Companies have been using collateral at trade shows for years as a marketing technique.  How effective is this and what is it hurting?  Most collateral that is used at a trade show is thrown out.

Why is this?  Well, trade show attendees are walking by all of the booths and collecting collateral from the different companies exhibiting.  They take all of this information with the best intention to read it over, but because of busy schedules and large workloads, most of this material is simply thrown out.  The only hope is that your collateral stands out among the crowd, which leads to marketing departments spending additional time and money to do so.  Also, all of your extra collateral will most likely be thrown out because it will either cost more to ship it back than it would to reproduce it or the material is no longer relevant.  The amount of paper thrown out is staggering and is obviously not good for the environment.  What does this mean to you?  It means that if you use a lot of collateral at your trade shows you are wasting your marketing dollars and hurting the environment.

I’m not saying don’t use any collateral; however use it in a way that is more strategic and effective.  Here are some tips on effectively using collateral:

1^st Don’t have a large amount of collateral at the show.
Just have a little on hand for very “hot” leads.

2^nd If a lead asks for any marketing material, explain to them that your company has eliminated a lot of trade show collateral because so much was thrown away, and the company wanted to be more eco-friendly.

3^rd Explain to the lead that you will be sending the requested information to them through email and direct mail.  This way they don’t have to carry more stuff and you will follow-up with them to make sure they got the information the wanted and answer any questions.  “Is that ok?”  This qualifies the lead, provides you with contact information, and allows you to set up a follow-up phone call.

4^th Record the person’s information and what they would like to learn more about.  Make sure you verify all of the information.

What does this mean for you?  You are sending specific information to qualified trade show leads instead of just wasting money one useless collateral.

For more helpful trade show marketing advice, contact www.TMGExhibits.com

As we finish the spring trade show season, take the to think about a few things before we enter the fall trade show season. Are you maximizing your trade show INVESTMENT? As you can see, the key word here is investment. All too often companies do not have a significant return on their trade show exhibit investment. Why? Because they neglect to create a proper trade show exhibit strategy, which results in their trade shows becoming just a huge expense rather than a giant profit center. Here are three tips to help you with your strategy and help maximize your trade show return on investment.

1. Set goals & expectations:
Over the years as a trade show consultant, I have found that many companies go into exhibiting at trade show blindly, with little to no goals or expectations. Exhibiting merely for market visibility and because other companies are exhibiting, are not acceptable answers. The most important goal or expectation you should set pertains to qualified leads at the show. What type of person do you want to meet at the show and how many you should be able to stop? To answer this, create a lead criteria, so that you and your staff members understand what constitutes a QUALIFIED lead. After this, find out from the show organizers, how many of these leads will be attending the show or have in the past.

This will give you two things:

1. It will provide you the information needed to justify whether or not you should exhibit at the show.

2. It will give you an idea of how many potential leads there are, which gives you something to measure your results up against.

Note: Although in this economy trade show attendance is down, the attendees that do go to the shows are more qualified. This is because they are doing something right by being able to attend, and are most likely looking for opportunities.

2. Booth Attraction:
Once you have chosen the right trade show to exhibit at and determined how many qualified leads you would like to generate at the show, a new question arises. How do we get them in the booth? There are lead generators who specialize in attracting people to a booth; most typical are the booth models. Another option that is often used is the raffle, “Drop your card in the fishbowl for your chance to win!” Both of these methods can be effective or they can be another way to WASTE money. The reason they can be a waste of money is because they may not be attracting the right people. You don’t want to waste your time following up on unqualified leads. Two ways to make sure they are effective for you: 1. If you choose to use a lead generator, make sure they are good and do more than just attract people. A good lead generator will become educated on your business and what determines a qualified lead for you. This will allow them to filter through only the qualified leads to you. 2. If you use a raffle, raffle off something that only your qualified leads would want. This could be a product or maybe a discount on a product or service you offer? This way you know that anyone who enters the raffle is interested in your product, thus a qualified lead.

3. Booth Layout:
Your booth layout can attract or repel people. Have your booth laid out in a way that is open and inviting. If you have a table, put it in the back or on the side of the booth, never in the front as it can act as a barrier. Make sure your messaging in your booth is extremely clear and quickly sums up what you do. The messaging should also appeal to those qualified leads walking the isle.  Avoid chairs in the booth because you don’t want your staff to use them.  I understand working the trade show floor and standing for an extended period of time, but if you staff sits down, attendees are less likely to approach them.

Tip: In order to help with the comfort of spending a day on your feet, double up your socks, use the shoe gels for padding, and take a couple advil before the show. I have found these help.

