When you launch a new product, you might decide to hold a tribute event to get people from the industry and potential customers interested in your product. To make sure people aren’t just showing up for the free show, you need to maximize your retained audience by getting them to engage with your product. But how do you do this?
The key to engagement and product engagement is a structured evening setting. Allowing your guests to mingle all night doesn’t clarify the purpose of the event, and means people aren’t as likely to spend as much time finding out about the product as you’d expect. If there’s free food and drink provided, chances are people will make a beeline for this, so make sure you have a few ‘checkpoints’ throughout the night to get people thinking about your product again.
Of course you need to give a speech about your product to tell people a little about it. Keep it light and entertaining, and don’t let it go on too long or you’ll see people get agitated. A little background on the product and some information on how it’s made and why you’ve invited this particular group are the basics to cover.
Another way to get people to engage with your product is to do some fun market research. Give each audience member a handheld audience response system and ask them to vote on a series of questions about the product. For example, if you have a variety of colors or designs, ask people to vote for their favorite. This is not only fun novelty for your audience, but also useful for you to see what industry guests have to say about your product.
You should also encourage people to interact with the product directly. Whether you’re providing free samples or test products for people to use, make sure everyone has a chance to see exactly how your product works and find out more about it. When people use your product, they will be able to form a better opinion about it, and are more likely to discuss the product in relation to the event. This should be the end goal: for people to enjoy the event, which in turn increases their opinion of the associated product.
Edgar Thomas writes for a number of online publications on business presentation techniques and increasing audience engagement.
