Royal Jaarbeurs: the friendly, sustainable and innovative host for all of the Netherlands. A place where you meet, inspire, learn and grow. We'd love to tell you what's going on at Jaarbeurs and how we do things. How? By getting to know our most valuable asset: our people. Michelle Ravesteijn is Brand Marketing Manager of Trade Mart Utrecht, the fair where retailers shop and find inspiration for the Jewels & Watches, Fashion & Lifestyle, Kitchen & Dining and Home & Living segments.
As Brand Marketing Manager, Michelle is jointly responsible for marketing Trade Mart Utrecht. She deals with the marketing communication plan and tries to respond to the wishes and needs of the target group with the right campaign to reach the right visitor. Michelle does not work towards one trade fair moment. In fact, Trade Mart Utrecht has a biennial Retail Fair and fixed buying days in the Beatrix Building. She is in contact with the community throughout the year.
'I'm busy 24/7 telling the story of our exhibitors and brands' says Michelle. 'We want to inspire retailers and keep them up to date with all the new products and collections the exhibitors are carrying. We have exhibitors with super great sustainable stories. As a buyer, you want to know that so you can pass this story on to your own customer. We then communicate it through our channels. That triggers visitors to come by to see the product. That's how we really try to connect with our regular community. My goal is to show that Trade Mart Utrecht is the place to find the latest collections. If you want to anticipate what the customer demands, you have to shop at Trade Mart Utrecht.'
'Shopping at Trade Mart Utrecht is inspiring. We try hard for that.'
Where the Retail Fair used to be seen only as a buying opportunity, Michelle now sees a shift: 'People now experience shopping as an inspiring moment. And as a team outing. Besides the fact that, as a shop, you really need to see the products and hold the materials, of course you also want to be inspired. We try hard to do that. We therefore invite inspiring speakers to talk about all kinds of different topics. For example, how to get more out of your business, how to design a shop or how to optimise online sales.'
To provide both visitors and exhibitors with an enjoyable and inspiring day, Michelle puts herself in the person's shoes. 'I personally like it when people think with me. Not just giving an answer, but really thinking along about other things. So I try to do that too.' Michelle therefore puts herself in the visitor's shoes or puts on the exhibitor's figurative hat as much as possible. She says: 'I imagine myself as a buyer. What do I expect and what do I need? I know that people like to go straight in and prefer not to wait long at the registration desk. Yet at times it can get busy at the entrance. That's why I sometimes jump in myself during peak hours so that registration runs smoothly and everyone can enter quickly.'
'I love that people here really think with you'
'We are always looking for ways to make our service even better' says Michelle. 'To do that, we pay extra attention to the small details. Because we all know, if you have a question and you can't figure it out, it creates irritation. That's why I try to think ahead. One of those ways, for example, is by literally setting up colourful campaigns. Each segment has its own colour and we use it both online and offline. For instance, we also dress the floors where the segment can be found in that colour and the hostesses wear clothes with the campaign colours. It creates recognisability and convenience. Apart from that, of course, it also looks very cheerful.'
Sometimes it is difficult to come up with a solution to issues beyond Michelle's control. She then tries to think creatively. As an example, she gives the loss of parking spaces due to renovations in the neighbourhood. Michelle: 'Many of our visitors take their purchases straight away and walk out with boxes. They then have to lug them to other car parks. I can imagine that is quite inconvenient. That is why we have engaged shuttle buses that visitors can take. That way, they can easily board with their things and later load them at their cars.'
Michelle gets satisfaction from her work and enjoys it at Jaarbeurs. This is partly due to the short lines of communication. She says: 'Although Jaarbeurs is a really big organisation, it doesn't seem and feel like that. Especially if you know how things work, you can switch quickly. I like that. After all, that also benefits our exhibitors and visitors.' Michelle is referring to an idea she set up recently: 'We found out that 80% of visitors would like to be invited by their own exhibitor. That can be done through a unique registration link. Yet we saw that exhibitors hardly ever did that. So we quickly contacted the Service Team. They then approached exhibitors by phone and told them how and why they could invite visitors. All in all, that increased the registration numbers and satisfaction of both visitors and exhibitors. You don't expect that from such a big organisation, do you? I think it's a great example of how quickly we shift gears here and how eager we are to help everyone.'
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