Make an Exhibition of Yourself for Seniors

Product fairs—often called exhibitions—are underutilized as a way to improve sales to older adults, say experts at Lomonosov Moscow State University. It’s not as if these exhibitions are never used. They regularly occur in Austria, Australia, Canada, Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, for instance. The CPAAA Senior Expo has been staged in Kansas for more than thirty years. In the researchers’ hometown of Moscow, the annual 50 PLUS Project Forum and Exhibition constituted the object of study for how to improve use of these marketing vehicles.
     When at their best, exhibitions yield short-term advantages, such as employing the excitement of the special event to sell more items, particularly if special exhibition-only discounts are offered. There are also strategic benefits, such as developing business-to-business partnerships and identifying industry trends by touring the other booths. These general marketing advantages of exhibitions hold true regardless of the ages of the target audiences. But because elderly adults have distinctive consumer characteristics, the particular patterns of selling, partnerships, and learning will differ with senior expos. Therefore, assess the reputations of the other exhibitors before deciding whether your organization should participate.
     Also assess the image and reputation of the event itself by asking your senior clients if they’ve attended in the past and, if they have, what they liked and disliked about the experience. Beyond expecting positive impressions, the researchers suggest the event be clearly positioned as being for commerce. A large number of booths offering social services will dampen attendance by seniors with ample money to spend. On the other hand, workshops about product usage will draw profitable attendees toward the exhibit hall.
     Seek expos which organize booths into theme areas. This is helpful to seniors for cognitive simplification and ease of navigation. Theme areas which have proven successful include health & nutrition, anti-aging beauty, living arrangements, hobbies, travel, and finance. Even with this, attendees will tire more quickly than would younger consumers and will have a greater need for toilets. Provide plenty of benches and rest rooms. Most attendees at senior expos are women, so bias toward ladies’ or unisex facilities.
     Take into account how perceptual, cognitive, and memory abilities change with advanced age. Signage in your booth and text in brochures should use high visual contrast along with fonts which are sufficiently large. In both visual materials and conversations with the attendees, repeat important marketing points.

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