This week is the biggest marketing week for our client, Fire-Dex. Fire-Dex manufactures turnout gear and accessories for those in fire and EMS service. Their biggest annual trade show, FDIC in Indianapolis, is going on right now. Firefighters converge in Indianapolis at the start of the week for important hands-on and classroom training. At the end of the week, vendors and others in the industry participate in a blowout expo.
Fire-Dex begins planning for their next FDIC as soon as the show ends. Their booth includes everything from areas to try on their gear, talk to sales reps and take the Fire-Dex Challenge for opportunities to win daily prizes. Once they have developed their plan and theme for the booth, we assist with the social marketing strategy and planning. Their social marketing campaign this year includes their blog, their Facebook community, their Twitter community and an email campaign.
Last year at the start of FDIC, they had approximately 400 Facebook fans. That fan base grew by 275+ as a result of the event and incentives to become a fan of the Fire-Dex page. This year, we started with 7,000 more fans than last year. We used that base to start promoting the Fire-Dex booth and the booth promotions and highlights 4-6 weeks prior to the event.
Further, Fire-Dex released newly designed gear and gloves to their community in the 2 months prior to the event. Perfect timing and perfect storytelling opportunities!
Since the Fire-Dex online community was exponentially larger than the previous year, MJ2 recommended that Fire-Dex offer an online, “virtual” event for their followers that were unable to attend FDIC this year. To continue growing their fan base, they offered this event with a Facebook event and for email sign-ups (new and old).
This expo is rockin’ online and onsite. We will update you in the next couple of weeks with their final stats and successes. Feel free to follow along as it happens on their Facebook page, on their Twitter account and via their blog.
