24 Event Marketing Ideas That Are Easy for Small Businesses

Look polished and professional at expos, pop-ups, and more

I’ve worked the booth at craft fairs, comic cons, and even national dance expos—and I know firsthand how much effort it takes to show up polished and professional at an event. When I vended at Ontario Comic Con Revolution with my shop, JoJo’s So Creative, I was juggling product displays, pricing sheets, stickers for giveaways—you name it. And let me tell you, having polished marketing materials made everything feel easier, but it wasn’t just about looking professional. The event marketing ideas that really moved the needle for me were the ones that helped me stay organized, confident, and ready to connect.

That’s the inspiration behind this post.

Whether you’re prepping for a local pop-up or a big trade expo, your business deserves marketing materials that help you show up looking organized and professional. With free templates and printable products from Avery, it’s easy to customize everything you need in minutes—from business cards and name badges to table signage, branded binders, and client takeaways.

Now let’s get into it! Here are 24 easy-to-use Avery templates for marketing materials that small businesses can print for events like markets, trade shows, or pop-ups.

DIY event signage ideas using tent cards

’ve seen a lot of table signage while selling at conventions—everything from cardboard with hastily handwritten messages to printed paper in frames. If you want your vendor booth supplies to look clean, coordinated, and professional, tent cards are a great place to start. They’re sturdier than paper, so you don’t need to invest in frames or stands that you’ll have to lug around. When other sellers ask me for signage advice, I always recommend tent cards to highlight product names, list service menus, or feature calls to action. Plus, free Avery tent card templates make it easy to create branded table signage that helps customers navigate your booth.

One thing I love about using tent cards is how easy they are to adapt on the fly. I’ve definitely worked shows where pricing or product focus had to change mid-event. A great example is the time I was at a convention and had just raised all my prices to keep up with demand. I noticed my signature headpieces were selling way faster than expected, but other items flatlined.

Because I had my Avery designs saved online, I was able to update and reprint new event signage right from the hotel business center. I kept my headpieces high and dropped everything back down to the original prices marked as “con specials.” Having printable marketing tools for my business on hand meant I didn’t have to panic, and better yet, I increased sales across all my smaller items. No one knew the new tent cards were to fix a mistake, and my booth looked polished and intentional all weekend long.

Free tent card templates for DIY event signage

Business card ideas for event marketing

I can still remember the first business card I made for my side hustle. It was 2014, and I wanted something unique that stood out from the traditional cards I had for my job at the dancewear company. Looking back now, they were so hideous—oversaturated, with a sloppy hand-drawn logo image. They were… a lot. At the time, I knew about Avery labels, but I didn’t know printable business cards or free design tools and templates even existed. But there was still something special about those cards. They made my side hustle feel real, and suddenly I had a way to promote my small business right in the palm of my hand.

Nowadays, I know that Avery business cards and free templates make it easy to create unique cards that stand out while still looking professional and pulled together. If you’re building out your event marketing materials, business cards are also surprisingly versatile. Hand them out with a QR Code at checkout, include them in giveaways, or use them as bag stuffers. They’re easy to personalize with your brand colors and logo using free business card templates from Avery.

Free business card templates for event marketing

Name tag ideas that spark conversations at events

If you’ve never considered name tags an essential an essential part of event marketing, I’m here to share the story of my personal “aha” moment. Picture it: I’m selling handmade crafts at my very first fair, and I could barely get my booth set up, let alone worry about name tags. Now at the same time I was working for a family-owned national dancewear company. When we went to industry trade shows and expos, of course we had professional-looking name tags. Having experienced “booth life” with and without name tags, I really saw how much easier they made it for people to connect with us and remember the brand.

After my “aha” moment, I started making name tags for craft fairs too. It was such a simple addition to my event marketing materials, but it made a huge impact. Suddenly, every fair was a networking event. And not to brag, but I did very well at those fairs—often with the biggest line for my booth and more repeat business after the event ended. You can also spark those conversations that create buzz just by including name tags in your event marketing materials. Avery free name badge templates, combined with options for printing them yourself or ordering them custom printed make it easy to get started… even when you’re just starting out.

Name tag template ideas for your next event

Presentation binders: a sleeper idea for event marketing

Personally, I haven’t used a presentation binder for my own business—at least not yet. But with the dancewear company, we used them all the time. In fact, they were one of our go-to sales tools for the business. We published regular print catalogs, but at trade shows and expo events, we were often previewed new collections ahead of the season. In fact, some of our biggest sales came from bulk preorders, even before the new collections had been released. The best part? We could use the binders over and over; all we had to do was print new cover sheets and spine inserts for each collection.

