ROI from Health Fairs. Tips from Steve Weiss from Home Care Marketing.
Posted on Sunday February 26 2017
Click image above to watch the video or here’s the direct link to Steve's YouTube Video that speaks to how you can receive an ROI from health fairs : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56gH1cET_DY
In a little over 3 minutes and 30 seconds, Steve tells you how you can maximize your return on investment (ROI) from health fairs + be in a position to help serve new patients and customers once health fairs are over. In my opinion, Steve offers some great tips!!
Five Tips from Steve’s Video:
Show up to health fairs with a few people to work your booth.
Start a conversation with participants when they approach your booth (this means ask targeted questions).
Ensure participants engage you or a team member before participants are able to receive giveaways; participants must be stopped from grabbing giveaways, then running away without every engaging anyone from your booth.
Have participants sign up for a raffle prize in order to collect their info.
Always collect participants names and phone numbers so that you or a team member can follow-up with participants after the health fair.
Most importantly, Steve basically says to execute these tactics (the tips above) with every participant who you and your team members come into contact with at your health fair booth.
Steve’s advice couldn’t be more spot on. I know, because back in the day, I used to be a health fair exhibitor and I had similar results when I executed the tactics and tips Steve outlined in his video. Link to my story.
Acting on the tips from Steve's video will increase the likely hood of gaining an ROI from the health fairs you attend.
Steve’s tips not only apply to home care companies but a vast majority of health fair vendors and exhibitors from all different types of categories (and companies) -- from acupuncture to hospital health systems, to yoga and beyond. Complete list of HFC’s Exhibitor Categories.
There are a few more things that can help you receive an ROI from health fairs that will further stack the odds in your favor.
Four Additional Tips from HFC:
Show up on time (we know you get the deal, but this is important to hosts + this allows you to get the jump on the health fair).
After setting up your booth, network with other vendors before the health fair starts.
Smile when engaging participants at your booth; be friendly as you can and not overly "salesy," as people buy from people they like and trust.
Breakdown your health fair booth after the health fair ends and do not leave early (this is another biggie for hosts and if you'd like to get back onsite for things like workshops, lunch 'n' learns, etc. (it's key to not sabotage those opportunities by cutting health fairs short).
These tips combined with the tips from Steve's video will allow you and your organization to have an increased chance of receiving an ROI from the health fairs you attend.
HFC's Exhibitor Rating and Review Structure
HFC's exhibitor ratings and reviews can serve as somewhat of a guide to also help increase the ROI from health fairs - so here's another tip....
In November of 2016, HFC came out with exhibitor (or vendor) ratings and reviews. Health fair hosts are able to rate and review exhibitors that have participated in their health fairs once their health fairs come to pass. I'd like to tell you that excellent ratings and reviews correlate to the ROI generated per fair, but as of right now, we don't have the data to prove that to be true. I do believe that the higher the ratings and the better the reviews an exhibitor has will translate into a higher ROI for the exhibitor.
The five criteria exhibitors are rated on:
Arrival
Raffle
Giveaways
Friendly & Educational
Stands Up & Interactive
Exhibitors will receive 1 out of 5 stars for each of the criteria listed above. Vendors will also receive an overall star rating that averages out the five areas vendors are rated on.
As for the review, hosts have the option to elaborate on the ratings or add additional info that wasn’t captured in the ratings.
Ratings and reviews are an option for hosts. HFC emails the host 24 hrs after their health fairs(s) to rate and review vendors. If you don't' receive a rating and review in a week after the health fair and feel that you were a superb vendor at the health fair, you can always request a rating and review from the host. Link to post.
Here's an example of how ratings and reviews appear on an HFC exhibitors profile:
HFC uses ratings and reviews not only to let vendors know how they performed, but also to provide transparency to hosts when it's time to select exhibitors for their health fairs.
So, while they can't necessarily increase your ROI while performing at a health fair, your ratings and reviews will increase or decrease your chances of getting selected by health fair hosts for future health fairs - and that can impact your investment towards health fairs in general.
A Few Words on Giveaways, Raffles, and Booth Display
Something that's been stated but hasn't yet been covered is health fair giveaways. You might be thinking “what are some good giveaways for health fairs?” A few typical giveaways are pens, calendars, product samples, healthy food samples (not candy lol), stress balls, coffee cups - to name a few. Giveaways like healthy food samples, say if you're a food exhibitor, could perhaps increase your ROI form health fairs - say if your sample has a "wow" effect on the participant and leads the participant to purchase what you're offering them.
As for health fair raffle prizes, I’ve witnessed vendors contributing prizes like Fitbits, football tickets, electronic toothbrushes, sunglasses, and like prizes. A good raffle prize can help a vendor or exhibitor get selected to attend a health fair + act as an attraction to attract employees or participants, therefore leading to more participants at your booth. A good raffle could also cause a participant to contact you after the health fair is over, in turn leading to you and your organization gaining a new patient or customer.
And last but not least, for those of you who would like to know how to construct a good health fair booth, here’s a resource that covers that: https://app.healthfairconnections.com/vendor/how-to/make-high-quality-health-fair-booth
A good health fair booth can act as a trust factor, causing participants to perceive you and your organization as a trustworthy source for the service or specialty you're there representing. Like I said above, people buy and do business with/from people they trust.
Hopefully, this post will help you generate an ROI from the health fairs you attend, while at the same time helping you and your organization serve more patients and customers. Feel free to book mark it, so this way you can come back and reference it before each health fair. Also, feel free to share it with your team members (another step towards generating an ROI - lol but true) or fellow vendors that could benefit from this post.
