Trade Show Marketers Wear Many Hats.  Brand Manager is One of Them.

As a trade show manager you probably think of yourself as a lot of things: a project manager, a firefighter, a purchaser – even a babysitter.  But do you consider yourself a brand manager?  If not, you should!

I attend 20 or 30 shows a year.  I observe and I ask lots of questions.  One of my favorite questions to ask exhibitors is why they’re there.  I’m curious about their objectives because, ultimately, my role is to help achieve them.  The most common response: to get leads.  Trade shows are a great way to fill the sales funnel, so that’s no surprise.  What does surprise me is the complete absence of responses such as “To change attitudes among my target markets,” or “To increase the relevancy of my brand,” or “To accentuate the unique characteristics of my brand,” and so on.

Sure people tell me they’re there to increase brand awareness, but Awareness (recall and recognition) is just one component of total Brand Knowledge – an important building block of brand equity and value.  The other primary facet is Image (see Keller, Aaker and Young & Rubicam for starters), and I think it’s ignored way too often to the great detriment of many a trade show program!

Why Should You Care?

You have a trade show booth to rent, a show book to complete and flights to book, so why should you add another entrée to your Mexican-restaurant-sized plate?  Because you may be missing the perfect opportunity to significantly enhance the value of your brand and the amount of value you bring to your company!

Too often we confuse branding with marketing aesthetics (e.g., how nice our brochures look or whether our web site has flash), and brand management with making sure we’re consistent in our use of colors and logos.  These are, of course, important aspects of brand building, but branding and brand management is much more than that.  It’s an important business process, a system that has a measurable impact on the bottom line.  Increase the value of your brand and you will likely:

• Earn higher prices
• Reduce switching behavior
• Acquire preferred distributors
• Have more successful brand extensions

Why, then, do we focus most of our brand-oriented trade show objectives on merely building awareness?  It occurs to me that there is no better opportunity than a trade show to manage the Image aspect of Brand Knowledge, and, in so doing, to systematically manage your brand in a way that will create real value.

So How Do You Do It?

Before I share some thoughts on how you might go about it, let me start with what not to do.  Do not completely ignore passersby because you’re busy staring impertinently at attractive shoppers.  Do not engage in a knock-down, drag ‘em out fight with your significant other in your booth.  And please, oh please, do not fire up a Marlboro Light while staffing your booth!  Yes, I’ve seen all these things and more and they never cease to amaze me.  Suffice it to say that it’s important to select the right people to be your brand advocates in the midst of thousands of members of your target market.  Obvious, I know, but…

A trade show is an excellent way to move the Image dial in a positive direction.  So once you’ve decided to send people who care enough to go outside to smoke, consider this:  Image includes a number of variables that are strongly associated with brand equity (see K.L. Keller, Y&B’s Brand Asset Valuator and others), including:

• Your brand’s personality
• The promise your brand is expected to deliver
• Perception of quality
• How relevant your brand is to an individual or organization
• How believable your brand is
• Level of satisfaction
• How different your brand is from your competitors’

Indeed, Image is Everything!

In short, Image is about the types of associations (i.e., positive or negative, unique or not, relevant or irrelevant) your customer has relative to your brand and the strength of those associations.

How your target markets perceive your brand’s personality is crucial.  Personality enables potential buyers to link your brand with the image they have of themselves (or their company) and how they want others to perceive them.  Make a connection between brand and self image and you’ve created latent value that you can later extract.  How do your most important market segments – thousands of whom are walking the show floor – perceive your brand’s personality?  Is their perception right where you’d like it to be?  If so, couldn’t you bolster that strength at the show?  If not, isn’t your major trade show, with all the press and buying power present, the perfect opportunity to begin changing the perception?  Whether you’re a precision component manufacturer whose brand is witty and sophisticated, or a surf gear retailer who’s quirky and eccentric, making sure staffers understand acceptable themes, content and subject matter, desired behaviors, proper attire, etc. can go a long way in developing precisely the personality you’re aiming for.

Promises, Promises

Delivering on the promise your brand represents couldn’t be more important when it comes to building value and customer loyalty.  Are there promises you can make to attendees before the show that you can deliver upon at the show?  Can you make explicit or implicit promises at the show and deliver as part of your post-show process?   Whether your brand promise is to be the most durable or to provide the most fun, your trade show program can play an integral role in forging the one-to-one bonds that you need to build a strong brand.

Lastly, the impact that your trade show efforts can have on perceptions of quality should be blindingly clear, yet smokers, fighters and ogling creepers abound.  Whether you use banner stands or a double deck island exhibit, trade show marketing can be a significant investment and should be treated as such.  As part of your brand management system it’s an important strategic investment.  If your graphics are soiled or your prototypes are falling apart, you may be spending tens of thousands of dollars to move the dial in the wrong direction!  Conversely, if pre-show research indicates that perceived quality is less favorable than you’d like it to be, why not leverage the unique tactile and experiential power of trade shows to stage a side-by-side comparison of your product against a competitor’s, or a hands-on demonstration?  And, imagine the added credibility and increased cachet you’ll enjoy in your organization when you provide hard data showing that your program has enhanced perceived quality!

Is brand management a key aspect of your trade show program?  If so, or if you have additional insights on how to align trade show marketing with brand management, we’d like to hear from you!

Is brand management part of your job?  What else is? Learn more about how your job compares to your peers by getting your own copy of The Evolving Role Of Exhibit Marketers, the new 36-page White Paper from Skyline Exhibits and Tradeshow Week Magazine.  Get your free copy by clicking here now.