The reason I said I haven’t made one for JoJo’s So Creative yet is because I’ve been thinking about how to make one work for me. One of the ways I make vending profitable is by offering preorders. Preorder pieces can be custom (fully personalized) or made to order (specific customizable options). While the items on display at my booth are very effective for generating those sales, preorders tend to dwindle as the weekend winds down. Even when my table starts to empty, I have a theory that a presentation binder could keep that preorder momentum going. I plan on trying a presentation binder with high-resolution photos to test my prediction.

Free printable presentation binder designs you can customize

Postcard event marketing ideas that keep your brand top of mind

Attending events as a guest, exhibitor, and seller, I’ve seen postcards used in all kinds of event marketing ideas for small businesses. Thank-you cards with QR codes linking to your site or social media are probably the most popular. Another common use is offering event-only promos or discount codes for online orders placed after the show. These strategies work well across the board—and as a guest, I’ve definitely been hooked by a good discount postcard more than once.

Speaking strictly as a vendor though, I think there are also a few more niche ways to use postcards for small business branding. For me, it’s all about interaction and creating a memorable moment. For example, instead of just handing out postcards with discount codes, I’ve used scratch-off stickers to cover “mystery” discounts they could redeem on the spot or online. I’ve also printed mini scavenger hunts that attendees could bring back completed for a prize or discount. It’s a fantastic way to get rid of overstock, misprints, or one-off items, by the way.

The important thing is that I wasn’t just handing folks another card to lose in their bag. And it was much easier to make my booth stand out when I created those memorable moments. I’ve even had guests from previous years come back and say, “Hey, I remember that scavenger hunt—that was so fun!”

I’ve written about making custom scratch-off cards before, if you want tips on how to easily do your own. You can also check out these postcard marketing ideas to use at your next event.

Event marketing ideas for customizable postcard designs

How I bring my event marketing ideas to life

When I sit down to design marketing materials for an event, I want a simple process that saves me time without sacrificing a polished look. To that end, even if I use a different program to design the visual layout, I still use Avery Design and Print Online for full creative control. If I use a pre-made Avery template (like the ones featured in this article), then I stay in editing tool from start to finish. That’s a great plan when you’re just starting out—it’s free, beginner-friendly, and made to work perfectly with Avery products.

When I do start my design elsewhere (for example, in Canva^©), I still bring it back to the Avery design tool so I can finesse the design on a blank Avery template. I just find that finishing with the Avery tool makes it easier to turn my event marketing ideas into printed materials that I’m proud of.

Here’s why that step is so important:

• It ensures the layout prints exactly as expected.
  With other services, aligning designs for printing is really tricky (like pull-my-hair-out tricky). But it’s much easier to make sure my design will fit the product correctly when I use the Avery design tool.
• Support doesn’t end after my order arrives.
  If something does go wrong, Avery has real live Customer Care reps you can actually reach by phone (during business hours, of course), plus a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
• It works whether I’m printing at home or ordering professionally.
  I often order in bulk, so accuracy is critical when I’m getting a few hundred pieces printed at once.
• It saves me time when building out a full branded set.
  Once I save a design to my free Avery account, I can easily apply it to other products—like labels, postcards, tent cards, or binders.

This flexibility makes it easy to scale a single design into a whole set of custom marketing materials that match across every touchpoint. And if I’m honest, I’m a bit of a stickler for details, so I will stay awake at night obsessing about all my vendor booth supplies being cohesive.

Get event-ready with these event marketing ideas

The very first marketing materials I ever made for my business were DIY business cards. Honestly, they were kind of a mess—but they still gave me that first big feeling of “this is real.” And that moment was the beginning of everything.

Now, when I’m restocking my vendor booth supplies, I rely on custom name tags, signage, and cards. I choose to customize marketing materials for my small business because I’m detail-obsessed, and they help me show up with intention. Events take a lot of energy, and well-designed, branded materials can do a lot of the talking for you. Trust me—by day two or three of an event with thousands of people, you’ll want any help you can get.

And if you’re just getting started, why not begin the way I did—minus the hot mess part? Try the free Business Card Maker to create something that feels like you and looks professional right from the jump.