Are you a trade show exhibitor?  Or a trade show marketer?

It’s understandable that as an exhibitor you get caught up in logistics, because no matter what, you have to get your booth from point A to point B (and to point C, D, E, and so on).  But those required logistics can sometimes crowd out the even more important marketing aspect of trade shows.

So let’s take a few minutes to set logistics aside (don’t worry, they’ll still be there when you get back) and focus on how you can be a better marketer who just happens to use trade shows.

Target Your Best Personas

Personas are portraits you create to better understand your best clients as prospects.  A good persona includes age, gender, income, ethnicity, and even emotional aspects such as personality, likes & dislikes, their mentality, and key motivators.  A persona gives your team a more tangible, living target to aim for when you create your marketing materials.   You can create and target several personas.  For example, a car company may have car buyer personas that are driven by status, or economy, or hauling family, or sustainability.  When you understand your buyer personas, you can tailor all marketing aspects to better appeal to them.

Write A Creative Brief

A creative brief is a like a mini-marketing plan for your trade show.  It takes some time to pull together, but it saves you time in the end.   Include in your creative brief your goals for the show, your positioning, your strengths and weaknesses compared to competitors, what you want to have happen in the booth and after the show, how you plan to promote your presence at the show, and even your show budget.  Once you have it, you can share it with your booth staffers and the vendors you are hiring for the show, such as your exhibit house or your promotions vendor.

Select The Right Shows

Rather than choose which shows to exhibit at based on cost per square foot or number of total attendees, your marketing mind should instead hone in on the number of attendees that fit your target market, or the return on investment you’ve received at previous years’ shows.  You look at which vertical market shows exist where you have the greatest potential, even if the overall show attendance pales compared to your main industry shows.  And you regularly reexamine your show schedule based on marketing potential and performance.

Design Your Exhibit As A Marketing Tool

Your trade show displays are not just pieces of furniture – they are marketing tools that both communicate a message and support your booth staff.  Make sure your trade show exhibit lives up to its full marketing potential.  Does it clearly communicate a compelling reason for your buyers to stop and visit you?  Does it boldly say (with both images and text) what products and services you offer, and how you are better?  And if you are exhibiting at a variety of shows (based on personas in different job titles or industries), can you change your graphics to more directly appeal to your various personas?

Create Promotions That Appeal To Your Personas

Trade show promotions can get more people into your booth.  Be sure to pick your promotions with a critical and inspired marketing eye, to ensure you excite your best buyer personas, and avoid attracting non-buyers to your trade show booth.   This is the fun part of trade show marketing – when your promotions are so on-target that you build stronger relationships with your buyers because they recognize that you truly understand them.  You do that with compelling offers they crave, and with a look and feel that matches your buyer’s personality.

Follow Up Leads More Than Just Fast

The logistical part of trade show lead follow up means getting the leads into the computer and out to the sales force quickly, and getting your packets in the mail within a few days.   That’s awesome, and essential.  But with a marketing perspective you can go much further.  Make sure you and your booth staff qualified the leads before your send them on their way, so your sales force knows which leads to pursue first.  And don’t just send out a generic follow up packet – tailor your marketing materials specifically to what each attendee asked for.  You’ll create more sales with your trade show leads that way.

So by all means, be an expert at getting your show paperwork in on time to get the early discount.  Know how to set up your banner stands in under a minute flat.  Just remember that you are at trade shows to build your company image, generate sales leads, and build stronger client relationships.  Achieving those admirable marketing objectives requires you to sharpen your marketing skills.

With everything that goes into trade show exhibiting, it can be hard to balance it all.  Read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper for the best tips about the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using today to boost their results and stretch their budgets.  Click here to request your free copy. 

In an election year, politicians are hard to avoid.                   TV, radio, direct mail, and even our telephones are all being used to tell a story.  Since we cannot avoid politicians, what can we learn from them that we can apply to our trade show efforts?  After all, these are some of the best marketers in the world.

