Would you make this bank holiday business mistake?

Hi guys, 

This week’s business nugget comes from my bank holiday weekend at Hampton Court. The palace is a short journey from my house, so when a few friends suggested we visited the Foodies Festival which was being held at the Hampton Court green, Ella and I jumped at the chance to book tickets. 

I have to say that the day was really good, except for a little sunburn, we all had a fabulous time. The food and drink was excellent. All the stalls selling different cuisine’s, beverages and snacks made an aromatic background to the live band playing on stage. It really was a day for the senses! 

From the organiser’s website, exhibition stand’s cost anywhere from £247 per square meter to over £7,500 for one of the large star marquees. Not a small investment, especially when most of the stands were not from large corporates, but independent brands who this type of event is a major route to market. 

Even on this relaxed day out I couldn’t leave my business brain at home and I was surprised to see TWO major failings in maximising the return from such a high footfall event. 

The first was the number of businesses that hadn’t given their brand identity a thorough understanding. They had a great logo on their stand, but in many cases advertised a“@hotmail.com” email and a mobile number! These days to not to own your own business domain name is just sloppy and having only a mobile number screams ‘small time’. 

Personally I would have setup a separate webpage for the event encouraging people back with a great offer. I would have then setup a unique tracking number which I only used at the event so I could see if anyone who contacted me in the future had come from the sizeable fee to promote myself at this event. 

I wonder how many exhibitors went home after the festival unhappy that it didn’t pay off as well as they hoped? A fair few I bet! 

As time is getting on I will share the other alarming mistake I noticed in next week’s email and trust me it’s a biggie which all businesses can learn from – you won’t want to miss it. 

If you have any events coming up and you would like some advice on how to maximise your ROI, drop my team a call on 020 7293 0862. Likewise if you need help with a business domain name or call tracking number, let us know and we can put you in touch with a helpful provider (in the interest of disclosure, I own an IT support business). 

Take care, I’m off to apply some more after-sun.