Publications

10 Ways to Attract Traffic to Your Booth or Display
10 Ways to Attract Traffic to Your Booth or Display By: Deb Heidzig & Connie Reimers-Hild 1. Smile: Meet and greet your customers or guests with a friendly face and a positive first impression. Welcome people who walk by and encourage them to see what you have available. 2. Stand in Front or Beside your Display: When you stand behind the table, you create a wall between you and the customer. Standing in front or beside the display allows you to great people and lays the groundwork for developing relationships with potential clients. 3. Offer Promotions and/or Drawings: Collect contact information by having people sign up for drawings and promotions. Have a box or bowl available so people can fill-out sign-up cards (make sure to ask for names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses) or deposit their business cards. These methods provide you with an avenue to collect new customers’ names and contact information for future promotions. 4. Send Thank You Notes: After the event, send a “thank you” to people who stopped by your display. Make sure to include coupons, businesses cards and other promotional information with your thank you notes to remind people of your products and services! 5. Engage the Senses: Encourage people to sample your products. Give them tastes, touches, sights and smells to remember! 6. Give it Away! Use marketing gifts (pens, magnets or stickers etc.) to promote your business while providing people with your contact information. 7. Keep it Simple: Don’t overwhelm your customers with information overload. Keep your display simple, clean and clutter free. 8. Dress for Success: Look professional or play up a theme. If more than one individual is representing your organization, wear matching shirts or outfits. Develop an inviting look that lets people know you want to talk with them. 9. Tell your Story! Connect with customers by telling them how your business, products and services are unique. Educate customers about what you have to offer and how it can help them. They more they know, the more likely they are to buy! 10. Incorporate the Fun-Factor: Have something fun and eye-catching for people to see and/or do. Play a video, use an interactive game, create a competition between visitors, hold a taste test. Fun gets attention, makes you look innovative and helps the day fly by too!

Inventors, Investors & Entrepreneurs Club
Inventors, Investors and Entrepreneurs Club to Launch in Southeast Nebraska Southeast Nebraska is strengthening its entrepreneurial spirit by forming an Inventors, Investors and Entrepreneurs Club. The club is designed to provide inventors, investors and entrepreneurs with networking opportunities as well as education and training. One of the club’s goals is to provide an open and supportive, educational forum for individuals who are seeking assistance in the areas of entrepreneurship and inventing. A second goal of the club is to bring people and organizations together in a truly collaborative effort that is dedicated to improving economic development in Southeast Nebraska. The Inventors, Investors and Entrepreneurs Club will meet once per month at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Kimmel Education & Research Center in Nebraska City. Each session will begin with a networking social at 5:30 PM, which will be followed by introductions and an educational session or guest speaker at 6:00 PM. Each evening will end with an “Ask and You Shall Receive” session, which enables participants to ask for what they want or need so the group can help them find solutions and break through barriers. The first meeting of the club will be held at 5:30 PM on January 22, 2008. Subsequent meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of every month. A $30.00 fee will be charged for individuals, businesses and organizations to join the club; however, people are encouraged to participate in one or two sessions before making a commitment. Organizers are also working to add distance-delivery components to this program. More information on the distance-delivery component will be available soon. If you would like to be involved with or participate in the Inventors, Investors and Entrepreneurs Club, contact Dr. Connie Reimers-Hild at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Kimmel Education & Research Center via phone: 402-873-3166 or e-mail (creimers2@unl.edu).