If you are new to the trade show scene you may be experiencing some sticker shock, but the good news is that you don’t really need to break the bank in order to grow your business through successful trade show presentations. Here are seven tips to help you get the most from a limited marketing budget.

1.  Why buy when you can rent?  For many companies, and for many different reasons, exhibit rental is an attractive choice. Click here to learn more about the benefits of trade show exhibit rental.

2.  Use Light Weight Exhibit Materials.  Freight & drayage charge by the pound and you can save a significant percentage in shipping if your booth setup is made from light weight materials.

3.  Free Gifts?  These items can be a budget buster.  Does every attendee really need to receive something? (Think adult ‘trick-or-treaters’)  Whatever it is, make certain the gift relates to your business in some way so the customers will think of your business whenever they use the item.  Better yet, create an ‘exchange’ where attendees provide information by answering qualifying questions in order to receive the handout.  Or, offer this item as a follow-up, sent by FedEx to only the most qualified attendees.

4.  Save on Transportation Costs.  Operational costs – shipping, drayage, install and dismantle (I&D) – are often over-looked or under-estimated by new exhibitors. It’s not unlike new homeowners forgetting about personal property taxes and mortgage and homeowners’ insurances.  Lightweight, easy-to-assemble exhibits can add up to big transportation savings… so can these transportation tips:

• Know the weight of the shipment so you can verify the bill.
• Instead of shipping several small boxes, consolidate in one large box or shrink-wrap on one pallet.
• Make one shipment to the convention center.  Inbound shipments are charged a minimum rate (usually 100 lbs) regardless of actual weight.
• Specify your carrier for outbound shipments from the hall. If you don’t the drayage contractor can divert your shipment to another carrier resulting in much higher transportation costs.
• When scheduling labor avoid paying weekend and overtime I&D costs.
• Don’t scrimp on shipping containers.  It’s expensive to redo graphics if they get damaged during shipping.

5.  Offer Relaxation to Attendees.  Walking on concrete for hours can wear out the hardiest attendee.  Create a ‘relaxation station’ in your trade show booth offering bottled water and padded furniture (but keep the booth staffers from lounging too long!).  The smell of warm cookies and hot coffee will certainly attract attention.  This is cheaper than free gifts and could be a lot more effective, if tied directly to your brand message.

6.  Less is Better.  Keep your graphics short and simple – the billboard concept. Detail the benefits to the customer in discussions with your booth staffers.  This allows you to re-use graphics from show to show, rather than printing specific messages, which will add up.

7.  Cooperate with a Complimentary Business.  Before signing up for booth space check with another local business your size which offers products complementary to yours and see if they would like to share a booth space.  This might allow you access to a better location in the show at a reduced cost; and you both may gain leads as add-ons to one another’s products.

There are even more ways to stretch your trade show budget shared in the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper. To pick up your free copy full of great tips and tricks, click here. 

If you are entering the trade show arena for the first time, and you have been assigned the task of purchasing a new exhibit, then I would like to offer you some helpful, yet counter-intuitive advice prior to determining your purchasing budget.

Many people often make the mistake of purchasing just one main exhibit for all their events ‘to save money,’ when actually purchasing at least two or more exhibits may be the most cost effective route to take.  I know, you’re saying to yourself, “Of course that’s what you would say! You sell trade show exhibits!” Well, I promise you this is good advice!

Take these 3 steps to see if you need more than one trade show display:

• First, rate your shows according to importance.  This may be determined by a number of factors that only you and your company can identify.  For starters, create two tiers – primary for your most important shows and secondary for your other events.
• Second, rate your shows according to the length of the show by number of days.  Maybe you have several one day events or even a couple of targeted shows that may only be a couple of hours in length and the cost of sending in the big guns just isn’t justifiable.
• Third, identify conflicting show schedules and dates.  If you have an event on the east coast that ends on a Tuesday and your next event is the following Thursday on the west coast, make a note of it.

What you learn from this exercise may surprise you.  Say you have your most important show and you obviously are planning on having your primary exhibit on display.  Well, your next event is a second tier show and it happens to be only a day or two after your main event – and it is a thousand miles away!  The operating costs associated with transporting your main exhibit from point A to point B may well exceed any perceived value you were hoping to recoup from attending this event in the first place.  Perhaps a smaller, simpler exhibit can be shipped to the lower tier event in pace of the main one – and at a less accelerated and costly rate.  You may find that the cost of a secondary exhibit alone may be far less than just the operating costs you would have incurred from rushing your large exhibit across the country.

