Tips on Planning & Marketing a Showroom Special Event

Given the current economic situation, the easy way to approach marketing for most companies is to simply eliminate this hard-to-quantify expenditure from the budget. Brad Smith, president of Audio Video Design (AVD), a Newton, Mass.-based CE Pro 100 custom installation firm, takes the exact opposite approach. He not only is sticking with his company’s marketing plans, he is taking it a step further by aggressively evangelizing his company’s products and services throughout the Greater Boston and New England regions.

This past October Smith and his staff held the company’s signature event, titled “For the Love of Music,” as a showcase to highlight the company’s product lines and technical capabilities to the public.

During the one-day, evening event, Smith and his staff demonstrate a range of audio products and solutions that range from wireless Sonos multiroom audio systems and digital Peachtree/Wadia iPod-based two-channel desktop components, to complete McIntosh and Revel home theaters, and analog stereo systems that incorporated turntables from Marantz and tube amplification from McIntosh.

Marketing Maintains Status
Explaining why events like “For the Love of Music” are important for his company, Smith says marketing directly to clients helps his company remain relevant. “I believe consumer outreach is very important to maintain our brand and market position,” he says. “We are the oldest and largest residential electronics contractor in the area, but we can’t rest on our laurels. We have to stay scrappy and pro-active. Attendees without exception applaud our effort and state that they enjoyed the event and learned something. We follow up with every attendee just to show that we appreciate their participation.”

Smith says now with the experience of having done a few of these events, the company has learned some things about holding these events that further solidify Audio Video Design’s ability to stand out in a crowded marketplace and tight economy. He adds that in order to make these events worthwhile it’s important to bring in large enough crowds to experience the products and services Audio Video Design offers.

“This is only the second time for this exact event, but we do have events on a pretty regular basis. We conduct events around other themes, such as home theater and home automation. We built a beautiful showroom that’s in a convenient location in Newton, Mass, as well as smaller showrooms in Osterville and Nantucket, and it only makes sense to use our showrooms to introduce people to the company through fun and interesting topics,” Smith says. “Although it’s an imperfect science, we’ve learned that events help get the word out and keep our ‘brand’ fresh. However, that said, we have also learned that they have to be special somehow in you want to have the attendance needed to justify the effort and expense. We decided at the planning stage, before anything else, what is going to make it special.”

Preparation and Support Are Key to Event Success
Referring back to the experience of having done past promotions, Smith notes that the after having done one it makes the planning process much more efficient, but there things a company new to event planning may overlook.

“After many events, experience reduces the effort [of conducting a market event], but it’s still significant,” he points out. “There is also a major hidden cost… making the showrooms and displays sing necessitates upgrading products and control system screens in addition to temporarily rearranging the spaces. We begin planning and organizing three to six months in advance. We have to coordinate with our participating manufacturers and our advertising partners, and with ourselves regarding re-design, upgrade and set-up labor.”

Another key to pulling off a successful marketing event Smith adds is having vendor support from the brands an installer represents. He says that any company can hold a successful marketing event, but having that vendor support makes it much easier.

“We can pull it off without our vendors but they add the spice,” Smith explains. “In some cases, such as this last event with new McIntosh product, the spice is the essential ingredient... the special something. It’s a bit of a dance with the manufacturers. They aren’t made of money any more than we are and they have to see a good business plan in place for the event before they contribute dollars or time.”

Upon the conclusion of the event Smith says that’s its also important not to put a stringent dollar value on the promotion to determine whether the event has been a success. He says that in many cases these moves have to be viewed as an investment into the market with a goal towards long-term sales down the road.

“This is an excellent question that we ask ourselves every time,” he admits. “Due to our position in the marketplace, we believe that just building our brand has value. In this economy [it’s important to generate] interest in the products being demonstrated [in order] to make some sales eventually.”

Some Friendly Advice
Today with the possibility of more companies investing their limited resources into their showrooms to support proven sales methods like product demonstrations, Smith recommends to anyone thinking about conducting an open-house demo type of event to put their best foot forward when dealing with the public.

“Make it first class or you will do yourself more harm than good,” he advises. “Use a caterer and bartender so you are free to interact. Make sure you have liquor liability insurance. Make sure everything in your showroom is working properly. People will ask to hear and see things that aren’t part of the event and will be turned off if you say you can’t demonstrate something or it doesn’t work when you attempt to use it.”

Offering a bit of advice to the manufacturing community, Smith adds that manufacturers should be selective to help ensure the success of the event.

“I would tell manufacturers to choose your best dealer in each market and collaborate with them to do something special,” he says. “The cost will pale in comparison to an ad in Architectural Digest. I would also say they should do big events in which all the dealers in the area co-op the cost with them. For example, share the cost of the Harman truck at a major golf tourney to create a buzz, drive some numbers, and get some serious attention in a cluttered-message-world. There should be a call to action that directs follow-up to both the manufacturers and the dealers.”