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May 22

Build A Solid Educational Foundation for Your Child: Start Early with Advans Kiddies Savings

Children shouldn’t suffer from parents’ inability to pay school fees. One major determinant of a smooth academic session for your child includes the payment of school fees. Every privately owned school survives or depends on the tuition and other fees paid by parents to see their children through their academic excellence.

Although, it is safer and sane to live within your means, but you shouldn’t limit your child’s future due to your inability to give him/her the best. This is where Advans La Fayette Microfinance Banks comes in.

Advans La Fayette Microfinance Bank is fully client-oriented and offers great flexibility, independence and financial security to help clients stay committed to their short- and long-term financial goals.

Advans La Fayette believes that education holds the key to shaping a brighter future and understands its importance. That’s why they have developed solutions to support schools, parents, and even the kids themselves.

With Advans Kiddies, parents can start saving early to secure a bright future in education for their children. Say goodbye to school fee worries with Advans Eduloan. They have created convenient and flexible loan options that makes it easier than ever to pay your children’s fees, ensuring uninterrupted access to quality education.

Running a school smoothly without financial hiccups is essential, and that’s where Advans School Boost comes in. They provide tailored financial solutions to meet the unique needs of your school, ensuring a seamless learning environment.

Educators, educational institutions and even parents can explore the options they have made available to secure a solid educational foundation for your children or ensure the smooth operation of your school.

Advans La Fayette is proudly sponsoring the Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) 2023, a renowned event that brings together educators, school owners, and education stakeholders to shape the future of education.

TOSSE provides an invaluable platform for networking, learning, and sharing best practices in teaching, school management, and tutors’ development. It brings together educators and stakeholders to discuss innovative approaches and address challenges faced in the education landscape.

Join us for TOSSE 2023 at the Sheraton Hotel on the 8th of June and Ten Degrees Event Centre, Oregun, Ikeja on the 31st of August. We invite everyone to visit the Advans La Fayette Microfinance Bank booth at the exhibition and attend the seminar on “Technology in Education: Trends and Innovations.”

For more information about Advans La Fayette Microfinance Bank visit their website at www.advansnigeria.com

Aug 09

Finnpartnership: Business partnerships for a better world

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, Finland has the world’s best-developed education system in the world. Hence, any educational program from the country is one to be held in the highest regard.

Finnpartnership is a business partnership programme financed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and managed by Finnfund. Finnpartnership aims to generate positive development impacts by promoting business between Finland and developing countries.

Societal functionality and development ultimately depend on how citizens, companies and societal operators are able to make society function. Finnpartnership activities aim to accelerate this development.

In practice, Finnpartnership promotes business activities and partnerships with the aim of generating positive development impacts in the target country. As the business to be promoted must also be profitable and responsible, the activities ideally create a cycle that reinforces positive development.

The main services are Business Partnership Support and Matchmaking

In many ways, developing countries are different operating environments from those Finnish companies are accustomed to. In addition, the conditions between countries and within them can vary greatly.

There are usually more questions than answers when visiting a foreign country for the first time. Finnpartnership offers funding, contacts and advisory services, which can be used to assess business opportunities in developing countries.

Business Support Partnership is financial assistance for researching business opportunities. Match-making connects operators in Finland and developing countries with one another. The services are intended for companies, educational institutions, non-governmental organisations and other operators.

Team Finland assembles all of Finland’s state-funded internationalisation services in a single place. Through Team Finland, you are able to obtain information on markets and their risks, funding for internationalisation, opportunities to participate in missions promoting exports, and contacts, information and advisory services.

Team Finland will be at the Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) set to hold on the 1st and 2nd of September in Lagos, Nigeria, to help as many institutions as possible through its solutions to help develop their system. Click here to register for the event.

May 30

5 Steps to attract more customers to your exhibitions booth

It is said that to be outstanding, one must do things differently. This is a trait in any business/organization that is currently dominating the market, especially when it comes to exhibitions.

Perhaps, your business or organization has been exhibiting at events and have not seen the desired results on your investment there. Then it is time for a change.

As organisers of the biggest trade show in Africa with over 7000 attendees, we have listed 5 steps to help your business/organization attract more potential customers to your booth at exhibitions.

