CES, NAB, Pack Expo, OTC, AAPEX/SEMA, MAGIC, ASD, ConExpo/ConAGG – they are all a bunch of letters that spell massive trade shows in the USA. With immense trade shows, generally there are the big players and everyone else. As an example, there is an entire section of CES that looks like The Los Angeles Auto Show. In fact, there is no room left at CES as every major venue is being used in addition to gigantic tents. So your company has made the move and has stepped up and out of the inline trade show exhibits and bought a 20’x20’ island. This is a real stretch for your company, so how are you going to be seen?
Exhibiting at a trade show is much more than renting or purchasing a trade show exhibit structure. It is the pre-planning, the pre-marketing, the demos and giveaways, the collection of the right leads, the follow-up at the show and after the show. If you don’t get it right, you could be overlooked.
What a sinking feeling. You’ve just returned from exhibiting at a trade show and have called a major client and you hear these words … “Oh, you were there? How did I miss you?” Admit it – it’s happened more than once. Your trade show floor presence has become the Hidden Picture Page from your childhood Highlights Magazine! Don’t spend all the money to be an exhibitor and not have a pre-show plan that will guarantee exhibit attendance. Start with pre-show marketing – invite your clients and potential clients, make your exhibit a must-see. More attendees are pre-planning which exhibits to visit (approximately 50% to 75%). Time is expensive. You must get in their face long before they set foot on the trade show floor.
Dare to Be Different with Your Trade Show Exhibit.
A carefully designed trade show exhibit and graphic presentation can increase traffic. Boost the exhibit up a notch with an interactive presentation about your company shown on computer, TV, or projector screens that will create excitement and buzz around your exhibit. Get out to the front aisle – don’t use tables and counters as barriers. At the show, you are competing for attention not only with other businesses in your industry, but with your neighboring exhibits as well. To be noticed, use features, such as colors that are exaggerated. A display that looks muted in a showroom may virtually disappear around brighter neighboring displays. Add as much lighting as possible. Backlit images are very effective. Movement helps in being noticed. This can be achieved with rotators on the exhibit, or with working models if your product lends itself to this type of exhibit.
Exhibitors that neglect to invite customers and potential customers and then further fail to excite trade show attendees on the show floor might as well save the exhibition fees and turn their marketing dollars elsewhere. However, the greatest potential to awaken new clients in the shortest amount of time is proven to happen at your industry trade show. From CEIR – Center for Exhibition Industry Research: Exhibition leads are 38% less expensive to close. Exhibition sales average only 1.6 calls to close. Exhibition leads are 31% less expensive to contact. Think ahead – that has to be your plan.
Exhibit Structure.
In order to attract attention you must give them some idea of what they stand to gain from visiting your trade show exhibit. Develop a clear, concise theme and allow this message to dictate the rest of the trade show exhibit design. Keep your largest graphical message simple. Don’t let exhibit technology scare or intimidate attendees away. The right trade show display means you’re catching attention from across the room. A display that colorfully highlights the key point of your message lets attendees know it’s worth their time to mosey over – meaning you get what you paid for to attend the show. Superior lighting and motion are extremely important to capture an attendee’s attention.
Pre-planning and Pre-marketing.
Be certain to send free Customer Invitations/Show Passes and Personalized Postcards to prospective attendees inviting them to your trade show exhibit. Send pre-show materials to your customers and prospects announcing what you will be showing in your booth. Create an incentive for customers and prospects to visit your exhibit. Personally call and have the entire sales team call customers before the trade show and invite them to visit your exhibit. Add trade show information to your website and social media.
Give Demonstrations.
Engaging attendees with a product demonstration is a great technique when done well. Remember to play to the back of the room. It’s easy for presenters to get sucked into only addressing the people in the front row. Involve the people in the back row, and it will have a wave effect of everybody getting involved. Using eye contact works. The presenter shouldn’t look over people’s heads. Get off the stage and into the audience. Touch someone’s shoulder, shake hands and read name tags to address people personally. All of this humanizes the presentation.
Keep in mind to ask qualifying questions of the trade show audience. The big benefit: staffers can use those qualifying questions and key in on people who have answered certain questions. Prospects are identifying themselves. If one of your key points is to show how simple something is to use, bring up someone from the audience to perform the demonstration or put it together. It’s a lot stronger than having the presenter do it.
Add a little technology by giving the audience electronic controllers to respond to questions. This will give immediate results that can be tabulated, analyzed and displayed via computer graphics. Instead of having just two contestants up on stage, everybody can play the game. Ask for immediate audience feedback. Simply have members acknowledge what you just said – such as, “Does this idea sound promising?” Hand-raising, shouting out answers or talking back – these response techniques all involve the audience.
Print Under-the-Door Flyers.
Print a flyer that entices trade show attendees to your booth (use trade show specials, promotional giveaways, live demos etc.). Contact the official show hotels to distribute these flyers under the doors of those hotel guests who are show attendees. You will need to get permission from show management prior to arranging this with show hotels and there will be a charge for delivery from the hotel.
Giveaways and Collecting Leads.
When handled correctly, trade show promotions increase trade show booth traffic, make upbeat impressions, mold relationships, and help potential clients remember you. Do it wrong and you easily can waste everyone’s time, ruin your trade show budget, and wear away your reputation. We deal with trade show exhibitors everyday and no matter what you tell them, some of them make the same repeated mistakes at every show.
Starting with the worst is to give away the cheapest giveaways possible. Investing in quality giveaways with your logo is so important – nothing sticks in someone’s head and equates your company faster than cheap, poorly made, tacky giveaways. Never just leave them in a big pile and let everyone grab them. What a waste of money for trade show exhibitors. Tie your company message or trade show theme into your giveaways. A lighted yo-yo is great – but can you apply it to your product or service? If not – forget it.
Take the time to construct a card with targeted questions to collect qualified leads for a giveaway. There has to be a reason to fill out a card that will have valuable answers to you and your sales team. To use a raffle effectively, do not get a big list of people and giveaway an iPad, a bicycle, a trip. Rather, get meaningful information from your trade show leads in exchange for a raffle ticket to win that prize. Always qualify the lead before giving anything away. Promotions are a powerful tool for trade show marketers, however only when used effectively after the show!
Follow-up After the Trade Show.
Don’t frustrate trade show attendees with the lack of follow up at trade shows, creating negative feelings. It goes without question that an attendee expects that if they have expressed an interest in their offering, the trade show exhibitor will follow up with them. When an exhibitor fails to follow up with you, they are missing an opportunity to make a sale and lowering their ROI at the show.
An exhibitor making the stretch to a 20’x20 island can come away from the trade show floor with impressive qualified leads. It’s important to meet all of the aforementioned criteria. You have spent the money and made the commitment; now see it all the way through. Next year you might even need a larger trade show exhibit space to accommodate all of your new clients.