I know trade shows are expensive, and that they are harder than they were back in the glory days of the 80s and 90s.  I know it takes a consistent, coordinated effort to get good results, and requires time away from home.  But guess what – all marketing is hard, and has gotten harder, too:

Search Engine Marketing
Aiming to beat Google at its own game and get your company listed higher in search engine results?  While it’s not brain surgery, it’s close.  Doing it yourself is more than a full time job.  Or you could hire an SEO expert to improve your search results, but they may be basing their methods on what was successful last year or even years ago.  That’s because Google and their ilk hide how they rank websites, and to keep it really interesting, change their formula at will.

Print Advertising
You want to build your brand and generate leads with ads in trade magazines and business publications?  At least you will have fewer competitors, as many business marketers have fled print ads because of their lack of interactivity, engagement, and provable results.   Print readership has diminished in favor of websites, and print media’s online versions have further competition from bloggers.

Telemarketing
Trying to telemarket your way into lead generation heaven?  It’s tough to reach those pearly gates when Whitefang the gatekeeper screens your calls, if the target isn’t screening them herself with caller ID and voicemail.  Once you do get the elusive prospect on the phone, they are offended you are taking them away from their overloaded work day to try to sell them something.  And hang up on you.

Direct Mail Marketing
With higher postage and printing costs, you can no longer afford to profitably mail large quantities to drive large numbers of leads.  You can still mail profitably – but only by narrowing your list down to the best prospects.  Try for greater reach and watch your response rates plunge, because recipients now focus their attention on their ever-overflowing email inbox.

Email Marketing.
Email marketing offers great reach at a low, low price.  However, that low cost to entry fuels a barrage of email, email, email into recipients’ inbox.  Prospects tune out even the most enticing messages, if their I.S. departments haven’t already set up filters to screen them for them.  Response rates have plunged to a fraction of a percent.

Social Media Marketing
Learning the ropes on social media?  It’s easy to set up a blog, and accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.  It’s much harder to gather a following, and then get them to take meaningful action that creates business opportunities.  You’ve got to completely retool your marketing methods, because old school push marketing backfires here.  And once you think you’ve got a handle on social media, just like Internet marketing, it changes.

So the next time you find yourself a bit down because of the effort to market your company at trade shows, remember that at trade shows your buyer actually pays to travel to meet you in your trade show display, to see how you can solve their problems, and to lay their hands on your product.  There’s no ranking formula to unravel, no voicemail to curse, no wastebasket to catch your mailer, no spam filter to avoid triggering.  It’s just people meeting face to face.  That’s not so hard after all.

Want to make your trade show marketing easier? Click here to get your free 32-page What’s Working In Trade Show Marketing White Paper, filled with insights into proven methods for boosting your results and stretching your budget.

The Value Of Trade Shows Increases With A Plan
Business-to-business marketers actually invest more money on trade shows than any other marketing medium.  That’s because trade shows give greater access and influence on buyers that cannot be replicated in anywhere else.

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) revealed the following about trade shows:

• 88% of attendees have not been seen by a member of your company’s sales staff in the preceding 12 months
• Seven out of ten attendees plan to buy one or more products
• 76% asked for quotes and 26% signed purchase orders (average all shows)
• 72% of show visitors say the show influenced their buying decision
• 87% of attendees will share some of the information obtained at an exhibition
• 64% of attendees tell at least 6 other people about the event
• 58% attend only the show in which you are exhibiting
• 40% are first-time attendees
• It costs 22% less to contact a potential buyer at a show than it does through traditional field sales calls

However, while trade shows are worthwhile, they are not easy.  To get the most out of trade shows, exhibit marketers set measurable objectives, pick good shows, design effective exhibits, and more.  Read on to discover the main elements of a successful trade show marketing program.

1.  Setting Objectives and Measurable Results
The first step in planning your trade show success is to set effective and realistic trade show objectives and measurements for them.  Effectively planning your show’s objectives allows the rest of your show to fall into place.  Choosing the right measurement tools enables you to draw the correct conclusions following your trade show performance. 

The first question to ask is the most basic:  Why are you exhibiting?  While most go to generate leads and build awareness of their brand or products, many also exhibit to build relationships or introduce new products.

Once you know the reason you are exhibiting, set objectives based on them that you can measure – and then measure and report them.  Measurable objectives range from simple lead counts (200 leads at the XYZ Show) to Return On Investment goals (Generate $10 in sales for every $1 spent exhibiting at the XYZ Show). 

2.  Budgeting: Planning saves you time and money
Exhibiting can be complex.  A large part of that challenge is identifying how much to budget for related services.  The easiest way to estimate your overall budget for exhibiting at a show is to take the cost to rent the exhibit space, and multiply it by three.  So if renting a 10 foot by 10 foot exhibit at a show costs $2,000, then the overall show costs are usually about $6,000.

The biggest expenditures after booth space is staffer’s travel, hotel, and meal costs, show services such as installation and dismantle, the cost to build or rent your exhibit, and shipping. 

A large portion of show services costs is called drayage, which is the cost to bring your exhibit and crates from outside the show hall to your exhibit space.  Sometimes it can even be as expensive as the cost to ship your exhibit from your city to the show.  The trend for exhibitors is towards lighter weight, more custom modular exhibits that lower costs like shipping and drayage. 

Planning avoids rush charges and lets you figure out how to do the most shows with the fewest exhibit properties.

