With the warmer months approaching, the spring and summer festival season is upon us. Church festivals are a great place to market your family-friendly business or organization in the community and get the exposure you’re looking for. Plan now so your business, club, or organization can become active in the community and participate in upcoming local church festivals.
How to find church festivals
You can find listings of upcoming community events, including local church festivals, in local community newspapers and these newspapers’ websites. If you don’t mind doing a little digging, you can also find upcoming church festivals in your area using a simple Google search – phrases such as “Cincinnati church fairs” or “Southwest Ohio church festivals” should deliver some results.
You may find the following websites helpful in finding local church festivals and other events in the southwest Ohio area.
FestivalNet.com – https://festivalnet.com/state/ohio/oh.html
FairsandFestivals.net – http://www.fairsandfestivals.net/states/OH/
OhioFestivals.net – http://ohiofestivals.net/schedule/
What you need to present at a church festival
The most important things you need to present at a church festival are some motivated, energetic staff and a tent-style booth. Rather than buying a booth, it usually makes more financial sense to rent one. Make sure you reserve a booth rental well in advance of the event. One Stop Rental offers booth rentals for both daily and weekly rates.
Additionally, you will want signage for your booth, a way to take payments if you are selling something, products and product samples, and business marketing materials or literature (i.e., pamphlets) about your organization.
How to present at a church festival
Once you find a church festival you want to participate in, contact the organizers of the event to inquire about costs and requirements and to reserve your booth space.
Plan out your booth setup and festival game plan ahead of time – is the goal to sell products, gather leads for new business, or just to spread the word about your organization? How will you measure the results? Going in with an organized plan will help ensure a more successful experience.
Here are some tips for a successful church festival presentation:
- Before the event, advertise your business’ participation in the festival (on your social media accounts and festival flyers, for example) so potential customers will know to look for you there.
- Offer takeaways, such as brochures, free samples, t-shirts, or useful items like magnets or water bottles with your business’ name and information.
- Make your presentation interactive with contests, games, product demonstrations, etc.
- Collect contact information to follow up with potential customers. One effective way to do this is to have customers fill out a form to be entered into a prize drawing (make sure the prize is a something people will want, like an iPod).
To rent a tent/booth for a church festival or for more ideas about what you will need to present at a festival, visit the One Stop Rental tent rental page, or give us a call at 513-777-3393 (West Chester/Mason) or 513-895-8665 (Liberty/Fairfield Township).