You are the owner of Splendid Foods, a business that produces varieties of protein bars, granola bars and other nutritious snacks. You started Splendid Foods with a recipe from your great grandmother who was making homemade granola bars long before they became popular in everyday lives. Your great grandmother painstakingly collected the nuts, grains and seeds for the ingredients and perfected a glaze that bound them together to create a nutritious snack.
The business has done quite well in its five years, with a strong social media presence and availability in select local and regional retailers. Splendid Foods products have had the best sales in convenience stores, but the goal is to have the products in national retailers including major grocery store chains and big-box stores.
Splendid Foods has the opportunity to exhibit at the largest food industry trade show in the nation. This event is a four-day conference attended by the merchandising and buying decision-makers for all businesses in the food industry. Over 500 companies will be exhibiting, hoping to make connections with the thousands of food industry professionals in attendance for workshops and general sessions.
The director of marketing at Splendid Foods believes that exhibiting at the food industry trade show is the best possible spend for the business’s marketing budget. Your business partner is concerned that spending almost the entire marketing budget on one event, even though the reach is wide, could be detrimental to the business.
Your business partner has asked you to step in and determine the marketing plan of the exhibit at the food industry trade show. Your business partner wants to ensure that investing time, money and energy into this endeavor brings Splendid Foods a lasting impression among participants. Your business partner wants you to include the following in the marketing plan:
- Engagement techniques before the event
- Content to create meaningful interactions onsite
- Intentional follow-up
