The simple word: “Exhibition,” or “expo,” is defined as a public display of works of art or other items of interest, held in an art gallery or museum or trade show. It is also defined as a display or demonstration of a skill. Sports nutrition expos are often held for health and fitness enthusiasts to get chance to look at the newest health and fitness products, witness live demonstrations, and meet fitness celebrities. As a business, an expo is a perfect way for your company to market your products/services. An expo is also a terrific way to scope out your brand’s competition, discover new products and ingredients, and build your potential client network.
Why Attend a Sports Nutrition Expo as an Exhibitor?
By attending the expo as an exhibitor, you can help give exposure to your brand. Especially if your product or service caters to the health or fitness industry, setting up at a sports nutrition expo can help promote your brand to the appropriate demographics. Consumers go to expos to learn more about products and services, so they are essentially coming directly to you to learn about your products and services. Having your brand at an expo gives automatic exposure before you even set foot onto the expo floor. Marketing that your company will be at the expo will help encourage consumers to come check out what you have to offer.
Aside from the obvious marketing benefits, attending an expo is a perfect way to access your competition. You can scope out everything from their product offerings to their marketing campaigns. Look at their expo displays and identify what they what their consumers to focus on when they approach the booth. This will give you a general understanding of how your competitors are doing in business. Next, look at their products and services offered. Are they offering new products, do these products stand out from your brand? Are these products introducing new concepts and ingredients? Aside from marketing and products, also observe how the booth workers are interacting with visitors. This will reveal a lot about your competitions attitude towards their consumers and possibly their overall business.
One of the benefits of expos is the ability to meet face to face with consumers. By attending an expo not only are you promoting your brand, but you are interacting face to face with consumers and getting the chance to personally tell them about your product. If done correctly. This will create lasting impressions and can generate potential leads. One-on-one interaction with consumers has many benefits. It helps you to build a good relationship with your poetical client, and helps to give your brand a good first impression. No marketing strategy surpasses the strength of one-on-one communication. This also helps you to receive live feedback from your audience.
Another benefit is that promoting at an expo has the potential to allow your brand to be seen by many people in International countries. These types of introductions can help boost sales of slow moving products in the U.S. or unique flavor systems as different areas has different demands. International sales may take more time to complete as many countries have brand registrations processes you may need to complete before shipping products. However, International orders are typically higher minimums due to import fees and costs.
How to Plan for an Expo-
There is a lot of work that goes into attending an Expo. Planning is key and will help your brand to achieve its full potential at the expo.
The first step to planning is creating a budget. It is important to ensure that your business will have enough funds to cover the expo expenses. Some of the expenses that need to be outlined in the budget are:
- Booth rental, booth set up and tear down.
- The facility fees for the booth rental.
- Cost for overall marketing expenses. This includes materials before and at the expo (brochures, business cards, etc.) and the booth set up.
- Travel and stay expenses.
- You will also need trained sales representatives at the booths, so you will need to factor in their income as well.
- Other factors to consider are booth design. First impressions are everything, but designing your booth set up can become costly.
After analyzing the budget, the next step is to register. You will want to register as early as possible because some events fill up quickly, and often if you register early enough, you will get a percentage off the registration cost.
2018 National Fitness Expos-
Not sure which expo to attend?
We’ve included some of the top fitness expos in the United States below with descriptions and demographics for each event.
The Fit Expo:
The Fit expo is a series of expos throughout the United States that is focused around fitness enthusiasts and professionals. The typical expected attendance is over 100,000 guests. The Fit Expo is a family friendly event that brings health and fitness enthusiasts together while discovering new health and fitness products/services. The Fit Expo in Los Angeles brought over 50,000 fitness enthusiasts on January 6 and 7, 2018.
Live Events at Various Fit Expo Locations Include: free fitness classes, cooking demos, live fitness competitions, and dodgeball.
Target Markets for This Expo: powerlifters, bodybuilders, personal trainers, group exercise instructors, competitive athletes, and even the weekend warrior.
Dates and Locations of The Fit Expos:
- Philadelphia, PA April 28 -29, 2018
- Chicago, IL June 9-10, 2018
- San Jose, CA July 21-22, 2018
- Anaheim, CA August 25-26, 2018
- San Diego, CA October 27-28, 2018
- Ft Lauderdale, FL (Spring 2019)
Learn More Here: https://www.thefitexpo.com/
The Arnold Fitness Expo:
The Arnold Fitness expo is the largest multi-sport festival in the nation. The event features more than 1,000 booths of the latest sports equipment, apparel, and nutrition. There are expected to be approximately 200,000 attendees over the course of the weekend. This is also a family friendly event with a kids/teen zone of the expo. Jim Lorimer, co-producer of the Arnold Sports Festival stated: “We have attracted all of the top industry companies that will all put together elaborate displays that will once again draw jam-packed crowds to the Greater Columbus Convention Center.” The Arnold Expo is definitely the place for your business to be if you are looking for exposure in the sports nutrition industry.
Live Events at The Arnold Include: Body building competitions such as the Arnold Classic, Classic Physique, Men’s Physique, Figure International, Bikini International, and Women’s Physique. Other events include Dance and Fitness, Olympic Sports, Strength Sports, Boxing & MMA, Martial Arts, Kids EXPO events.
Target Markets for this Expo: powerlifters, bodybuilders, personal trainers, and competitive athletes.
Date and Location of this Event:
- Columbus, OH March 2-4, 2018
Learn more here: http://www.arnoldsportsfestival.com/the-arnold/expo/
Europa Games Expo:
The Europa Games is a supplement, nutrition, and apparel expo. It is currently held in three different cities in the United States. The expo expects over 250,000 people annually, 15,000 athletes competing in various live events, and over 400 vendors. “Come spend the entire day at one of our expos and bring the family. With over 600,000 square feet of expo activities, there is something for everyone to do. We even have a KIDS ZONE with free prizes for the little ones.”
Various Live Events at the Europa Games Expos Include: Grappling tournaments, bodybuilding, cheerleading competitions, powerlifting, and karate tournaments.
Target Markets for this Expo: Fitness and sports enthusiasts, athletes, health conscious consumers and even people just wanting to learn more about living a healthier lifestyle.
Dates and Location of Europa’s Various Events:
- Orlando, FL Europa Expo: April 14-15, 2018
- Dallas, TX Europa Expo: June 16-17, 2018
- Phoenix, AZ Europa Expo: August 11-12, 2018
Learn More Here: https://www.europaexpo.com/
Ideal World Convention:
Known as the “Super Bowl of Fitness” the Ideal World Convention includes fitness, nutrition, and health in one event. Expected attendance is over 14,000 fitness professionals, 225+ industry leading experts and includes 330+ in-depth, hands on workshops, lectures and workouts.
Various Live Events: live cooking demos, live group workouts, live exercise programs, and many more.
Target Market for this Event: fitness and health professionals such as personal trainers, group exercise trainers, club and fitness owners/managers, nutrition professionals, mind-body professionals, etc.
Date and Location of this Event:
- San Diego, CA, June 27-July 1, 2018
Learn more here: http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-conferences/idea-world-fitness-convention
Other Events and Expos:
Not every expo will be right for your certain business and brand. There are many different types of expos including yoga, Pilates, local fitness expos, natural product expos, health food expos, VitaFoods expo, etc. Do your research to find out which expo will be the best choice for your brand and your business. With so many benefits to expos, it’s almost too hard to pass up, so once you find the expo that is perfect for your brand, plan accordingly and get exposure to your brand.
When well planned, being an exhibitor at an sports nutrition expo is the perfect way to get brand exposure, create networks of potential clients, and eventually increase sales.