3.  Select The Right Trade Shows
With over 13,000 trade shows, conferences, expositions, private and business-to-business events in North America, featuring 1.5 million exhibiting companies vying for the attention of over 80 million attendees, it can be daunting to select where your efforts are best spent. However, there is a method to help you find the best opportunities to market your organization at trade shows.

To start, select the shows you want to exhibit at only after you have set your trade show objectives.  Then dig in to do some serious background research.  The best bet is to look at the trade shows in your industry and carefully weigh the options.  Talk to your fellow employees — what shows have worked in the past?  Where do sales people see the customer’s needs leaning?  Look at who is going to be there.  Talk to your current and prospective customers — is this a show they will be attending?  While you may exhibit well at your large industry show, also consider smaller shows that have a higher proportion of people likely to be interested in your products or services.  You can find shows online to pick from at www.tsnn.com.  Also consider exhibiting internationally.

4.  Space Selection: Where and How Big?
The average trade show has over 400 exhibitors, so how do you choose the best booth space for you?  Most shows give space-picking priority to the exhibitors who have been with them the longest.  Yet some studies have found that where you are in the show hall has no effect on the amount of audience you receive to your booth.  For every veteran exhibitor that requires a space in the center of the action, or at the front entrance to the hall, or near their biggest competitor, there are veteran exhibitors who flee from the same locations.  All the same, the size of your booth space is a very important decision, where you must weigh the need to stand out from your competitors with a large booth, and yet having enough budget to exhibit at all the worthwhile shows for your company.

5.  Trade Show Exhibit Design:  Make Your Exhibit a Marketing Tool
Why does exhibit design matter?  Because well-designed trade show booths are so effective at cutting through the trade show clutter and getting your message to your target audience.  The average trade show attendee will spend 7 to 8 hours on the floor over a period of 2 to 3 days visiting an average of 25-31 exhibits.  This leaves 5 to 15 minutes per visit – just 5 to 15 minutes to make a lasting impression that will give you an edge over the competition.

Create an exhibit that works as a true marketing tool.  Make sure your exhibit graphics say who you are, what you do, and what is your benefit to prospects.  When you state those clearly, and with bold inviting graphics, you’ll bring in more visitors – and more qualified visitors.

Your exhibit is more than a three-dimensional ad.  It’s actually a temporary workspace, filled with booth staffers there for hours or days, and visitors there for just a few minutes.  Increase productivity by giving them enough space to work in, and by designing around their needs, be it for gathering leads, demonstrating product, meeting with key people, or storing their personal items.

6.  Get More Traffic With Trade Show Promotions
Trade show promotions are the secret weapon of the veteran trade show manager.  That’s because, when done right, trade show promotions work so well.

Consider these two items:

1. The average trade show has over 400 exhibitors, where the average attendee will visit about 21 exhibits, and that average attendee walks into the show with a list of 75% of the exhibits he/she wants to see. That means you have to get on their dance card before the show.
2. You can boost your trade show lead counts by 33% with trade show promotions – even thought they require a much smaller percentage of your budget.

So, trade show promotions are money well spent.  Pre-show promotions are the things you do before the show to make attendees want to visit your booth.  At-show promotions are the activities and trade show giveaway items you do during the show to bring in more attendees into your exhibit. 

Just be sure to pick promotions that bring in your desired target audience, not just anyone at the show.  And don’t just give things away – get information about prospects in exchange that will help you qualify and prioritize your leads.

7.  Train Your Booth Staff So They’re Comfortable At Shows
85% of the positive feelings visitors have are due to the staff.  Your booth staff is responsible for drawing in your customers, effectively engaging them and creating leads.  Because of this, it is important that you select the most effective staffers that your company has to offer.  If they are sales people, you have to train them to adapt their selling style to the trade show floor.  If they are not salespeople, guess what – they can still do extremely well, given the proper preparation.

Trade show staffing is uncomfortable for almost everyone at first.  You will give your booth staffer greater comfort and confidence by training them to understand and follow a 4-step booth staffing process:

1. Engage: 30 seconds
Start the process by stopping attendees.  Prepare and practice questions that won’t get a yes or no answer.

2. Qualify: 2 minutes
Determine if the prospect is worth presenting to … and what to present.

3. Present: 5 to 8 minutes
Demo on just the prospect’s needs, not everything you know. Prepare for common objections and questions.

4. Close: 1 minute
Lead card complete? Agree on the next step and go on to the next lead!

8.  Lead Management, Not Lead Neglect
Astoundingly, almost 80% of leads generated are never followed, according to CEIR.  Rather than sending your hard-fought trade show leads into the abyss, strive to be part of the elite 20% that actually follow up on their leads!  We’ve heard horror stories of exhibits pulled out of storage to prepare for a show – only to find the leads from the previous show still packed with their trade show booth.  What a tragedy! 

Rather than just sending a business card from the prospect on to your field sales reps, provide and train your staffers to use a lead card.  It’s a half sheet of paper that has check boxes to the most common qualifying questions, and room for notes about what the attendee said in your booth.  Your sales reps will be much more likely to follow up on a lead when they know what to say, and that it’s worth the call. 

Also, think of your first day back from the show as the last day of the show.  Have your lead fulfillment packages prepared ahead of time, so you can send your responses right away. 

9.  Measuring Results Improves Future Performance
Once you return from a trade show it is important to measure its success.  Why?  Because while trade shows are a great marketing medium, you still have to prove the value of your individual program.  This information can be used to report to management the effectiveness of the show and to improve exhibit performance for future shows.  Success can be measured by simple lead counts, or better yet, by the return on investment, or whatever objectives you set when you started your trade show program.  