If you want to get a good return on your investment, then you must be able to separate yourself from the crowd of other exhibitors at the event by attracting the majority of the traffic to your booth. Below are the steps to help you achieve that.

Steps to help you attract customers to your exhibition booth

Create a buzz factor: One feedback every marketing executive would like to hear from customers at exhibitions is that they saw their stand and patronized them at the event. One way to maximize this is to create a social media buzz even before the exhibition day. Use your social media pages to tell your audience that you will be part of a particular exhibition and begin to warm your prospects up by showing them irresistible offers and packages you have prepared for them at the exhibitions. This way, you have aroused their interest, and they will be on the lookout for your exhibition booth at the event.
Use mini-influencers: You may wonder what this means? This is basically getting your best customers or people around you with a strong following both online and offline to promote your presence at the exhibition. Remember, this is a 5-step list and they are to be followed semantically. You will be getting a customer or good friend to post something like this: “(name of product/service) has helped me develop myself in so many ways. They will be at (exhibition name), make sure you check out their stand at the exhibition”. Remember, nothing travels faster than word of mouth whether online or offline. With these testimonials, you are beginning to build the interest in your booth.
Pre-event Follow-up: Before a tradeshow starts, usually, there would be a buzz weeks before and depending on the magnitude of the exhibition, people may have been posting their attendance confirmations online or offline, and this is another goldmine where you can trap leads from. One easy way to do that is to simply follow the hashtag on social media e.g #TOSSE2022, and see all the posts of people who have signaled their interest, and begin to filter them to see those that fit your customer description. Then send them personal invites and materials to educate them about your products to show that you want to see them in your booth at the exhibition.
Get inbound traffic: Note that we are talking about doing things differently to attract potential customers to your booth. One of the traditional things done at exhibitions is that exhibitors get one of their staff to distribute their flyers or brochures to the attendees. This still works, but there is something better, which is using challenges, contests, giveaways, mystery games and other ideas that naturally calls people attention. People love freebies, and these kinds of things, hence increasing the amount of leads you are getting into your booth and that also increases your chances of converting them while they are inside.
Post-event Follow-up: Remember, you are trying to get them to make a decision and it may not necessarily be at the exhibition, so you must follow them all through the decision making process. Get their social media handles and thoroughly check up on them to see how your products and services can help them, lookout for their needs, celebrate them on their special days and build a relationship afterwards, and you will have some become lifetime customers of your business/organization.

These are 5 steps which when followed will bring a vast amount of traffic who are potential leads that can become your customers. It may sound like a lot of work, but if you want to make sales and achieve your goals as an exhibitor, you must be ready to do this.

Don’t forget to also check out our article on how to improve your Brand presence at exhibitions.

Nov 14

Top Technological Innovations for Business Transformation

Innovation and Technology are key parts of business today. In fact, they both work hand in hand. Here are some technological innovations that made waves in recent times:

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

A lot has been said about Artificial intelligence and its impact on businesses. It has significantly affected and improved the way customers interact with businesses via intelligent websites and chatbots. According to Forbes, 80% of enterprises are now investing or planning to expand in AI platforms.

“The largest impacts across all industries—from retail to healthcare, hospitality to finance—are felt when AI improves data security, decision-making, employee output, trainings, speed and accuracy,”

Attend TOSSE 2020, Africa’s Biggest Education Trade Show and Conference. Register Here

Maddy Martin, community vice chair and head of growth and education for Smith.AI, said. “With more capable staff, better-qualified sales leads, more efficient issue resolution, and systems that feed actual data back in for future process and product improvements, companies employing AI technologies can use resources with far greater efficiency. Best of all, as investment and competition increase in the AI realm, costs are reduced.”

Ultra-Fast Internet

There is an insatiable appetite for super-fast internet by most individual users of it. This need is even greater for businesses, either big or small. This helps improve business efficiency and provide reliable communication tools for companies that rely on remote workers. To satisfy this need, there has been the invention of 5G, which is exponentially faster than 4G. The effects of this technology, though, are up for debate with some quarters labelling it as dangerous.