1. Backgrounds are important:  Politicians go to great effort and expense to create as good an environment as possible for you to hear their story.  Your trade show display is no different.  It should carry the look and feel consistent with your brand image and message.  It should create an environment that allows your story to be told.
2. We make a living by the words we choose:  As a marketing sales person, I live by that mantra.  And so should you.  The words we choose to tell our story must be impactful and strike a cord with our audience; otherwise they will be short lived.  We have a limited time to get our message across and make it resonate enough to be remembered and hopefully acted upon.
3. Image is a big part of the story:  Politicians know that their image impacts their message.  Your image – how your dress and conduct yourself – must be consistent with your brand and message.  If it varies, it hurts your ability to build trust.
4. The venue must tie into our goals:  A politician gives great thought and planning into venue selection for telling their stories.  Too often we exhibit at certain trade shows simply because _____…fill in the blank.  Qualify each trade show venue based on your trade show goals.  Ask your prospects and clients what shows they attend and why.  And ask them what shows they do not attend and why.  What better person to tell you where to be than your prospect and client?
5. Sound bites work:  Don’t write a paragraph or even a sentence when a bullet point will do the job.  You have seconds to grab your prospect’s attention in your trade show exhibit and create a desire in them to know more.  Hit the high point and speak their language.
6. The last hand you shake is just important as the first hand you shake:  Politicians are tirelessly meeting as many people as possible and imparting their image and message.  The last person you meet at the end of the trade show deserves the same level of energy, interest, and desire as the first person you met on day one.  If they are still seeking solutions at the end of a show, the opportunity is real and could be urgent.  Don’t blow what could be the opportunity of the show just to get a jump on tear down or beat traffic.
7. Keep telling your story:  Politicians know that they must ever be ready to tell their story again.  And again.  And again.  Repetition is important.  Consistency builds trust.  Don’t give up after one show.  Major prospects need to see staying power and consistency in your brand and message.

I hope the next time you are interrupted by one of the many political messages sure to make their way into your day, that you will take pause and find what you can learn to increase the effectiveness of your message — without throwing the mud of course…

Take another note on best practices from the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This 32-page guide has almost 100 tips for the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using today to boost their results and stretch their budgets.  Click here to request your free copy. 

I am part of a small Marketing Department at UGL Services with limited resources so we take every opportunity to repurpose content that we have already developed and tailor it for distribution through other marketing vehicles.  In 2008 my team created an advertising campaign targeted to facility managers of corporations with the message that we understand how overwhelming building maintenance can be and we suggest outsourcing these responsibilities to UGL Services.

The Ad

The first ad in the campaign shows a facility manager lying awake in bed with a skyscraper tucked in next to him with the headline “You have a facility.  Now it’s time for a life.”  It is a literal depiction of a stressed out facility manager experiencing insomnia because he cannot get his mind off of work or the price tag on new upgrades needed in the buildings he manages.

In 2011 we exhibited at a conference managed by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).  When attendees registered for the conference online they were asked a survey question “What job-related issues keep you up at night?”  IFMA took all of the responses and came up with topics for roundtable discussions conducted during the event.  My team decided to sponsor the roundtable sessions as it was a vehicle for us to leverage the ad that was created in 2008.  As part of the sponsorship we were able to put a full page ad in the show directory and posters were hung in the roundtable location.

The Trade Show

We decided to bring the ad to life and add an element of surprise at our trade show booth.  I hired an actor to play the sleep-deprived facility manager dressed in his pajamas and chained to a building.  All of the attendees were dressed in business attire so our actor really grabbed their attention and became a successful conversation starter.  We gave away prescription bottles with jelly beans inside and a label with the text that said “For fast-acting relief and a better night’s sleep” and our logo underneath it.  Posters in our booth featured the ad once again and supersized text that read “Tired of taking your work home with you?  We’ve got the remedy.”  Our actor handed out business-sized cards with the dates and times of the roundtable discussions to encourage participation and promote the problem-solving ideas that attendees would learn about.

The Response…

Overall it was a very successful promotion and a few attendees commented on how they related to the actor chained to the building.  Many facility managers said that they try not to take work home with them but it is difficult to put down their Blackberrys especially when they are getting ready to turn in for the night.  My response to them was “Have you considered outsourcing your facility services?”

For may ways to draw great leads into your trade show booth, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This book will tell you what other exhibit marketers say the best tips and tricks are for successful exhibiting.  Click here to request your free copy. 

Thanks to Jocelyn Sacco for writing this guest blog post, sharing her experience as a trade show exhibitor.  We welcome similar blog posts from Skyline clients who want to share with their peers new and inventive ways they’ve achieved greater trade show success. Click here to tell us your story!