By tracking your results from show to show, you can make informed decisions about which shows to continue, expand, contract, or cut.  And when you are armed with data proving the value of your overall trade show program, you can maintain – and even expand – your trade show marketing efforts.

Step Up Your Trade Show Marketing
That’s a lot of ground to cover in just one blog post.  But it’s a good plan to strengthen your trade show marketing, all in one place.  I hope it helps you boost your results out of trade shows, whether you are looking for more leads, better relationships, a stronger brand, or simply sales, sales, sales.  As always, share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Want more ways to improve your trade show marketing?  Click here to get your free 32-page What’s Working In Trade Show Marketing White Paper to give you insights into proven methods for boosting your results and stretching your budget.

For most exhibitors, lead generation is their #1 reason for exhibiting at trade shows.  Exhibit marketers want leads to replenish their sales pipeline, bring in new and repeat customers, and generate sales revenue. 

So to help stoke the lead generation fires, here are 100 ideas to get you more leads at your upcoming trade shows, divvied up among 5 main areas: 

Get more trade show leads by how you select shows

1. Go to more trade shows outside your local region
2. Go to more trade shows, in your best vertical markets
3. Go to more trade shows, in foreign countries
4. Go to fewer trade shows, but put more effort into booth staff preparation and promotions for each remaining show
5. Exhibit at trade shows where your buyers are
6. Track leads to determine and expand in the shows with the best ROI
7. Evolve show selection to match changes in company’s best vertical markets

 Get more trade show leads with your exhibit design

8. Get a bigger booth
9. Get a booth space closer to the hub of traffic, or by a bigger competitor
10. Get a corner booth space
11. Backlight your trade show display graphics
12. Design your exhibit to more boldly and clearly say why attendees will benefit from working with you
13. Put fewer elements on your exhibit, but make the remaining images and messages bigger and more concise
14. Use graphics with images and benefits that appeal more directly to attendees at your vertical market shows
15. Put benefit statements on your trade show exhibit graphics
16. Replace your tired old display with a new trade show exhibit
17. Make your exhibit architecture more inviting to enter
18. Pick more exciting colors on your exhibit
19. Bring fewer products, such as only your most popular products, to minimize clutter
20. Get a taller exhibit
21. Add more lighting
22. Put messages on your flooring
23. Avoid an exhibit that looks like everyone else
24. Keep your booth neat and clean throughout the show
25. Move interesting equipment and technology to the outside of the booth
26. Use a theme that gets attention and memorably ties into your competitive advantage or offering
27. Match your exhibit message to your other marketing materials

Get more trade show leads with pre-show promotions

28. Send an inexpensive postcard offering a free gift in your trade show booth
29. Run a banner ad on the show website
30. Send a pre-show email blast to your clients and top prospects located close to the show location
31. Put stickers with booth location and show info on all outgoing mail
32. Email invitation to a pre-show microsite with targeted messages and offers
33. Have your sales people invite their prospects to visit your booth and set up meetings in advance
34. Send an email invitation to the show’s pre-registered attendee list for this year, and the registered attendee list from last year
35. Use social media to reach more attendees
36. Send half of something of value to attendees before the show, and promise to give the other half in your booth
37. Contact your industry press and tell them about the innovative new product you will be introducing at the show
38. Put your booth number on all your pre-show promotions: email, mail, ads, website
39. Design more creative and compelling pre-show promotions to cut through the mailbox clutter
40. Invite top prospects to lunch or dinner at the show
41. Send a pre-show promotion offering a more valuable gift in the booth, but not to the entire list, but only to the subset of show attendees that match your target audience
42. Send free tickets to the trade show to clients and best prospects
43. Post your trade show schedule on your website with a link to sign up for appointments
44. Ask the show for additional promotional opportunities

Get more trade show leads with at-show promotions and activities

45. Introduce a new product at the trade show
46. Add motion to your exhibit
47. Offer food, especially if it smells good, like baking cookies
48. Offer drinks to your booth visitors
49. Give your attendees something entertaining and fun to do
50. Do an engaging demo in your booth
51. Get your client to hold your product
52. Go beyond sight to appeal to attendees’ sense of smell, sound, taste, and touch
53. Add interactivity
54. Run presentations or video loops on large video monitors
55. Offer healthy food, not just candy
56. Put out a candy or chocolate dish to slow down attendees long enough to engage them
57. Offer in-booth massages
58. Give a free sample of your product
59. Give a free sample of a product made with your product
60. Hire a celebrity for your booth, where the celebrity is popular with your target audience at the show
61. Hire a celebrity lookalike for your booth, where the celebrity is popular with your target audience at the show
62. Giveaway something useful to your target audience
63. Hire a performer, such as a magician, to attract attention to your booth
64. Have a raffle, sweepstakes, money machine or a game
65. Hold a press conference if you have newsworthy news
66. Sponsor something highly visible at the show
67. Have a contest for attendees in your booth
68. Get signage in the show hall promoting your booth presence
69. Offer a show special or discount
70. Get someone from your company to be a speaker at the show
71. Give presentations or educational sessions in your booth
72. Do door drops that target only show attendees at their hotel rooms
73. Pay to include an invite or a gift in the official show bag each attendee gets
74. Put an ad in the show book
75. Brand your staffers with outfits or similar attire
76. Offer one really big prize (worth thousands of dollars) to get more attention