So you get the point. This is just a helpful suggestion to conduct an exercise of this sort to help you plan your show schedule and determine a purchase budget for ALL of your exhibit needs.  You’re well on your way to successful exhibiting!

Whether you need one display or several, see many examples of both modular inline exhibits and portable displays by clicking here to request Skyline’s Inline Displays Brochure.  

Do you believe your company can get more bang for its trade show marketing dollars if you employed a different strategy?  If so, the next step is to convince your boss that you need a new approach.  But be warned; no one is going to be at all interested in hearing that there is a problem with the status quo unless you are able to present an alternative.  Here are some steps you can take to make certain you find the best strategy for your next show.

Analyze Your Choice of Shows 

One major factor of an effective marketing strategy is choosing the best trade shows that attract your target audience.  What kind of trade shows has your company attended in the past?  Do you market in industry-specific shows, general shows or a combination of both?  Gather the statistical data from the events you have attended and see which shows have been most effective in garnering new business.  Part of your strategy may include recommendations regarding increasing or changing your venues.

Scope out the Competition

The next step is to find out what your competition is doing.  The goal is not to imitate, but to determine what the current presentation trends are and which ones draw the largest crowds.  Spend some time visiting the trade show booths that command the most interest and analyze their strategies.  Do they use interactive media?  What kind of lighting is employed?  Is there a video feed?  How are their graphics arranged and displayed?  Do they have demonstrations or is product available for the customers to handle?  Are these booths run by a single vendor or are they a co-op between complimentary businesses?  Take notes and look for any factors these booths have in common.

Apply the Data 

After you have gathered your information apply the concepts and techniques you have observed to your particular company and products.  Try to employ strategies that will reach your visitors through sight, sound and touch if possible.  Map a layout of your proposed trade show display and make drafts of any new handouts, graphics, or other marketing materials.

Prepare a Budget & Project Payoff

Every company has limits on marketing funds, and your new strategy will not make it off the boss’s desk if it cannot be accomplished within the budget constraints with higher results.  Find out how much money is available and then determine how to project results.  Take all of this data and put it into a business proposal format.  Present the new strategy along with the reasons why they changes will improve the visibility and effectiveness of your trade show exhibits.  This information, combined with a workable budget, should be all of the persuasion you need!

A new strategy is one way to revamp your trade show marketing.  For more tips and ideas on how to boost your results and stretch your budgets pick up the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  To request your free copy, click here.

Skyline hosted webinars called “What’s Working In Exhibiting” on July 13th and 14th, 2011.   Thank you so much for your participation and your questions about how to get the most of of trade shows, be it promotions, show selection, booth staffing, lead management, and more.

As promised, here is the pdf of the actual presentation content.  (If the pdf viewer is not loading on your browser, you can go to the actual pdf file by copying and pasting this URL into your browser window: skyline.com/images/webinars/WhatsWorking_July-13-2011_Webinar.pdf

During the seminar we offered several items.  If you did not attend or did not ask during the webinar, just click to request your copies:

• Measurement Made Easy CD computer program
• What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper
• Info on Skyline’s portable displays and modular inline exhibits
• Info on Skyline’s custom modular island exhibits

Thanks again for attending!

By now you’ve no doubt noticed the rising gas prices you’re paying at the pump.  Our industry is no different and has seen a dramatic rise in trade show transportation costs due to the high cost of crude oil and gas prices.

While we strive to use the most economical means of transportation, almost every carrier is adding a fuel surcharge to our shipments.  Sometimes this fuel surcharge can be as high as 15%!  Unfortunately there’s not a lot that can be done to lower the costs, but we have a few examples and suggestions that may help you save on your exhibit and trade show related shipping costs.

Ship early!

If you’re shipping tradeshow displays, large or small to a venue, always plan your shipments in advance so you can use the least expensive mode of transportation.  Ground or deferred shipping carries the best rates and will save you over the long haul.  Plan your shipments well in advance and give your exhibit house enough notice to enable ground transportation to be utilized.