I know… you are sick and tired of Tebow.  Yet, over 2 weeks after his last game of the year in which his team was never in the game, Tim Tebow is still one of the top trending searches on Google.

There are several things we can learn about marketing our brand and message from watching Tebow and the way he presents himself.

1. Tim Tebow is real.  He is an open book, sometimes too open.  But the fact that we know exactly where he is coming from and we can compare that to his actions, force us to pay attention.  It is that “reality tv drama” effect that is so captivating.
2. Tim Tebow is sincere.  His walk backs up his talk.  Whether we agree or disagree with him, there is no doubting his sincerity in his words and actions.
3. Tim Tebow is passionate.  He is driven and focused with incredible discipline.  He rarely appears off message and never sends out a conflicting image or message.
4. Tim Tebow is demonstrative.  He has cemented images in our mind that embrace his message.  His faith is his foundation and the platform from which he does everything.  Say Tebow and you immediately think of “Tebowing” – the pose – which encapsulates his message.
5. Tim Tebow is continuously telling his story.  From “Tebowing” to the black eye paint with Bible verses, he is always on message and repeating his story.  Football is a tool for him.  There is a bigger agenda and goal and he uses everything at his disposal to tell his story.  Repeatedly.

So how do your marketing programs stack up?

Are they real and sincere?  Can people feel the passion from your representatives throughout the organization?  How do you demonstrate your message?  What images pop into your client’s mind when thinking of your company?  How consistent is the look & feel of your image? And how does your look and feel tie to the messages you are sending out in your marketing and your trade show displays?

Tim Tebow is a model of consistency, determination, and focus on the image and message with an genuine understanding of the total picture.  How would our results be impacted if we implemented our programs with the same drive and focus?

Photo credit to http://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/5040576290/  

To integrate Tebow’s branding style with your trade show exhibiting plan, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper. This report tells you the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using today in their trade show marketing efforts.  Click here to request your free copy.

Lounges have tremendous momentum in the design of trade show exhibit spaces and special events. Dedicated sitting spaces are now an integral part of design directives.  These areas are resolute in providing a communicative approach to information exchange and information gathering.  In today’s era of viral marketing and virtual interacting, it is a featured highlight of face-to-face marketing.

It only makes sense to promote the right kind of atmospheric conditions that foster conversation when 46% of executive decision makers make purchase decisions while attending a show, 51% of executive decision makers request that a sales representative visit their company after the show and, get this, 95% of the executive decision makers meet with their current suppliers at a trade show.   And a lounge does exactly that.  It is a luxurious conclave ground where the talent meets the target.

If you have a smaller trade show booth space (20′x20′ or so) and if you find the above statistics valuable, you might want to think about a club design layout. However, if you have a larger space you might want to pledge a portion of it to an elegant setting with flamboyant and interesting furniture that speaks to the sensuality of the limbic system. The lounge inside your space is a grand setting for showcasing your latest innovation.  50% of trade show attendees want to see “What’s New” in products and services. 90% of the trade show attendees have not been called upon (face-to-face) by any company exhibiting at the show in the 12 months prior to the event.

Why not make the experience delightful?

Research from Cap, Gemini, Ernst and Young states that “Consumers don’t differentiate retailers by their value propositions.”  This means brands don’t distinguish themselves by having unique products or services as much as they do by the experience they present.  A memorable experience is one that thrills or excites customers and prospects.  As kids we thrived on thrills.  We remember our first touch down.  We remember our first voyage on Pirates of the Caribbean.  We remember our first Festival of Colors.  As adults, we continue to seek thrills in our professional and personal worlds.  ”We want the thrill of getting high response rates to a direct marketing campaign; the thrill of exceeding our sales quotas; of earning that next job promotion in record time.  Businesses that understand what excites their customers are those that stand to gain higher levels of customer loyalty, no matter the challenges their markets face.”  Jeanette McMurtry, MBA

Lounging in cappuccino and hot pink is all about the ideal setting that piques the thrill of what’s new and exciting in a monotonous day-to-day survival.  Next time as you plan your space, think about the ways that you can distinguish yourself in those precious moments of interaction that we call face-to-face marketing in the hyper-competitive marketing world of business-to-business.

Want more great ideas on creating the best exhibiting space? Read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This 32-page book has almost 100 tips, including exhibit design as well as budgeting, promotions, measuring ROI and more.  Click here to request your free copy.   