Recap:
Don’t settle for “it was a good show because it paid for itself!” Maximize your Investment.

How? Set Expectations & create strategy on how you are going to reach them.

Happy exhibiting.

Recently I was at the Adtech trade show at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City with “Idea Launch,” one of our new clients.  While walking the show floor I noticed two very important things that all exhibitors should know!

1^st
There were quite a few people in the isles.  It was easy to notice that attendance was up!  This is a good sign to exhibitors as it shows that companies are starting to spend money and allowing their staff to attend trade shows.  Also, it is a positive sign to the economy because the companies are loosening their money belts to not only attend trade shows, but are looking to start buying again.

2^nd
When walking the isles checking out the different booths not only to see what the companies did, but also what their trade show strategies entailed.  While doing this I ran into quite a few exhibit booth models.
Companies’ will uses these trade show booth models to attract attendees to their booth, with hope that an increase of booth traffic leads to more leads and in turn more business.  This is also a good sign in the exhibit world as it shows that companies are also spending additional marketing dollars on these trade show booth models.

Has anyone else started to see this at any other trade shows?

Exhibiting at an international show can be a little tricky.  That’s why we want to give you 3 tips to put you on the road to a success!  To ensure an effective and efficient international trade show display, remember:

- Business Cards – should be printed on both sides, one side with a translation in the language of the targeted market.  Be sure to research and understand the host country’s customs and business etiquette practices before having the cards printed.

- Literature – Customers at international shows avoid taking excess paper.  Attendees prefer to have literature sent to their place of business instead.

- Exhibit Display Items – Avoid creating clutter in your booth. It is not necessary to bring “everything but the kitchen sink” to the show.  Limit your display items to new products and core products only.

I just went to an American Marketing Association Boston event yesterday on the importance of inbound marketing for companies.  It was said that the idea behind inbound marketing is to put out rich content that your qualified leads would be interested in.  This content is then put out through different channels of distribution such as your website, blog, facebook page, linkedin page, and short snips of this content on twitter.  The more rich and relevant the content is, the more valuable you appear to be to search engines as well as your potential clients.  In doing so, this helps your search engine optimization, which allows these qualified leads to find you over your competition and for you to stay in contact with these leads.

Hearing some of the comments from the inbound marketing experts got me thinking about how this can be applied to trade shows.

Your exhibit booth should follow many of these same guidelines:

1.  Clearly convey your message to attract people interested in what you do.

All too often I have walked trade show floors, looking at booths with absolutely no idea what they did.  Now I’m not saying you should have a paragraph of information on your booth walls, but you do need to come up with a clear and simple way to convey exactly what you do to the qualified attendees in under three seconds.

2.  Inbound marketing relies on the value of your content specific to your qualified leads.  In this process it filters through all of the people on the web and connects you to those interested in what you do.  At a trade show, exhibitors give away things of value to the attendees, but all too often what the exhibitors give away are not filtering through all of the attendees to find those interested in your services.  Who is interested in getting an ipod?  Everyone!  An ipod giveaway does not qualify any of these leads; however, if you give away something of specific value to your qualified leads, such as an extended trial of your services or helpful tips, it will help attract your qualified leads.

Be honest, does your trade show strategy consist of putting up a custom exhibit that looks great, and then your people just stand there all day?  Do your people actually know what to do?  Are you interested in cost conscious trade show training?  The Center for Exhibition Industry Research states that 85% of your trade show success is based on your people.

If you like to educate yourself while driving in the car, ExpoVantage has put out an audio learning program called Stop Burning Trade Show Dollars.  This is designed as a trade show training program that:

…offers a realistic and simple budget conscious approach for maximizing your trade show investment.

In typical fashion there is a cool video on the page that explains the program.

My insider information tells me this is a live recording from a seminar with 50+ attendees.  Is the information helpful as an exhibitor?  The attendees’ average rating was 9.5 out of 10.  Are the presenters organized and knowledgeable?  The attendees’ average rating was 9.7.

Here are some of the testimonials from the people attending:

“The ‘PEST’ and ‘HUG’ strategies provided instant dramatic results at NO COST!” -Darcy Cook, Safety Trainers

“…no nonsense and genuine approach…brief, concise and useful…” – Robin Samora, Partner Promotions

“The lessons from your seminar were critical factors in our trade show success.” – Expert Laser Services

What is the value of you gaining just one more qualified lead?  If you apply what is taught, I expect most will double their qualified leads.  Knowing Jason and the quality of his work, for $45, this is a steal.  Buy one for each of your team members.

Tell him I sent you.  After this big endorsement, he’s going to have to buy me lunch.