Small Business Solutions: 6 Ways to Prep An Outdoor Booth for Spring

Spring is an opportunity to get your business back out into full view: to come out of hibernation, continue branding efforts, earn more customers, and clinch sales. Likewise, with the weather warming up, spring is also a perfect time to start some outdoor marketing and branding initiatives. Whether you plan on hosting a standalone booth or scheduling a big event, here are a few tips to boost your outdoor spring initiatives.

Intelligently Invest in An Outdoor Booth

Setting up an outdoor booth is a great way to get your brand to stand out in the minds of future customers. Outdoor booths come in various configurations, can be built in a variety of ways, and are perfect for optimizing brand recognition. 

When investing in an outdoor booth or canopy tent, consider your needs. For instance, you can opt for a sealed enclosure or an open booth that lets the sun shine inside – depending on your venue. Small decisions like these will go a long way to ensuring your booth is a rousing success.

Weatherproof Your Booth

While “spring” may conjure up images of flowers in bloom as they bask in warm sunshine, springtime in the UK is, well, unpredictable. So whenever you’re setting up an outdoor booth, take the proper preventive measures to ensure weather won’t impact it. Some important things to consider while planning include:

• Inclement Weather such as Rainfall or Snow. If precipitation is likely, consider rescheduling the event. If that’s unavoidable, make sure to take the steps to get siding and waterproof your booth as much as possible.
• Wind Conditions. If high winds are anticipated, make sure you have the proper sandbags, weights, or tie downs to keep your booth in place.
• Positioning of the Sun. If you want to avoid forcing future customers to squint, rotate your booth in a direction where the sun won’t directly face or beam behind it.

Make Your Marketing Materials Durable

Much like your outdoor booth, it’s important to adapt your marketing materials to withstand any weather you may face. For outdoor events, choose vinyl for banners and signs as it is more weather resistant than cloth and paper materials. Take any additional precautionary measures necessary, such as:

• Sandbagging banner stands
• Add wind slits to any objects that may fly away.
• Roping bungee cables through any metal grommets to hold banners to stands.

Make Your Marketing Materials Effective

However, even with a weatherproof booth and materials, if your marketing materials are ineffective, your booth will be a waste. Here’s a few tips to make your marketing materials matter:

• Make sure all copy is cleanly written and engaging. Bad copy is a quick route to making your materials forgettable.
• Always end your copy with a proper call to action. Calls to action will direct readers to become engaged with the brand, and push you towards your strategic goals.
• Place all marketing materials with thought. Look out for aesthetic balance with the rest of your booth, along with making sure they’re visible to passersby.

Embrace the Shades of Spring

While we’re talking about marketing materials, color is an important part of catching the eyes of wandering patrons. Likewise, with a spring themed event, you can set the mood by decorating your booth in the various shades of spring. 

Warm yellows, reddish-oranges, peachy pinks, fresh greens, and different hues of brown will pop against buildings and aesthetically match the nature around your booth. If you’d prefer to keep your booth in its regular color scheme, you can always add a touch of spring to your displays or menus instead.

Distribute Some Swag Bags

Swag bags or goodie bags are an excellent way to put your outdoor booth in the spotlight. By branding your swag bags with your company logo, you spread free advertising while imparting good will to the visitors of your booth. 

Try adding branded t-shirts and flags. For a springtime event, consider adding spring-related merchandise, such as baseball caps, sunscreen, or even floral handwashes. Still, make sure your swag is useful to your target market; or your swag bag will be quickly tossed out.

Power Up Your Booth

If your booth requires electricity, or if you just want to keep the lights on after night, make sure to find or provide a reliable power supply to your booth. Powering your booth is also  a pragmatic decision; providing you with the ability to charge your multimedia, personal devices, and any other electronics you may need.

Most venues have some form of power outlet, but it’s still wise to prepare a backup source of power. Whether it be a simple portable charger or a proper generator, always make sure you’ll have enough secondary power to keep your booth running for up to an hour. Keep your outdoor booth functioning, and you’ll shine through to your customers.