A trade show takes a significant amount of a company’s marketing budget so it’s important to make the most of the opportunity. The payoff can be higher and quicker than many other marketing channels. Winning at trade shows depends greatly upon the work done in advance.

• Investigate the Show.  When you are choosing which trade shows to attend do a little homework.  Find out how long the show has been in existence, the past attendance numbers, the number of vendors, and the advertising planned by the show management.  If possible, talk with other companies who have participated in the past and get their reviews.
• Picking the Booth Space.  Ask early for a floor plan so you can see which booths are available along the center of the show floor.  You can have the best displays and products in the world, but if you are tucked away in a corner you may become the show’s best kept secret.  Don’t wait until the last minute to reserve your space; the best locations will go quickly.
• Advance Marketing.  Take advantage of advertising opportunities offered by the show management, but don’t leave all of the advertising up to them.  Make certain you let all customers & prospects know of your plans to exhibit at the show by pre-show marketing.  A drip campaign is often successful, using several channels, such as e-mail, direct mail, personal invites from sales staff & more.
• Get the Attendee List.  Most shows provide an advance list of registered attendees for the show.  Cross-check the list with your own database to find which customers are attending.  Then segment the list by company size, geographic location or assigned sales rep.  Use the list in your pre-show marketing efforts to drive booth traffic.
• Strategically Plan Your Exhibit.  Don’t try to cram every product detail on your trade show booth graphics – your brochures should contain all of that information.  Any trade show exhibit should quickly tell a prospective customer 1.) who you are, 2.) what you do and 3.) how you can help them.  Consider what needs to happen in the space to meet & exceed your trade show goals.  For more ideas on designing a trade show exhibit, check out my blog posts on “What Transforms a Trade Show Exhibit into an Experience” and “How to Get the Most Value from Your Trade Show Display Purchase”.
• Use Technology to Enhance Your Presentation.  Light, motion and color attract attention, so use this to your benefit.  Depending on your product or service, you may want to include interactive presentations, videos or live demonstrations in your trade show exhibit.  The more involved your visitors are, the more likely they will be to remember you later.
• Collect Information.  Have a system in place to get the names and email addresses of all your guests and follow up with every guest after the event.  There are many technologies available which collect more information than a traditional badge scanner.  At least get a clipboard to handwrite notes!
• Follow-thru!  When the show ends, your marketing campaign isn’t over.  79% of leads generated at trade shows are not followed up afterwards (ceir.org) — what a waste!  Follow-through by continuing the marketing campaign and ensure that sales reps keep in contact with prospects they’ve met at the show.

Are you winning when it comes to trade shows?  Get more of the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using today to boost their results by reading the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  To request your free copy, click here. 

So you decide to exhibit at a trade show.  Your competitors have exhibited there and you know your products (or services) are just as good as theirs, if not better, and you want some of that action.  You rent a 10-foot exhibit space, a table and chairs, maybe a simple structure for a backdrop or a generic “show hall special.”  That was easy.  Let the show begin.  Your products are good and competitively priced. They’re almost able to sell themselves.  They’d better be.

Trade Shows DON’T Work Without You

Attendees file through the aisles and only a few have stopped at your trade show exhibit to ask about your company and products.  They turned into solid leads, but there are just too few to justify exhibiting. The ROI just isn’t there.

Trade Shows ARE Work

Trade shows are competitive marketing environments.  From an attendee’s point of view, they can be visual Pop Rocks as exhibitors clamor to be noticed.  With their attention sliced so thin, why would they take any initiative to speak with you if it wasn’t readily apparent that you, potentially, have what they are looking for?  It takes thought and execution to make trade shows work – planning in advance, setting your objectives, appropriately presenting your message and brand, staffing the trade show booth with the right people and a lead follow-up strategy.

Trade Shows DO Work

Do them well and reap the rewards!  It sounds simple, but do these four things well and your trade shows will work:

1.  Determine Objectives:  What are you after?  Leads?  Sales? Exposure?  All of the above?  What does success look like?  Determine that and work toward it.

2.  Design Your Exhibit:  It’s not just a backdrop, it’s a billboard.  Show attendees who you are and how you can help them.  Keep it simple, clear and readable.