Get more trade show leads with better booth staffing

77. Bring more booth staffers
78. Bring booth staffers who actually want to be there
79. Hold a contest to reward the staffers who take the highest quantity of qualified leads
80. Leave your wallflowers at home
81. Train your booth staff how to work a trade show booth
82. Communicate to your staff the company’s goals and your expectations of them in the booth
83. Don’t use booth staffing as a training ground for brand-new employees
84. Ask visitors open-ended questions and listen to their answers
85. Get faster at recording each lead by not writing down every visitor’s name and address, but instead using a badge scanner
86. Have enough badge scanners to avoid lines with your booth staffers in busy times
87. Bring crowd gatherers (not booth babes)
88. Smile
89. Keep your booth staffers fresh by giving them regular breaks
90. Learn to more quickly disengage with unqualified attendees
91. Thoroughly train your booth staffers on the new products you are introducing at the show or just introduced recently
92. Make friends with your neighboring exhibitors, and refer attendees back and forth
93. Bring your top management to booth staff, and tell attendees they will be there
94. Get staffers out of the bowels of your booth and out to the edge of the aisle
95. Don’t sit down in your booth, unless you are talking with visitors
96. Don’t hide behind tables
97. Instead of giving away literature, offer to mail it to attendees, and get their contact info
98. Prepare your booth staffers with several good engaging questions
99. Arm your booth staffers with answers to common objections
100. Train your booth staffers to know your products and how they solve your clients’ problems

Which of these 100 ideas will you choose?  Perhaps you are already doing several yourselves.  Some can be combined to be used simultaneously.  It’s a long list, and there’s no way anyone can do all 100.  Some of them even contradict each other. 

Yet as Bob Milam advises, while knowing a lot of tactics is useful, knowing which tactics to use and when to use them is even more useful.  Determine your strategy first, then choose among these trade show tactics the most appropriate ones to support your strategy and generate more leads. 

Also, while I’ve listed many tactics to get more leads, of course you need to also strive for getting higher quality leads.  And if you can do both, go to the head of the class.

While 100 is a big list, it’s certainly not everything.  Please share your own tips for generating more leads at trade shows in the comment box below.

Want to learn more ways to boost your trade show lead counts?  Click here to get your free 32-page What’s Working In Trade Show Marketing White Paper to give you insights into proven methods for boosting your results and stretching your budget. ]]> http://www.skylinetradeshowtips.com/100-trade-show-lead-generation-ideas/feed/ 10 http://www.skylinetradeshowtips.com/6-steps-to-restarting-your-trade-show-program/ http://www.skylinetradeshowtips.com/6-steps-to-restarting-your-trade-show-program/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:05:42 +0000 Mike Thimmesch http://www.skylinetradeshowtips.com/?p=1579

It’s been two years since economic turmoil spooked your management and they shut down or pulled back your trade show program to conserve cash.  But things are different now.  The economy is looking up, shows are getting more attendees, and exhibitors are reporting increasing numbers of interested prospects visiting their trade show displays.

That resurgence has you itching to get back into trade shows, to get face-to-face with hundreds, even thousands of prospects.  And since those prospects are also getting their budgets unfrozen, they’re eager to meet you, too.

But before you jump back in, don’t just dust off your 2008 plan.  So much has happened since then to your customers, and in your company, your trade shows, your industry, and the economy.  Instead, get a clean sheet of paper, grab a pencil, and consider these 6 points:

1.  Revised Marketing Objectives
Check to see if the marketing objectives that drove your old trade show program are still appropriate.  Are your marketing goals now focused on retaining clients, or were your clients so disproportionately hurt by the downturn that you’re targeting new customers now?  Do you have to build distribution or increase awareness in a stronger market you’re now expanding into?  Do you lack new products ready to launch, so you’ve got to take a different tack in your trade show booth?  If any of this rings true with you, go back to square one.  Huddle with your management team and determine your revamped goals for exhibiting, so you can adjust the rest of your trade show program.

2.  Revamped Trade Show Selection
While adjusting to the downturn, your company may have remade itself.  It could have retreated to its core market, or shifted its resources to focus on the stronger remaining markets.  Thus, some shows on your old schedule are unnecessary, and perhaps some new shows should be sought out.  Plus, the downturn affected show owners unequally.  You need to determine which shows are still strong, and have the resources to invest in bringing in and engaging attendees.  Also consider which shows you will choose if your budget is only partially restored.  And finally, if you are in the United States, consider trying more international trade shows, because emerging markets are growing twice as fast as the U.S.

3.  Reshaped Budget
Is your trade show budget completely restored, or only partially?  Even if you get it all back, you may wish to adjust how it’s spent based on the shows you keep and add, the size booth you need to meet your marketing goals, how beat-up or off-message your current trade show exhibit is, and how you’ll invest in promotions in this new era of social media.  And while you may be asked to bring fewer booth staffers, remember that you simply can’t take as many leads without the booth staffers to take them.

4.  Reinvigorated Exhibit Design
Based on your updated marketing objectives, recalibrated show selection, and revised budget, you may need to change your booth’s size, its marketing message, and even its shape (so its architecture better supports your new goals).  So pulling your old trade show display off the shelf may be counter-productive.  It might be time to look at getting a new trade show exhibit that better represents the new company you have evolved into. 

5.  Rebuilt Booth Staffing
Take a look at the desks around yours.  Is the entire crack team of booth staffers you once took to trade shows still intact?  Or were some of your best booth staffers “right sized” right out the door?  If so, you need to go on a recruiting mission to rebuild your team.  Your best bet?  Ask your remaining ace veterans who they’d choose.  They’ll know the like-minded candidates who have the right attitude, knowledge, and work ethic to best represent you on the show floor.