Avoid last minute shipments

It’s inevitable that you’ll have last minute shipments of collateral materials or product that may not have been ready with your exhibit freight.  If possible try and avoid separate shipments into the show venue.  Many exhibitors Fed-ex or UPS shipments in small pieces to shows.  This costs you in two areas.  Obviously the higher cost of express or expedited shipping hits your budget, but the “hidden” or unseen charges that you get socked with onsite such as “small package handling” fees levied by show decorators can really run your freight and handling costs higher than necessary.

If possible consolidate your shipment with your trade show exhibit and ship it together to achieve better economy.  If a split shipment cannot be avoided it’s best to palletize it and ship it with a common carrier to avoid small package handling fees.  Be careful to hit your “target move-in date” to avoid additional fees for freight arriving on the wrong date.

Shipping Literature? No don’t do it!

Many exhibitors still adhere to the old rule of shipping thousands of pieces of literature to their shows.  We recommend a thorough review of your literature and collateral policy.  Studies show that over 80% of literature handed out at conventions never makes it out of the show city.  A smart way of getting information into your prospects hands is to consider a USB flash drive with pre-loaded information about your company or products.  This solves two problems!  First, it provides a “give-away” item that’s very useful to almost anyone.  Second it allows you to “package” the information onto the device thereby saving both printing costs as well as the higher cost of shipping literature to shows.

We hope these suggestions are helpful in helping you keep your transportation and show site costs under control.

Learn more exhibiting best practices by getting the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  Request your free, 32-page copy by clicking here.

Skyline hosted the webinar called “10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started Exhibiting.”  We most recently gave this webinar in April, 2011.

A big thank you to all the attendees for their interaction during the events.  Both Bill Lauf, my co-presenter, and I were grateful for the number and quality of the attendee questions.  We may answer a few of those questions again as posts in this blog.

As promised, here is a link to the seminar presentation.

During the seminar we offered several items.  Click to request your copies:

• Measurement Made Easy CD, Trade Show and Event Calculator
• What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper
• Info on Skyline’s portable displays and modular inline exhibits
• Info on Skyline’s custom modular island exhibits
• Sample trade show lead card (just ask for the lead card)

Thanks again for attending!

1.  We spend money on ads, money on direct mail, money sending our reps into the field…all in the hope that we can get face time with the people who matter.  At a trade show, all of our best prospects are in one place at one time.

2.  At a trade show, we get to see all of our existing clients in one place, at one time.  We can use the opportunity to ascertain their future needs and their current satisfaction with our products and services.

3.  At a trade show, the industry press comes to us.  They are actively seeking what’s new.  We can easily make you and the rest of the senior management team available for quotes.  And we can add to your stature by having you present a paper, participate in a panel, or play golf with our three biggest customers all in one foursome.

4.  Whether it’s the trade press, a current customer, a future prospect or even some company that may be interested in a strategic partnership, we get to control the environment in which they evaluate us.  We get to position our messages in their minds.

5.  Also, Mr. Boss, you are always concerned the staff doesn’t keep abreast of the latest developments in our industry and is too self-focused.  At a trade show we can spy on the competition, we can attend seminars by thought leaders and industry titans, we can get a pulse of what is on our customers minds just by hanging out at the hotel bar.

6.  Mr. Boss, do you remember that great idea you thought you had a few years back?  We spent low-six figures pitching the thing in half the country only to find out our ‘whatchamacallit’ was being offered when the industry was clamoring for a ‘thigamajig.’  Had we only used the time at the annual trade show to survey the marketplace we’d have saved face, saved six figures and saved a season’s worth of product development time!

And when the boss says, “But all these expenses add up…” That’s when you agree they add up — to a very efficient use of valuable company resources.

It doesn’t happen every now and then.  It doesn’t even happen 50% of the time.  As anyone who has ever been in a position to compete for exhibit design and build projects can tell you, it happens almost every time.

Potential customers of ours (and others) continue to ask Exhibit Consultants to compete for their business — but without considering the one criteria their company should be most concerned with.  Unfortunately, not enough attention is paid to the true cost of exhibit ownership and management, even though this is the true barometer to your company’s long term ROI — especially in today’s economy, when budgets weigh heavy in the decision making process, as they should.

