Earlier today I wrote about standing out at an event and creating smart event marketing strategy. Tonight I’ll be at the Mashmeet San Francisco event as a sponsor for my book and trying to create some buzz at the event. As I saw it, here were my key challenges:
- How do I get people to walk up to a table selling books at a cocktail party?
- What can I give to people as a free incentive to get them interested in the book (without spending a lot of money)?
- How do I get across the premise of the book very quickly and get people interested?
- And finally, how can I make the sponsorship that I paid for work harder and do more with it?
My solution was to try and offer something that would be both useful and relate to the premise of the book … a "Nametag 2.0." A Nametag 2.0 offers more than just your name – it also gives a snapshot of who you are and why people would want to interact with you, as well as giving them the vital "2.0-style" information of what keyword you would like to have used as a tag online for content about you. If you’ve been to many of these events, you know that often they don’t have nametags and if they do, they are usually useless white stickers where you write your name and little else. A Nametag 2.0 is a lower tech version of what pioneering nametag companies like nTAG offer (Full disclaimer – my brother works with nTAG).
Here’s what the Nametag 2.0 I’ll be giving out looks like:
Hopefully party goers will find the nametags useful and choose to fill them out and use them. Also, as people take lots of photos of one another, hopefully the nametags are big enough to be seen and I’ll get some extra exposure on Flickr. What do you think about this idea? I’ll be sure to post an update on the event tomorrow for those won’t be there and let you know how it goes.
Hey, I was pretty close. 🙂
I have an even better idea that I’ll run by you at the event tonight. Looking forward to chatting.
Ryan
Ok, full disclosure, I haven’t read the book (gasp!), yet. But how about offering, for one night only, a special offer:
Buy the book and you’ll throw in the personality!
From all purchases tonight, you’ll randomly select one buyer to receive a 1-hour 1-on-1 session with you to go over the book and help them develop their online brand personality.
Not sure that example works, but a fun play on the title to add unexpected value.
Hey Rohit!
It was great to chat with you last night at SummerMash in San Francisco and thanks for the book. I’m looking forward to giving it a read and I’ll give you some feedback once I make my way through it.
Looking forward to staying in touch – talk to you soon!
Ryan
So far, Mashable is reporting really good stuff on the book, Rohit, with a buyer from Hong Kong excited to purchase it. But I want you to save me a name tag since I won’t see you there! 🙂
Plus, I can even throw it up on Schwag Addict!
w00t!
k, I’m done. Enjoy LA’s event on Friday! 🙂