Virtual Reality (VR)

While Virtual Reality might be seen as an innovation solely beneficial for gaming and entertainment, it has recently more widespread applications in businesses. According to Flatworld Solutions in an article on “Virtual Reality and Its Impact on Business”, the following are impacts of VR on business:

An all-new level of product prototyping
Reduced business travel & efficient business meetings
E-commerce advertising will see a new side
VR can provide competitive advantage to businesses
Interviewing candidates will be easier
The future of retail will be very different
Virtual conferences and meetings will be popular
VR will be an important tool in training
Affordable virtual designing of structures to visualize the project better
Offering virtual tours will be possible

Blockchain

A blockchain is, in the simplest of terms, a time-stamped series of immutable records of data that is managed by a cluster of computers not owned by any single entity. Each of these blocks of data (i.e. block) is secured and bound to each other using cryptographic principles (i.e. chain). Originally devised for the digital currency (Bitcoin), the tech community has now found other uses for the technology. Blockchain technology can be used to create a permanent, public, transparent ledger system for compiling data on sales, tracking digital use and payments to content creators, such as wireless users or musicians. It has also found application in financial services and video games.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things, which is commonly called IoT, refers to the billions of devices around the world that are connected to the internet through sensors or Wi-Fi. It’s basically a giant network of objects that connect to the internet. Each device collects data, and this data, known collectively as big data, is exchanged and analyzed. IoT-connected smart devices can be an everyday item such as a phone, car, watch, washing machine, or refrigerator. IoT devices can also be components of machines and systems, such as on an oil rig or airplane engine.

A Forbes article explained the massive benefits of this innovation on businesses, and quite a number of businesses have jumped on board this fast-moving train.

Exhibit At TOSSE 2020, Apply for Stand Here

Apr 10

How To Build Efficient Trade Show Follow Up Emails

During a major Exhibition event like TOSSE, optimism and motivation are through the roof. You talk with lots of people, receive valuable feedback and hear promises of future orders.

But as the trade show ends and you return to your office, what happens?

On an average, it takes 5 working days to follow up on potential customers. . In many cases, there is no follow up at all and the business cards end up in a folder somewhere.

Exhibitions are resources consuming hence, it’s important to maximize gains immediately.

Follow up emails must start with instant follow up – the best way to do this to send a “thank you” message. Just after your discussion, send a short email with basic background information, making sure that your potential customers remember you.

Continue with thorough follow up – send in personalized messages that remind them of your business and answer their business questions.

Make follow up emails Stand out – leverage on the conversation you had with your potential customers in the stand, make them know you care.

Record Customer data using the right business tools – this simplifies you email dispatch and helps you understand the chronology of your data. There are various online tools like “myfairtool”.

All this process will succeed in helping you transition efficiently from trade show setting to daily business schedule and activities.

https://tosse.ng/tosse-visitor-information/visitors-registration-form/

Mar 20

How to Attract The Media To Your Stand At Trade Shows

The main objective of exhibiting your business at trade shows is capturing leads to acquiring new business and brand awareness. However, attracting the media to your stand is certainly the best way to achieve such objective, but how do you achieve this?

Prepare Media Kit

To get the media to talk about your products, the first thing to do is to provide them with valuable contents. Unless your company is very famous or your news incredibly powerful, journalists won’t spend time searching for information and material to talk about you. You must provide them with everything, make it easy for them.

What should my Media Kit contain?

A good Media Kit contains the following information:

Company introduction
Company factsheet (figures, facts, graphs – key elements about your business that make it worth talking about)
Company timeline (your historic, major dates and milestones)
Major products / services / innovations introduction
Bio of the founder / CEO / key employees
High-resolution Photos and Logos (a good article always comes with a photo, if you don’t provide it, you risk losing control over your content or losing the article altogether)

The strategy is to always provide something very short to give a quick overview with links to find out, make it easy to grasp your documents within seconds, don’t lose your reader in pages of text.

Build your story

Most companies have no story to tell, hence no PR coverage.

Unless you have some incredible innovation to share or an internationally famous brand, why would people talk about you?

You need to have a story that will captivate your audience.

