All over the United Kingdom, business events are taking place.
From the recent London Book Fair and Progressive Greetings Live to upcoming events such as Glee, there are many opportunities for your business to get involved.
Whether you are owning a stall at one of the upcoming events or dropping by for a visit, making sure you learn about these events and what they can do for you is important.
Here we will explore the benefits that any small business can have from attending a business event.
Boost your company profile
Attending events is a great way for you to build your company’s repertoire with potential clients and partnerships. Often, emails and other distance communications can become lost when you are reaching out to new businesses.
However, attending an event means that you could have the opportunity to speak to more people in person.
Whether you are simply attending to represent your company or have a stall dedicated to your business, talking to people is the first step in establishing better communication between yourself, your customers, and other businesses in the market.
By applying for a stall at an event, you can represent your stock, products and services better.
Benefit your sustainability efforts
Business events can even benefit your sustainability efforts as a company. As you learn more about the industry, you might find new market trends which work alongside your environmental efforts, such as finding distributors with similar carbon neutral goals as yourself, for example.
You might even attend a sustainability event to better understand your company’s impact on the environment and to find out what other businesses are doing to help reduce their impact on the environment.
82% of shoppers want to support companies that represent their values with regards to sustainability and the environment, so making sure you are clued up on the current developments in climate change and your impact on this is key to engaging a loyal customer base.
Accreditations are another way your business can focus on bettering its environmental impact. Working with organisations such as the Forest Stewardship Council and World Land Trust can ensure that you aren’t harming forests and natural landscape, but rather positively contributing to them.
Discover new design trends
Business events can also be a great place for you to discover new design trends emerging within the market.
For example, if you stock a gift shop then you might meet greeting card publishers who offer trendy designs or a retail shop might find a trend in children’s fashion to stock their stores.
Making sure you are networking with frontrunners in the industry can help you establish market trends and customer demand. Being ahead of this can mean that your business is prepared to supply what your customers want, improving your business.
You can also learn about marketing trends occurring within your industry, helping your business communicate with customers better. This might include personalisation as a marketing technique, for example. Keeping up with the movements of your industry means that you can reduce the competitive edge other companies might have over you.
Business growth and development
Not only does networking help develop your business further but the array of workshops and talks that are available at business events can help you develop your business.
Business growth can come from you extending your knowledge within the market, as well as in business management.
By attending workshops and business-led talks that interest you, you can further develop your business. This can also give you a means of connecting with other businesses as you discuss the talks you have been to.
Signing up to host your own discussions can also be beneficial for your company as it can establish you as a thought leader within the area. This will also help build your profile as attending, and even passing, companies can learn from your presentation.
No matter whether you are attending simply to view your competitor’s stalls or you are establishing yourself as an expert within the industry by hosting your own discussions, attending business events can help boost your business.
Small businesses can use these events as networking opportunities to help build their profile even in a saturated market.