Why aren’t we getting the right information to make good trade show exhibit purchasing decisions?

If you have ever been a decision maker for your company’s exhibit purchase I am sure you evaluated many factors in the process.  Overall design, capabilities of the exhibit vendor, responsiveness of the vendor in the bidding process, experience of the vendor in your industry, among other things.

Then, of course, you have the budget.  Most new build design projects have a budget for the exhibit purchase.  In addition, a good percentage of those projects will also ask for some costs on other services such as install and dismantle for the show the booth is needed, and perhaps what it will cost to store it.

Yet, most objections to any of the submittals I have been involved with in my 10+ years in the industry are only related to the cost of purchasing the exhibit.  They love our design, they value our customer service, but then I hear things like, “You were on the high side” or “Everyone was in the same range.”  Buyers seem blind to the true long term impact these decisions can have on an organization’s marketing team.

Research shows that as you move into larger exhibits, companies have full intention of using their new exhibit purchase for events occurring for the 3-5 years following the purchase.  In most all cases, the costs of owning and managing that exhibit will surpass and in many cases far exceed the initial purchase price of that exhibit.  Many people are probably aware of this.  You are likely aware of this.  Yet, I have not seen an opportunity cross my desk once that asks for the potential vendors to estimate the cost of buying and using the exhibit over the course of the next three years, based on the client’s proposed exhibit schedule.

Comparing the true cost of owning a traditional custom exhibit to a custom modular exhibit

If I propose an exhibit that costs $80,000 and you are an exhibitor that goes to 10 shows each year (as the show schedule increases, so does the impact of the cost of ownership and management) and another vendor offers to beat my proposal by $10,000…what good does that do you if round-trip shipping, drayage and the install and dismantle of the exhibit they are proposing costs 30% more?  The promise of cost savings on just the purchase price is a mirage of sorts.  Let’s look a little more closely to clarify the point:

Exhibit A (Custom Modular Exhibit):

$80,000 for the initial purchase
$3,150 average cost per install and dismantle
$3,360 for roundtrip freight on average per show
$2,520 for drayage (based on weight) on average per show

In this example, for a 10-show schedule, the costs (purchase and use) are as follows:

$170,300 through end of the first year
$350,900 through the end of 3 years
$531,500 through the end of 5 years

Exhibit B (Traditional Custom Exhibit):

$70,000 for the initial purchase
$4,500 average cost per install and dismantle
$4,800 for roundtrip freight on average per show
$3,600 for drayage (based on weight) on average per show

In this example, for a 10-show schedule, the costs (purchase and use) are as follows:

$199,000 through end of the first year
$457,000 through the end of 3 years
$715,000 through the end of 5 years

Notice the “cheaper” exhibit’s true cost over a 5 year period!  In fact, it doesn’t even take 1 year for the “more expensive” custom modular exhibit to be less expensive.  Considering the total cost of ownership (purchase AND use costs), the custom modular exhibit saves $28,700 in the first year, $106,100 after 3 years, and $183,500 after 5 years.  And yet it is not uncommon for me to hear “their exhibit was a few thousand dollars cheaper than yours.”

Keep in mind, we have not factored in many other things such as storage, in/outs (process of preparing exhibits in storage for an upcoming event), ability to reconfigure and operate as a different-sized exhibit (say a 20’x20’ can reconfigure and be used in a 10’x20’ event).  These factors add even more savings and value from flexibility that heavier exhibits usually don’t have.

This has gotten much longer than I intended it to but I am very passionate about trying to do what is best for my clients’ long-term business strategy.  ROI is dominating money allocation in business today and the wrong exhibit purchase can handcuff your future face-to-face marketing efforts.  The best advice I can give isn’t necessarily to buy from me but to make sure when you do buy, work on preparing budget requirements and comparisons that will best prepare your business to make a sound and informed decision, not one based on an upfront cost that in many cases does not tell even the smallest bit of the story.

Want to know more about the advantages of custom modular exhibits? Click here to get your free copy of the white paper, The Trend To Custom Modular Exhibits, written by Tradeshow Week magazine.  Based on survey responses from over 170 exhibitors, the white paper reveals exhibitors’ preferences for custom modular exhibits’ lower operating costs and greater flexibility compared to traditional custom exhibits.

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.

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.