6. Reshaped Promotions
In the last two years, social media has reshaped the marketing world.  To what extent social media has taken hold in your target market will guide how much you need to shift your promotional activity into social media.  You may find you can get the same results reaching out to show attendees via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn than you can with emails, directory ads, and post card mailers.  You won’t know until you try. 

As marketers, we are not living in the same world we had before the downturn.  So you can’t go back to the same old trade show program you used to run.  I hope this gives you some ideas on how to not only restart, but even revitalize your trade show program as well.

Get more ideas on restarting your trade show program from the 32-page white paper, What’s Working In Exhibiting.  This free report shares insights from exhibitors on how they’ve increased results and stretched their budgets.  Click here now to get your own copy.

How would you help marketers and sales people work in tandem more seamlessly during a trade show?

That’s the question Ardath Albee recently asked when commenting on another blog post I’d written.  It’s a good question, as the economic hardships of the last couple of years have accelerated the need for sales and marketing teams to better cooperate.   Wouldn’t you like a little less rumble and a little more kumbaya between your sales and marketing?

Here are some ideas about what you can do before, during, and after a trade show to help your sales and marketing players become a more cohesive team. 

Before the trade show:

• Set and communicate the show goals, which include both sales and marketing metrics, like number of leads, sales revenue generated, new product introductions, and increased brand awareness, so both groups see they have strong reasons for ensuring success
• Ask sales what information they want gathered from booth visitors at the show, and get that on the lead card, so they feel valued
• Work together to set in-booth appointments before the show
• Train both sales and marketing how to work a trade show booth, so they are less nervous and less likely to turn on each other
• Take them out to dinner the night before the show to get them acquainted or reunited with each other

Just before the trade show:

• Let each staffer introduce themselves to the booth staff team, and tell what they want to get out of staffing at the show
• Tell your sales and marketing people that it’s okay to ask each other for help with booth visitor questions they don’t know the answer to (pricing, new product info, etc.)
• Re-emphasize that each booth staffer needs to record what booth visitors were interested in, and what follow up was promised, so the sales person who receives the lead can make a good follow up phone call
• In the rush before the show opens, be sure to treat the sales and marketing people equally — don’t ask the marketing assistant to load up the staplers, but treat the sales director as a visiting dignitary

In your trade show display during show floor hours:

• Try to balance the number of sales and marketing people on each trade show booth staffing shift
• Casually mention to a marketing person on the booth staff team when a sales person gets a great lead, and likewise, tell a sales person when a marketing booth staffer gets a great lead
• Hold sales and marketing booth staffers equally accountable during show hours — if a marketing manager hides behind a table or a top sales performer only chats with his neighbor, coach them with the same level of urgency

After the trade show:

• Report to the booth staffers how they all either achieved or did not achieve the show goals — let them know how sales and marketing performed as a team
• Share anecdotes from the booth staffers, such as when a sales person spoke with a prospect who liked your new branding, or a marketing person who heard from a client how much they value their sales person’s customer service skills

While you would expect the at-show activities to matter most, I think what you do before the show is the most effective.  And reporting results after the show helps solidify gains made for the next show.

Do you need to do all this at every show?  That depends on how wide the gap is between your sales and marketing teams.  But if you employ some of these tactics, you may find that the gap between your sales and marketing groups gets smaller, while the results you create together get bigger. 

How have you built stronger sales and marketing teams at trade shows?  Let us know in the comment box below.

You can make both your sales and marketing teams happier by boosting your trade show results.  Click here to get your free copy of the 32-page White Paper, What’s Working in Exhibiting, which reveals best practices in improving results, stretching budgets, lead management, promotions, exhibit design, and more.

This blog post originally appeared on www.b2bbloggers.com as a guest post.  I wanted to share this with my readers as well.  Thanks to Jeremy Victor for letting this article first appear on his excellent blog site.

Like many marketers I am hard-wired to look for emerging trends.  I’ve read about or observed key trends affecting B2B marketers, and more about trade show trends, but I’ve yet to read anything that summarizes how current B2B trends affect trade show marketers.

Why look for the overlap between B2B marketing and trade show trends?  Because trade shows represent the single largest marketing expenditure for B2B marketers.  For some companies, trade shows are central to their B2B marketing.

So here are seven B2B marketing trends, and some ideas on how trade show marketers can take advantage of them:

1.  Economic recovery: With US GDP growth of 5.7% in the 4^th quarter of 2009 (the fastest rate in six years), B2B marketers are getting off their heels and onto their toes, as prolonged uncertainty gradually shifts towards resurging ambition.  Marketers don’t just want to conserve cash; they want to make an impact.

“The extreme cost-cutting of the past has led to a big rebound in corporate profits, so businesses will start to compete for market share, said Frank Chow, chief economist for Trade Show Executive magazine.  To look like a leader at trade shows, B2B marketers are getting new graphics to promote their more ambitious marketing messages, or finally replacing the entire worn-out trade show display they had been holding onto.  But they are cautiously spending even in their ambition, choosing lighter weight portable and modular exhibits, and renting exhibits more often than before the downturn.

2.  Change in the sales cycle. Until about 10 years ago, when a B2B buyer needed product information, they had to ask potential vendors’ sales people. That put the sales people in control of the sales cycle.  But now, buyers know they are in control, because they have so much product info instantly available just by searching Google.  The recent downturn gave any actual buyers even more clout.  Buyers can wait later and later until they contact the sales rep.

