Versatile, effective roadshow marketing demands an innovative strategy. Could integrating different roadshow marketing types do the trick?
Your digital channels deliver impact and visibility, but they’re no longer the goldmine marketers incessantly believe them to be. Every marketer is aware of the influence digital presence creates- it’s now only about doing it right. Because honestly, everyone’s doing it.
This has shrouded all of marketing under a cloak of sameness. How do you choose- who do you partner with? Which brand’s solution do you use? Why is your brand worth investing in, and not your competitor?
Your brand voice is diluting amidst this market noise of sameness, or rather, one-ness.
If your brand can’t deliver a disruptive product, what can you actually deliver? A disruptive experience.
In a market landscape where every team is operating on a deadline and a budget, what could be this boisterous medium?
Roadshow marketing.
What is Roadshow Marketing?
The concept is exactly as it sounds. It’s a mobile experience that builds upon traditional marketing and advertising.
This is precisely what roadshow marketing is all about.
It’s a live and dynamic marketing approach that typically includes your brand’s top management touring different geographical locations to meet potential partners, investors, and buyers.
The fast pace of the digital-first world has every individual and business stuck in a loop-
Impact demands reach. How do you make yourself visible to those who could invest in your growth?
This is a never-ending conundrum. And it is directly linked to the deficiency of attention and loyalty- two rare currencies for marketers today.
So, instead of waiting for the buyers and investors to show up at your doorstep, you step across their threshold. You actually meet them where they are. And make reaching you easier for those who might be potentially interested in what you do and what you’ve to offer- your target audience.
Why Do You Think Roadshow Marketing Works?
Marketing isn’t as static as it looks from the outside. It isn’t about posting incessantly on social media, writing SEO-optimized blog posts, or writing collaterals for the sales team. Most of these marketing functions seem so mechanized and immobile.
But there’s another facet that fits as the final missing puzzle piece.
Digital engagement mostly ranges from likes and comments to webinars and online workshops. It has also come to comprise Zoom calls, but there’s still a lack of direct engagement. This limits exposure and constrains the brand’s control over how it is actually perceived by its audience.
Roadshow marketing gives the brands their control back.
Brands interact with potential customers on the ground by targeting areas with the highest footfall. The logic?
Elevated face-to-face engagement instills heightened trust and brand reliability. This removes the skepticism buyers may have while choosing you.
Your brand becomes a living entity, not a static logo on the screen.
This is what event marketing has also become more experiential. Marketing cannot be a one-way broadcast. It must be a strategic conversation.
And roadshow marketing is precisely this.
Businesses can set up shop in public spaces or rooms crowded with their ICPs. This way, your brand receives more exposure and visibility, which ultimately elevates recognition and brand recall.
However, there’s a significant limitation that professionals often cite- not all brands looking into roadshow campaigning can afford to penetrate every major city or hub. Hence, these roadshow events mostly cater to large market segments. It’s the only practical way, they assume.
What if it’s not?
Brand Presentations on the Road: Outlining Different Roadshow Marketing Types
There are various types of roadshow marketing that cater to different purposes.
Whether it’s a budget problem or the need to achieve a specific goal, understanding the distinct roadshow marketing can help dispel any concerns. It eradicates the presumption that one size must fit all; not all roadshow events look the same. Or are organized for a single purpose.
You can choose a mobile pop-up experience for a broad audience segment. Or opt for an exclusive, static roadshow to establish your value framework to key investors.
Different roadshow marketing types don’t just serve distinct goals, but they engage audiences differently, offering unique experiences. Let’s spotlight what these types are and the purpose they serve.
Types of Roadshow Marketing to Elevate Your Campaigning
1. Product launch roadshows
As the name suggests, product launch roadshows are marketing events that help brands debut new products and solutions to the market. This ‘on-the-road’ activity creates a buzz for you, especially surrounding a new innovative product, and subsequently boosts its sales.
The buzz fills the audience with a sense of urgency- anticipation. They want to be the first ones to experience it and test it out. While it can’t always guarantee high sales, it does shed a whole lot of spotlight on you-
Drawing more traffic to the business’s website and social media.
It works like magic for your company’s brand awareness, skyrocketing its visibility. But it fosters an opportune learning moment.
Product launch roadshows build a value-centre.
As the audience engages with and experiences your product, you also get immediate feedback. There’s no additional data that you need to sift through or analyze any metrics to grasp the first impression of your product. You receive it in real-time.
Through live demonstrations designed for swift and first-hand experiences, these product launch roadshows act like feedback loops. And set the stage for further product developments- one that caters to customers’ actual needs and preferences.
Traditional product launch events v/s product launch roadshows
While the nitty-gritty can be the same, don’t confuse traditional product launch events with the roadshows.
