This entry was posted on Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 1:44 am and is filed under Developing Trade Show Traffic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Yesteryears trade shows ran something like this;
Spend big bucks on attractive booth. Send personnel to schmooze. Spend lots of money on entertainment. Give away lots of ‘goodies’ with the company logo. Overall goal? Staying around the budget of previous year and ‘making a presence’ (talk about a goal hard to measure….)
Let talk about those giveaway goodies…
Why do we use them at trade shows?
What is their purpose?
Can their effectiveness be measured?
Or are they just a sunk cost that is part of the whole trade show budget blur?
Interesting to note:
According to a study done by Louisiana State University, the use of promotional products at trade shows during 2002 increased by 12%. A 12% increase is especially remarkable considering the same study showed an overall decrease in general promotional product sales (for all uses) by 5.6% (not bad either when most advertising is down 20-40% in today’s economy).
This also comes during a year when many trade shows were down in attendance by as much as 50% thereby drastically reducing the need for any trade show support materials altogether.
Let’s do the Math
The average industrial sales call costs $229.70 and takes an average of 5.5 sales calls to close an order, bringing the cost to $1,263.35.
Compare this to the average cost per contact of $106.70 at a trade show with 0.8 follow-up calls. Bringing the average cost per sale to $209.46.
According to Exhibit Surveys, Inc., 4 out of 5 trade show attendees have the final say, specify or recommend the purchase of products and services being exhibited.
Yes, there are many reasons that trade show marketing is highly effective, but let’s not exhibit at a trade show just to ‘make a presence’ or ’show up and be seen’. Let’s do the research and planning necessary to make money from these shows. Isn’t that really the bottom line?
Holding Your Trade Show Budget ACCOUNTABLE
Even if you have multiple reasons for exhibiting at a trade show, focus on one specific purpose and hold that purpose accountable. What do I mean?
Let’s say that in previous years rationalization of why you are exhibiting at a trade show was; meeting prospects, cultivating relationships with existing customers, key meetings with clients and vendors, industry goodwill and new products exposure.
On the surface this would appear to be a mountain of evidence to show up and do your thing. But in this economy, my recommendation is really focusing in on one just one primary purpose for the show. Something that can be tracked and held accountable.
My favorite; Acquire Prospects!
That’s right, “acquire”.
Not schmoozing, not handing out cards, not passing out catalogs, not throwing stuff out there and see what sticks. That may all be part of the mix, but at the end of the day (literally) how many quality prospects you have collected (in effect acquired) and what you will do with them is most important.
Any marketing that we do should have some form of accountability in terms of how many qualified prospects are acquired and at what cost. Trade shows are no exception.
Trade Shows Offer Great Positioning
Trade Shows are a great place to acquire prospects for one simple reason; unlike so many other forms of media, like direct mail, telemarketing or radio, you are not taking people by surprise.
You are not entering the busy life of a potential prospect who is doing something else and have to get them to drop that and listen to you.
In a trade show environment the attendees have left their day job and many times traveled and paid to attend this trade show. At minimum they have paid with their time to attend.
They aren’t at their desk and don’t have a telephone and email sitting next to them (excluding of course cell phones which should be confiscated at the entrance anyway….).
Your prospects are at the show to DO BUSINESS.
They have taken a positive step towards you by registering for the show and walking those aisles. So, in reality, with them away from distractions and paying to be at the show, they are highly probable to not only visit you, but listen to what you have to say.
The biggest competition you face is not usually your competition or the other booths.
It is time.
The Problem
Once at a trade show event, most attendees are the victims of missed aisles, shortened itineraries and lack of focus.
You see if it was just the trade show we all might have better success, but most trade shows are a concoction of business and extracurricular activities all jammed into a time period that is usually too short and too demanding. The trade show may be the reason they came, but once they arrive there are happy hours, golf games, dinners and extended meetings all competing for attendees time.
Bottom line?
Sometimes I’m amazed anything gets done on a trade show floor. Add to this the attendance drop due to the war on terrorism, the housing slump, the economy slump and the pending election and things can look pretty bleak.
BUT YOU can THRIVE in this environment.
With many of your competitors cutting back, you may even be able to be more effective. The simple solution would seem to be ’stand out from the crowd’ and be more enthusiastic and inviting than the other exhibitors. These are good ideas, but the battle for your prospects attention starts long before the trade show doors open.
Next Step: Pre-Show Marketing- You gotta’ have a ‘hook’
Stay tuned for the next Post on how to develop and use the ultimate killer hook! Make sure to Subscribe to our thread to get updates.
Nye. O.
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This bulletin was about having the best trade show ever. Next post will be about turning those attendees and prospects into business. See you then… If in the meantime, we can help bring fun and excitement to your next show, event, promotion or offer, click the link below and fill out the form. We’ve got some great ideas we’d love to show you!
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2 Responses to “Smart Trade Show Exhibiting Part I”
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July 14th, 2008 at 11:54 am
[...] Smart Trade Show Exhibiting Part I - Yes, there are many reasons that trade show marketing is highly effective, but let’s not exhibit at a trade show just to ‘make a presence’ or ’show up and be seen’. Let’s do the research and planning necessary to make money from these … [...]
September 28th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Great article Nye. Finding a way to prospect for new leads can be a challenge. Word of mouth referrals are good as well as trade shows. I read a Business Week article dated February 20,2008 that stated “Social Marketing Will Change Your Business”. This new concept of lead generation is attracting all the big companies. Looking for more articles on this topic. Keep up the good work.