The story can be about your company and what it stands for or about your CEO or founder on his own journey or unique personality.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Make use of PR (Press Release)

Write a Press Release announcing that you will be exhibiting at the show. Make it bold. Use your story as the backbone of your release and add some suspense into it. Talk about innovation, announcement, exclusive information, etc.

If your press release is boring, don’t even bother publishing it. It would have no impact and would only waste your time. Write something worth reading that makes people (and media) want to come pay you a visit.

Once written, publish your PR and relay it through your own networks (website, Social Media, blog, newsletter, etc.), send it to journalists within your network and invite your partners to help you spread it.

Prepare Question & Answer Forms

You did everything right and some journalists stop by your booth, well done!

Then what?

They start talking to your staff. Your team members have been trained for capturing leads and educating visitors, but do they have a clue on how to handle media? Most probably not.

You will certainly ask them to direct journalists to you, but what if you’re not here or the journalist has no time to wait?

Prepare a Q&A sheet for internal purpose. This sheet should contain the top 10 questions you expect journalists to ask about your business and the “correct” answers your staff should be giving.

Use this document to standardize your numbers (you don’t want a person to claim a number and another one say something different) and make sure everyone is on the same page. Distribute this Q&A document and tell your team to read it and memorize it carefully

YOU ARE READY FOR THE TRADESHOW

HIGHLIGHTS OF TOSSE2018

Mar 12

How to Harness the Power of Social Media at Trade Shows

We may continue to dispute the true power of social media as a professional marketing tool, but there is little doubt that it remains an incredibly effective way of driving your business forward. This applies to all aspects of business promotion, including offline marketing methods such as attending trade shows and exhibitions, as social media can help to drive consumers to your event and create a buzz around your entire brand.

With this in mind, how can you harness the full power of social media to create a memorable and productive trade show? Consider the following: –

Prepare Thoroughly and Access Social Media Prior to the Event

Preparation is crucial if you are to successfully utilise social media at a trade show, primarily because it enables you to promote your event and create interest around your brand. By sharing updates and information through an integrated online profile including sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, you can alert your audience well advance of the exhibition in question. When using Twitter, you should also remember to include your official brand name a unique hashtag for the event in every communication.

Focus on the Quality rather than Quantity of your Posts

During the show, it is often tempting to subject your followers to a barrage of updates and tweets. This can easily disorientate the customer, however, while also increasing the risk of issuing bland content that is poorly structured or grammatically incorrect. To avoid this, you should focus on creating quality updates rather than producing them in high volume, using creative and engaging content that seeks to drive traffic at specific times of the day.

Post Pictures and Videos While Embracing Multimedia Resources

If you have invested heavily in creative banners and colourful display panels for your trade show, it is crucial to utilise these through audio-visual media and images. These eye-catching design elements can be extremely effective in enticing potential customers, especially if they are shared in real-time through a number of visual social media sites. By sharing this media across high traffic sites such as Pinterest and YouTube, it is possible to narrate a theme throughout the day and enable your customers to share in an interactive trade show experience.

With this in mind, the content of your videos and imagery is also important, so be sure to capture different elements of the day to convey a genuine experience to customers.

APPLY FOR A STAND HERE

Feb 20

The Battle for Consumer Attention

Organizations, and consulting films are perpetually engaged in a fierce battle to win the attention of the public (prospective customers).

Some organizations create sensational stories and scandals to keep their names in the minds of the public. Brands or companies who are able to dramatize their cause in the most newsworthy and button pushing ways have the competitive edge over others.

TOSSE 2018 HIGHLIGHT

Economic gains, ethical standards and potential reach are key criteria that help organization select their content and the medium to share. Content is the key factor that determines the acceptability of brand, products or its services.

In the battle for attention, organizations now hijack trending issues and hashtags to generate awareness, consequently, they generate sales lead too.

The main strategies for awareness creation for businesses are through display advertisement, sponsored ads, press releases, and most recently is their participation in Events or hosting one and being on the spotlights of issues or social media trends.

EXHIBITOR INFORMATION

TOSSE is a great platform to have the spotlights on your brand. With necessary awareness through unique display of products or services features you will get the most out of TOSSE event.