Most companies spend 90% of their tradeshow energy and budget on their tradeshow booth and what goes into it, and of course that’s fair. But just as important as what’s in your booth and on display is who comes to see it. And what you do about the people who do come.
Yet often the tradeshow promotion is an afterthought. When I was on the agency side I can’t count the number of times I got a call from the show coordinator two weeks before their show that went something like this:
"Hi, Bob, Uh, I have kind of a rush project for you—can you help me out here?"
"Sure, how can I help?”
"Well, first, we need to get the booth number into our show ad—by the way, do we have anything we can repurpose to run in the show issue? There’s not enough time to do a new ad anyway."So we work out the logistics of “repurposing” a corporate ad to go in the show issue—more often than not it’s totally irrelevant to the thrust of the show. A tradeshow is transactional—people come for a specific reason and they want to know what you have to support that reason. A corporate ad just doesn’t cut it in that environment.
Now my tradeshow client gets into the real reason she called. “Uh, Bob, the thing is we need to invite people to the booth. Is it too late for a mailer?”
Now I have to ask the tough questions. Can we use the show attendee’s list? Is there an email list as well as a snail-mail list? Do they have a giveaway in the booth? Do they have a postal permit? Are there any special show events their company is sponsoring? Have their salespeople notified prospects in the area that they will be at the show? Do they want the mailer personalized by sales person? If asked three months before the show, these questions are a piece of cake. If asked two weeks before the show, they’re daunting. The point is, the show promotion is often an afterthought. And it shouldn’t be.
Tradeshow Driver serves many purposes, but its main reason for being is so clients can make the tradeshow promotion easy—and automatic. We ask the “tough” questions early enough to take the difficulty right out of them. The show giveaway is part of our package, and we agree early what it will be. We secure the list early enough to permit our clients to mail bulk rather than first class. If the show list isn’t complete we have time to rent a prospect list and to version the promotion accordingly.
We use the format we have proven to work best—a format, by the way, that’s inexpensive to produce and easy for the prospect to retain in his/her show folder as a reminder to stop by the booth. The copy is straightforward and transactional, and the design is clean and clear. If there is a show event it is highlighted and the details are immediately obvious to the prospect. We have the time to find (or shoot) a photo of any show speakers. And each mailer and email has its unique personal url (PURL) that allows us to capture unique information about each prospect well in advance of the show. We have time to segment the audience using the statistics that are important to each show’s success. To profile the prospects along the buying continuum so each saleperson knows which approach to use in the followup.
By beginning the tradeshow promotion three months prior to the show, Tradeshow Driver has been able to double the traditional attendance. That’s right, we said double. That’s why we include not one but two pre-show promotions—one by mail and one by email. Both capture vital prospecting information that allows a salesperson to evaluate the prospect’s worth. That’s when we offer to use our telemarketing team to invite the prospect to a specific meeting at the booth or during the show.
None of this is rocket science, but for many companies it is difficult to pull off smoothly, without disrupting other show activities. Unless you call in Tradeshow Driver and leave the tradeshow driving…to us.
Next blog…Closing the loop—what to do after the show is over.
read more.
[RSS]
[ATOM]
[ATOM]
news and tips
Here in our weblog we'll share experiences of good (and scary) trade show programs, exhibits, lead generation devices, clever booth giveaways and sweepstakes, and analytic tricks and techniques of note and invite your thoughts and comments.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Promoting your tradeshow
Posted by Tradeshow Driver
at 2:40 PM
Comments: 0
Leave a Comment
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Tradeshow ROI
How do you figure out what a tradeshow is worth? Not a rare question. But for many of our clients there is no clear answer. Here are some typical responses...
But… And yes, it’s a big but. Now your CEO tells you to cut your show budget by 20%, and your gut feelings won’t cut it as a reason to hang in there. You need numbers.
One measure of the value of a show is of course the number of attendees you have. (Always assuming you can count them. Easy in a big show where badges are scanned or detected. A little harder in a regional show where your measure is business cards in a goldfish bowl.)
Another measure of a show is business you have actually converted from show prospects. This is certainly a solid number and if you can justify the show on that basis, no need to look further. For most clients, however, the business they can actually attribute to the show is a small fraction of what they believe the show is worth. This is because the show promotion attracts the attention of many customers who think about attending, or who send colleagues as a proxy, or who read about the show in the show daily publication—and act as a result of one of these stimuli—though it would be hard to prove.
Tradeshow Driver has a unique solution to this age-old problem: promote to your show prospects early enough to capture their data even if they never go near the actual show.
On the next touch, we remind them to look forward to the drawing and invite them to the booth. We call the responders to be sure they know what’s available at the booth and that they will be expected. Now they’re in the database as a show responder, and we can match sales to this group whether they actually go to the show or not. Either way, their sales are credited to the show ROI, and we have a great answer to the CEO when the question comes down from on high.
Sure beats, “Hamada-hamada-hamada!” read more.
- “We have no idea.”
- “We’re here because our competitors are here.”
- “This is the biggest show in our industry. Of course we’re here.”
- “We’ve had the largest booth in the show for thirty years. It would display weakness to reduce our presence here.”
One measure of the value of a show is of course the number of attendees you have. (Always assuming you can count them. Easy in a big show where badges are scanned or detected. A little harder in a regional show where your measure is business cards in a goldfish bowl.)
Another measure of a show is business you have actually converted from show prospects. This is certainly a solid number and if you can justify the show on that basis, no need to look further. For most clients, however, the business they can actually attribute to the show is a small fraction of what they believe the show is worth. This is because the show promotion attracts the attention of many customers who think about attending, or who send colleagues as a proxy, or who read about the show in the show daily publication—and act as a result of one of these stimuli—though it would be hard to prove.
Tradeshow Driver has a unique solution to this age-old problem: promote to your show prospects early enough to capture their data even if they never go near the actual show.
How do we accomplish this? We offer all prospects a chance to enter the show drawing for an iPod Touch (or equivalent prize) at least 8 weeks before the show. In return for their entry, we ask them to identify their areas of interest.
On the next touch, we remind them to look forward to the drawing and invite them to the booth. We call the responders to be sure they know what’s available at the booth and that they will be expected. Now they’re in the database as a show responder, and we can match sales to this group whether they actually go to the show or not. Either way, their sales are credited to the show ROI, and we have a great answer to the CEO when the question comes down from on high.
Sure beats, “Hamada-hamada-hamada!”
Posted by Tradeshow Driver
at 2:49 PM
Comments: 1
Leave a Comment
Articles
Archives
© 2008, Tradeshow Driver. All rights reserved.
135 Sully’s Trail, Suite 4 | Pittsford, New York 14534 | Contact Us | Sitemap