3.  Staff The Booth:  Ditch the chairs, the chat, the cheeseburgers and work the aisle.  Be open, welcoming and engage attendees at eye level.

4.  Lead Follow Up:  Do this!  You go through all the effort to generate leads, so get them into the appropriate hands and follow up.  The sooner, the better.  If you don’t, your competitors may win by default.

To go beyond showing up and setting up, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This guidebook reveals effective strategies for everything from show selection to exhibit design and many other keys areas.  Click here to request your free copy. 

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. 

I have always loved music.  And because my daughter is a singer/songwriter (www.darbishaun.com shameless plug), I am currently reading everything I can about the music industry.  In that vein, while reading a book by Aerosmith’s drummer, this idea kept pestering me… so here we go…

How to “Aerosmith” Your Way to Improve Your Tradeshow Experience:

1. Walk This Way – your design, messaging & graphics — your total look and feel — should draw your audience into your space.
2. Fly Away From Here – coordinate your staff’s travel arrangements to reduce stress and expense.
3. Sweet Emotion – create an environment that stirs the emotion of your staff, clients, and prospects.
4. Deuces are Wild – your trade show exhibit draw items need to create interest or leave an impression.
5. Livin’ On The Edge – push the limits of your trade show booth space without engaging the wrath of the show design police.
6. Dude Looks Like a Lady – do not under estimate the importance of booth staffing AND never assume they know how to dress. Make it clear and spell it out or even supply the “uniform”.
7. The Grind – pace yourself for the duration of the show so that the last day is as fresh as the first.
8. Love in An Elevator – remember, you are always “on” during a show…even in an elevator, put your best forward.
9. Movin’ Out – don’t cut your possibilities short by packing up before the show closes…that last minute impression may make your show!
10. Remember – make notes of what works well and what doesn’t and apply it to the next show.  Continual improvement will help keep things fresh and only lead to more success!

Keep these song titles in mind while planning your next trade show and you cannot help but improve your results.

If you’re thinking “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” in trade show exhibiting, read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This 32 page guidebook will tell you the most effective strategies from promotions to exhibit design to measuring your results. Click here to request your free copy. 

Trade show promotions drive more traffic to your booth.  Yet, there are nearly an infinite number of promos and giveaways, and almost as many ideas about how to do promotions better, too.  So what should you do first?

These 10 tips are the hidden gems, secrets, and guideposts that I’ve uncovered in the 20-plus years I’ve been doing, reading, and researching trade show promotions.  Follow these best practices to ensure your trade show booth a hub of meaningful activity:

1. Invent a great product demo to do in your booth, to pull in attendees, get them involved, and start valuable conversations.
2. Giveaways are worthwhile because they get more people to enter your trade show exhibit and help you be remembered after the show, but can attract the wrong people if their appeal is too broad and beyond your target market.
3. Set client and top prospect meetings in advance if at all possible, by offering them something of value such as a gift, access to decision makers, or exclusive information.
4. Promotions are great conversation starters — but your booth staffers have to keep the conversation going, rather than let the prospect walk off.
5. Discounts and show specials help you close the deal when you get rare face-to-face time with hard-to-reach prospects.
6. It’s a guy thing: Choose giveaways and promotions that appeal to the demographics of your target audience.
7. Assertive, friendly, and persistent crowd gatherers are worth their weight in gold-dipped foam stress balls.
8. Before the show, reach out to attendees at minimum with email that offers something of value, potentially with direct mail, and for top prospects, by personal telephone calls.
9. Put more effort into social media for trade show promotions — but only when you are already maximizing traditional pre-show and at-show promotions.  Your social media efforts should be proportionate to the social-media adaption rate of your target audience.
10. Giveaways that tie into your marketing message are much more memorable after the show.

I hope you get more attendees into your booth eager to engage with your booth staffers thanks to these ideas.  What is your own top tip for trade show promotions?  Please share it with us in the comments box below.

I hope you get more attendees into your booth eager to engage with your booth staffers thanks to these ideas. What is your own top tip for trade show promotions? Please share it with us in the comments box below.

This article is one of a series on Top 10 Tips for various key trade show topics:

>Top 10 Tips For Trade Show Booth Staffing

>Top 10 Tips For Trade Show Lead Management

> Top 10 Tips For Trade Show Exhibit Design

 Find more of the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using today in the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper. Click here to request your free 32-page copy.