MARKETING IDEAS FOR EXHIBITORS

Your participation in Fiesta Buckhorn is one component of your marketing efforts. To make the most of it, here are some tips from our marketing experts:

Before Fiesta

  • Make up a poster to put up in your winery or restaurant letting people know you’re going to be at Fiesta. We can provide you with a Fiesta Buckhorn logo in jpg format.
  • Hand out Fiesta Buckhorn brochures – just let us know how many you want and we’ll get them to you. They’ll be ready by the end of March.
  • Participate in advertising opportunities. There are several local and regional magazines and newspapers that produce special inserts or features about Fiesta Buckhorn each year. As well, the Buckhorn Community Centre advertises Fiesta Buckhorn on Star 93.3 radio. These are opportunities to get more exposure for your winery or restaurant. Let us know if you’re interested and we can put you in touch.
  • Invite your best customers to attend Fiesta. As an exhibitor, we can arrange for a special admission rate so you can take even more advantage of your participation in Fiesta.
  • Arrange a Fiesta Preview and invite people to visit your winery or restaurant as a “sample” of what you’ll have at Fiesta. We can provide you with some tent cards advertising Fiesta Buckhorn 2007 that you can use as well.
At Fiesta: 
  • Decorate your booth: Bring posters, banners, signage and other decorations e to make your booth stand out. For those who have registered for more than one booth, think about bringing a cocktail table and chairs so people can sit and chat. Like moths to a flame, people are attracted by colour. You’re allowed into the park early enough in the morning – or you can arrange to come in the night before – to set up your booth.
  • Set a reasonable token price for your samples: The tokens at Fiesta Buckhorn are sold to visitors at $1 each. So don’t overcharge! The objective of your participation at Fiesta is that you want as many people as possible to sample your food or wine. And, the price you charge at Fiesta for a taste is indicative of the prices of your wine or menu items.
    - A 2-ounce sample of wine, unless it’s icewine or collector vintage, should be offered at 1 or 2 tokens, based on the price of the bottle.
    - For food, if you’re doing for instance shrimp on a skewer, instead of putting three large shrimp, offer two shrimp for 2 tokens, but throw some greens on the plate. That way, people have the perception of more for their money.
  • Bring brochures: You won’t be able to tell everyone all you want them to know about your winery or restaurant. Ensure that your address and phone number are included!
  • Engage the visitors: It’s been proven at Fiesta, through token sales, that those exhibitors whose staff are pleasant and welcoming have the most visitors. When people are walking by your booth, say hello and smile. If you’ve had a long drive and are tired already – shake it off!
  • Set up a Newsletter Sign-up Sheet: Once you have someone interested in your winery or restaurants, you’ll want a way to keep in touch. Set up a newsletter or email sign-up sheet and invite visitors to give you some information so you can send them promotional information.
  • Promotional Giveaways: People love to get things for free! Bring along openers, t-shirts, fridge magnets, pens, pins, or other promotional items. Due to licensing regulations, you can’t offer an incentive for people to drink, so you’ll have to give them out to everyone, not just those who sample your alcoholic products. Also due to liquor license regulations, exhibitors are not allowed to sell any products where the public is allowed to drink – which is why the Fiesta Buckhorn gift shop is outside of the “drinking area.” If you have items you’d like to sell, please let us know and we can sell them at our gift shop on consignment.
Wineries: 
  • Visitors want to know more about you, and if you give them information to take home, chances are they’ll call or visit your winery. So don’t forget:
    - Wine lists
    - Winemaker biography
    - Price Lists
    - Business Cards

Restaurants:

  • Chef bios: Let them know who’s making their meal.
  • Menus: Print up some sample menus so visitors can get a feel for the type of food you offer and the prices.
  • Coupons: Last year at Fiesta, one of the restaurants offered a coupon to visitors for their next visit to the restaurant – Buy one entrée, get the second for ½ price.