This places even greater value on trade shows, as when a prospect meets you at the show, they’ve already learned about your products on the internet, and want to check out your people.  Plus, at a show you finally get face-to-face access to the buyer that your salesperson is having a harder time getting an appointment with.

3.  Marketing Automation: With B2B salespeople losing access to their prospects in favor of the Internet, marketing automation software such as Eloqua, Marketo, Genius, Manticore, and Silverpop has gained popularity as a means to keep tabs on and develop top prospects.

For trade show marketers, if your company introduces a marketing automation platform, you will need to learn how to record leads at show so they seamlessly enter into the marketing automation program.  Even better, be able to tap into the lead scoring system at a show, so when a top prospect enters your booth, you can identify their value, and take appropriate action, such as introducing them to a top company officer, or bring them to a conference room for a longer discussion.  Also consider how lead nurturing drip campaigns can include your pre-show invitations and post-show follow up messages.

4.  Growth Internationally:  United States companies that want to grow are looking more at exports to achieve that growth.  Recently President Obama even set a goal of doubling U.S. exports over the next five years.  No wonder — according to the World Bank, GDP in developing countries is expected to grow 5.2 percent in 2010 and 5.8 percent in 2011, while GDP in the USA is only expected to grow about half that.

U.S. manufacturers looking to increase exports can get an easier start by exhibiting at international trade shows, either on their own, or within a U.S. pavilion at the foreign show.  Even if they don’t exhibit abroad, U.S. exhibitors can get started or expand exports by paying more attention to international visitors in their booths.

5.  Greater Sales and Marketing Integration.  The economic downturn put even greater emphasis on the need for marketing to better drive sales.  There just isn’t any more leeway for lost revenue and profits from friction and miscommunication between sales and marketing.  Marketing must provide the sales force with tools for every step of the sales cycle, and deliver leads that sales values and will follow-up on.  They become one team with a common goal.  Companies that embrace this partnership are more likely to succeed.

There is no greater example of this than at trade shows, where sales and marketing literally work side-by-side.  In the booth, marketing people have to act more like sales people, and sales people have to be willing to help generate leads for outside their territory.  That teamwork at trade shows builds stronger relationships between sales and marketing.

6.  Social Media: Social media growth has been one of the most high-profile trends affecting business marketers.  More and more B2B marketers have learned to take advantage of social media sites like Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook to extend their brand reach, communicate with customers, build communities, and generate sales leads.

Those same social media tools are becoming more useful to trade show marketers.  Whether it’s posting on YouTube a video interview with a client in their exhibit, or sending a tweet during show hours to announce a drawing in their booth, business marketers will more fully integrate their pre-show, at-show, and post-show promotions with their company’s social media programs.  Also consider that your popular company blogger may now be a good draw in your trade show booth and that your bloggers could get similar treatment as your industry press as an attendee

7.  Increased Use of Mobile: As more and more people carry their computer in their pocket, growth in mobile marketing is expected to grow 43% in 2010 according to Forrester Research, much faster than established B2B marketing mediums.  While some marketers are starting by ensuring their websites and blogs view well on mobile devices, others are taking advantage of the location-aware nature of mobile devices to create greater relevance and interactivity in their marketing.

For trade show marketers, mobile devices mean that trade show attendees don’t have to lug a laptop around the show to receive and act on their Twitter and email at-show promotions. Some trade shows are using apps that replace, even surpass the printed show book, with a scheduler, venue city info, and more.  Also, new lead management systems are now available that can be run on mobile devices rather than show-specific systems.  And audience polling apps can be used on mobile devices for greater interactivity, be it in their booth or at conference seminar sessions.

Marketers who exhibit at trade shows control a huge portion of B2B marketing budgets.  While other marketing areas appear to be undergoing more rapid change, trade show marketers are also affected and need to remain aware of how to adjust and adapt to these trends.

Do you have other ideas on how trade show marketers can adapt to these 7 B2B marketing trends?  Or have you noticed other B2B marketing trends you feel are more important to them?  Please share your insights in the comment box below.

Learn more proven trade show marketing strategies.  Click here to get your free copy of the 16-page Successful Exhibiting Strategies White Paper, which demonstrates the value of trade shows and gives 17 proven strategies to get better results.

We recently hosted a seminar in Columbus, Ohio on social media and trade shows, and I wanted to share some interesting tips we learned from our panel of four social media experts.  I’ll write one tidbit I learned from each member of the panel and then you can click on each link below to see a short video clip from each panelist giving you their own tip in person (turn up your sound to hear them better!).

24/7 Interactive
Will Burris
will@247interactive.com

Will kicked off our seminar by discussing social media strategies.  He mentioned that in our networked age “sitting on the sidelines is not optional” and that we must strive to find value with all new technology.  Will went on to present 6 Focal Points for the new digital age and related each one to pre-show, at-show and post-show marketing.

In Focal Point #1 of Will’s presentation (Information), he recommends creating a Wikipedia article, Slideshare presentation, or blog post before the show and sending it to your network of contacts and to the show attendee list.  Next, set up a contest where whoever can get your article or presentation re-tweeted at least three times can come to your booth to claim a prize for helping you spread your message.  This is a unique twist on pre-show marketing with a social media flavor!

See all of Will’s presentation, including his other 5 points, here.

