hand sanitizer available for contestants to use after their time handling money.
You can't stop colds and flu from striking, but you can use caution about these illnesses as the theme for your communications, promotions, and giveaways to make visitors feel safe.