If you’re part of the automobile industry, you’re probably getting ready to attend or host a trade show or two this season. You probably also know that an effective car show is the key to marketing your auto vehicles in a subtle, celebratory manner.
But while a car show can help market your product, it is first integral to make sure the show itself has enough traction and is promoted the right way. To be a hit, your car show should be fun, exciting for your guests, and memorable enough to be the talk of the town.
Here are some effective ways to promote your car show the right way and get the most marketing mileage out of your event.
1. Make sure the timing is right
When you’re planning a major event, timing is everything. And this is especially the case when planning your car show. Make sure you’re planning your show at a time that is optimal for your audience to attend.
Check to see that your show date and timings don’t come into conflict with any major events that could take the attention away from yours. Try not to host your own event at the same time as any other car show.
One good strategy to go with is to check your local calendar to see if there are any popular parades or festivals happening around that time that could help draw crowds toward your show as well. If, for instance, there’s a local festival scheduled for the same day as your show, you can use it to your advantage. Try to see if you can partner up and market both events together to gain more traction.
2. Pick a theme
It’s not just enough to host a car show and expect to attract everyone. You need a theme that will engage your audience. The goal here is to attract the right car owners and enthusiasts, and show them that you have what they’re looking for.
Do some research on your target audience. Send out a questionnaire on social media and email asking customers and locals about their dream car and vehicle preferences. Look for car enthusiast groups on Facebook and Twitter to get more answers. Based on the results you get, you can choose a theme that will resonate with your audience the most.
Here are some ideas to help inspire you:
- Classic cars
- Antiques
- Imports
- Trucks
- A vehicle for everyone
The Concours, the signature event of the Pebble Beach, California, automotive week, is well known for its parade of vintage cars and motorcycles. It attracts vintage car enthusiasts from all around the state due to its targeted theme.
3. Create engaging visuals to publicize your event
One of the most important things about promoting an event is to make sure it looks fun enough for people to attend. And one way to ensure that is through vibrant visuals and graphics that help market your show.
If you’re worried about a tight budget, the internet has tons of solutions for you. With online design tools like PosterMyWall’s flyer maker, you can get access to a wide range of car show flyers that you can customize according to your needs.
Create your own personalized car show flyer by adding your brand logo to the top and the details of your show in the center. Add in a few images of the kind of cars you’ll be showcasing.
Distribute your flyers around your local community. Place them in newsstands, at the cash counter of your shop, and other frequented places.
But don’t let your flyers be your only visual. Go online and look for free poster maker tools to help you create posters of different sizes. To keep your posters relevant to the theme of your event, make several versions of your poster and dedicate each one to a certain popular car you’re showcasing at your event.
You can use these posters both before and during your show. Ask other businesses in your community if they’d like to promote your show by placing your posters in their windows or bulletins.
4. Plan activities to keep your customers engaged
You might have gotten word out about your car show, but you still need to give people a reason to stay back and check everything out. No one wants to spend too much time at a boring show where all you do is talk about cars.
Draw customers in by planning an exciting activity or two to keep them engaged. Set up some toy models of the cars you’re showing along with a racetrack to excite kids. This will encourage entire families to attend your event.
Organize a licence plate bingo for every guest that enters. Add licence plate numbers to bingo cards and have them check each number off by viewing the cars and talking to the representative. Offer a fun prize to the first person who calls out Bingo.
5. Send them away with a memory
Your car show may be going well, but you need to come up with a way to make it memorable for your attendees. Crowd-pleasing activities are great, but your audience would much rather have something tangible to remember their experience by.
Plan out the swag you’ll be giving away at your event. Get a variety of auto-themed products made to appeal to every potential customer. You can give away vent and air fresheners for cars, custom printed ice scrapers, and even model toy cars for the kids. Make sure each gift has your logo and brand name custom-printed on it, and hand out swag bags to each attendee before they leave.
Final thoughts
Auto shows are loved by car enthusiasts all over the world. But it can be a hassle figuring out how to cater your auto show to the audience in your locality. To get your car show to be the talk of the town, you need to ensure that you reach out to every vehicle lover in the vicinity.
With these 5 tips on how to host and promote your car show, you’ll be sure to start and end the trade show season like a true winner.