Hear Will in person talk about getting engaged with technology in this short video clip: 

Virtual Partner
Tiffany Odutoye
www.virtualpartner.biz

Tiffany focused her presentation on mobile media imploring that “the future is now” in mobile technology.   Tiffany demonstrated that we can use a company called Poll Everywhere to receive instant feedback through the use of our cell phones.  At the seminar, Tiffany had the audience either text or reply on Twitter to the question, “How helpful was this training session?”  We received instant feedback in real time (there were four multiple choice answers that could be responded to) and we were relieved when the instant poll showed favorable results for our seminar!

Connect live audience polling to trade show marketing and you can understand how amazing it would be to be able to receive immediate feedback at your trade show exhibit during the show.  How about providing one or two questions to booth attendees which ask them to reply to questions such as:  “What did you think about our new product introduction?” or “Tell me which product you saw in the booth today interested you the most?”  A simple take away card with a couple of questions and instructions about how they can quickly text or reply on Twitter to your questions might create the best feedback of your entire show… and it would be immediate.

Learn more about Poll Everywhere:  http://www.polleverywhere.com/

See all of Tiffany’s presentation by clicking here.

Hear another tip from Tiffany about remembering what matters most in this short video clip: 

Social Business Strategies
Nate Riggs
www.nateriggs.com

Nate discussed ten ways we can use social media in our trade show marketing efforts.  His tip #1 was to use Flowtown to locate show attendee profiles.  Nate explained that this web based tool allows you to enter email addresses for prospective attendees and then receive a list of all other social media that person is connect to at this time.  This allows you to build a social profile of your attendee before they even enter your exhibit.  More information before the show = better results when you meet that person at the show.  Check it out at:  http://www.flowtown.com/

See Nate’s other nine tips by clicking here. 

Hear Nate speak about the humanization of business in this short video taken after our seminar: 

An OnScene Production
Eric Leslie
http://beonscene.com/

Eric focused his presentation on the “Tools for telling your story online.”  For example, to shoot short video clips, Eric recommends the Kodak Zi8, primarily because it is one of the only flip video cameras on the market now that  has an external microphone hookup for better sound in noisy environments like trade shows.  Click here to visit the Kodak Zi8 web page.  

Hear Eric about remaining authentic online in this short video clip:

In summary, there are many other tips included in the actual linked presentations from Will, Tiffany, Nate and Eric.  It will take some research to determine what will work for you but set a goal for yourself to try a minimum of three new technologies in your trade show marketing efforts this year.  You may be surprised with your results!

Thanks again to our presenters and to everyone who made our seminar a great success.

At the start of the economic downturn two years ago, we asked top exhibit industry educator Marc Goldberg to share his best ideas on how exhibitors could survive, and even thrive, amidst the economic uncertainty.

Marc Goldberg, author of Successful Exhibiting Strategies in Uncertain Times

Marc’s reply?  That trade shows are definitely worth doing.  And that there are many proven methods to boost your trade show results, even in a recession.  Marc shared his justification for trade shows and his top exhibiting ideas in the White Paper we published, Successful Exhibiting Strategies in Uncertain Times.

Now, two years later, taking in account the toll the harsh economy has taken, and the opportunity for turnaround, Marc has updated the report.  You can click here to request a new copy.  Here’s the short form on what’s in it:

17 Strategies For Getting The Most Out Of Trade Shows

For many people, managing and staffing trade shows is somewhere between an inconvenience and a hassle, what with the travel, the time away from home, the endless details, and the long hours.

But for others, the love of trade shows runs so deep that the only thing that will get it out of their blood is embalming fluid.  Could that be you?  Here are 19 signs that you’re addicted to trade shows:

1. You go to Vegas for a bachelor party at Mandalay Bay, but rather than hit the casino, you want to go check out the show floor.
2. You don’t feel right washing your hair with shampoo that doesn’t come out of a one-ounce bottle.
3. You wear a show lanyard around your neck…at home.
4. When you meet someone new at your office, instead of asking for their business card, you ask them if you can scan their badge.
5. When you hear someone say, “He’s a B.S. artist,” you think it’s a compliment about booth staffing skills.
6. You expect everyone to know what drayage means.
7. You think all client meetings should be only 10 minutes long and held standing up.
8. Your living room has a strip of red carpet 10 feet wide going through it.
9. You think Morgan Freeman lives in Dallas.
10. You named your cat “Orlando” and your dog “McCormick.”
11. You don’t have a problem with trade shows that start on the weekend.
12. You’ve tried to talk your spouse into relocating to Las Vegas.
13. You don’t feel too guilty about missing your kid’s birthday party for your industry’s main trade show.
14. You think nothing about paying $11.50 for a hot dog and soda.
15. You pride yourself that you can set up your trade show display in 5 minutes.
16. You can remember your exhibit house’s phone number easier than the date of your anniversary.
17. If you are actually in your hometown when the local Auto or Home show takes place, you never miss them.
18. You get mad and launch into a fact-filled tirade when someone casually questions the value of trade shows.
19. When you finally redeem some of your vast stockpile of frequent flyer miles, you take a vacation in Las Vegas, Orlando, or Chicago.

I started writing this post in my head before remembering two similar (and better) blog posts that certainly inspired me: the talented Christina Stallings’ “13 Telltale Signs You’re an Event or Trade Show Professional” and the energetic Emilie Barta’s post, “You Know You Are An Event Professional When …”

Did you recognize yourself in any of these signs?  Got more of your own?  Share your own signs you’re addicted to trade shows in the comment box below.  Go ahead, it’s alright.  You’ll feel better.

If you’re addicted to shows, the best therapy is the free 32-page white paper report, What’s Working In Exhibiting.  Click here to get your copy.