Avionics News March 2014 - 50

series

BUSINESS BASICS
B Y

G R E G

L A S L O

Radio Reception

How to add customer events to your shop's marketing mix

or as long as we've had businesses, owners have sought a way to
entice customers to beat a path to
their door. Turns out, they didn't need
a better mousetrap. They just needed to
send an invitation to a customer event.
In today's world of party-of-one
social-media and email marketing, live
events are decidedly old school. But
that doesn't diminish their usefulness
as a tool for connecting your avionics
repair shop to your customers. In fact,
that's what they're all about, and these
good times can definitely be good for
business.
Yet a get-together does cost you
time, effort and money, so getting a
return for this investment is paramount.
Done right, it will leave a powerful
impression of your brand, help you
engage personally with prospects and
give you a flurry of leads to pursue.
Done wrong, the event must have been
a really good time, because you may
never muster the will to do it again.
Learning the difference requires
knowing what you want from the
event, how you'll market the event
so it meets your objectives, and how
you'll follow up afterward to get the
biggest bang for your buck. When you
put all three together, you will craft a
reception that will help your customers hear your marketing message loud
and clear.
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avionics news

march

2014

PARTY PLANNING
Event marketing is hardly an inexpensive option. While email costs you
mere pennies per touch point, events
may cost hundreds. But you get what
you pay for, according to Ruth Stevens,
author of Trade Show and Event
Marketing, particularly when you use
those dollars to create an offering that

in you to give up some of their time.
But it's not automatic. For an event
to work, you should have objectives
and strategies that drive its planning.
"You want to decide what you want to
do first, and then the nature of the event
will emerge from that," Stevens said.
For example, an event intended to
deepen relationships with existing cus-

Ultimately, the only reason to host a shop
event is to convince customers to do business
with you. And while they're sure to appreciate
your hospitality, you also need them to
appreciate how you can satisfy their needs.
not only adheres to your objectives
and strategy, but also appeals to your
customers and their needs.
Certainly, the biggest benefit you
gain is face-to-face conversations with
prospects and customers. And an event
allows you to have many of those in
one place, which gives you some efficiency over making many sales calls.
Plus, it allows you to put a polished
foot forward, and it helps you start
prequalifying customers who actually
attend, since they're interested enough

tomers and get them to buy again,
spend more or spend sooner would
look different than one intended to
recruit new corporate customers or
build goodwill among the local pilotowner community. Your existing customer needs a reason to return, such as
new services, new products or something else that gets them to spend.
Conversely, prospective customers
need trust in your services to consider
working with you, and that may be
primed through case studies or testi-

Avionics News March 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News March 2014