Traditional product launch events depend on the buzz, from the exclusive, invite-only party to the press releases. They are high-end events that are organized in a single location. And aim to generate as much media coverage as possible.
Meanwhile, product launch roadshows are basically like travellers. A brand’s crew moves between multiple locations to cover diverse audience segments. The point is to set up shop with the maximum purchase potential possible.
Hence, the reach is quite broad- and more inclusive. With events open and free for the general public.
2. Brand awareness roadshows
Brand awareness roadshows don’t require a hyper-targeted approach. Because the crucial purpose is to elevate brand visibility and recognition, the two components of a comprehensive brand awareness strategy are.
It’s about penetrating today’s extremely crowded market to stand out and make the market aware of your existence.
And this is precisely what brand awareness roadshows help with.
To boost brand awareness, most brands promote through visual appeal.
Imagine a colorful truck with your logo, bathed in the same color palette. This travels from one location to another, adorned with bright, eye-catching visuals and one-liners that stay with the viewers.
Look at the Paytm example shown above.
The truck is decorated with its colors- white and blue. And has the logo plastered on it. This increases visual appeal and activates memory. And additionally, there’s a booth attached. Most of the time, there’s an engaging activity to trigger viewers’ actions, one that aligns with the brand’s messaging.
In this example, Paytm is launching its new ‘Scan QR code’ feature. Hence, the brand messaging on the truck asks the audience to try out its latest feature first-hand.
But that’s not all. Some brands even put up flash mobs, street performances, and interactive stalls to draw in the audience. They set up these events in a way that doesn’t necessarily sell any solutions, but caters to the customer’s experience- creating a fictional story that relates directly to the brand’s core values.
3. Educational roadshows
There are specific roadshow events that directly take on the theoretical aspects. There are a plethora of marketing pain points and challenges- the basics that most aren’t aware of. How’ll they dive right into the product when the surface-level basics aren’t clear enough?
Most of the population has the will to learn. And to educate themselves before they set forth to find what could cure their conundrum, they undertake in-depth research. One that would help them find the best solution possible and also help them learn how to apply it the best. This is applicable to every latest technological development.
There’s a new AI in the market, for example. You’re excited to integrate it into your current workflows, but do you understand the extent of its potentialities? Not quite.
This is where educational roadshows make a difference.
Several finance or even education-focused brands take this route. Rather than keeping forth the business’s services or offerings, they focus on the basics of who they are and why they are doing it.
For example, some volunteer organizations nail their entire objective to the why of what they’re doing for the communities. The same applies to blood donation drives. There’s a specific action that the business wants its viewers to take by educating them on why it’s necessary.
Literacy is the primary step in educational roadshow marketing.
4. Promotional roadshows
Promotional roadshows are all about promoting the brand through implicit experiences.
Think of lively fairs, music concerts, and exhibitions. Here, the brand sponsors the entire event and then leverages it as an opportunity to spotlight special offers, discounts, or any upcoming products.
Promotional roadshows are mostly about tying brand promotion with experiences. The audience doesn’t experience what the brand offers per se- they enjoy the curated event, from live games to contests. This creates a positive environment when the mind is least engaged or tied to any attention-needy task.
This is precisely what promotional roadshows build upon. The brands market these fairs first to attract a bigger section of the market. And take advantage of the crowd to highlight their promotional offers.
5. Experiential roadshows
Experiential roadshows are all about marketing through real-time experience. This specific type of roadshow can work wonders for tech companies for delivering a ‘new’ reality, something most of their solutions are often based on.
Just as new VR glasses or an innovative phone experience. They can curate an entire event based on what it’s like to use their tech products, especially the latest gadgets, compared to their competitors. It’s like stepping into a virtual reality, another world.
Experiential roadshows are all about creating a memory, a memorable experience that’s unforgettable. This is what most tech companies do with their expos and product launches as well. They amalgamate product launch, education, and promotion in a single roadshow-
To churn out a unique brand experience.
One that propels your brand to the top of mind, asserting much-needed credibility. Even if it’s a startup or a small business.
Roadshow marketing isn’t dead. It just requires an evolution.
Roadshow marketing is a highly creative and cost-efficient tactic. It’s been given minimal heed, owing to the popularization of digital marketing. If not into the core strategy, this face-to-face engagement technique must become an integral part of the sidelines.
There are so many audience segments that you cannot granularly penetrate- at least not from a distance. And most of the promotions that you curate for them are driven by intuition.
But with roadshow marketing, you don’t have to. You can take the show to your investors, partners, and potential buyers.
Think of the ad spend you could be saving, especially when you aren’t aware of how to penetrate a new market. Pivoting to organic, word-of-mouth marketing might add momentum to your campaigns.
It’s not just strategy, but marketing that transpires through excitement and meaningful experience.
