The Exhibitor's Resource – Trade Show Marketing Blog

In thinking about the December holidays, we at Exhibit Resources can’t help but notice some parallels to our face-to-face marketing world. Sure, the food, the presents, the carols, the candles and the decorations are a part of what make the holidays so special, but some of the underlying magic behind it all might be the connections we make or strengthen with friends and family during this time.

In fact, the holidays are about fellowship, much like trade shows and other marketing events that bring people together. Another word for fellowship is community, and building a community is the most desired result in marketing. A sense of community leads to deep, long‐lasting, relationships with customers.

So when you’re gathering around the dining room table for the holiday feast, celebrating at one more party or finding a place near the fireplace before exchanging gifts, try and imagine how you’d be able to trade stories, share moments, forge bonds, or develop the sense of community without being there, in person. Perhaps there is something in there to consider when planning next year’s marketing strategy.

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Corporate Special Events are an increasingly effective way to get face time with your target audience. Special events help your staff and your brand take center stage and capture your audience’s undivided attention. Especially in the cacophony of advertising in email, tweets and other media, event marketing is an effective way to stand out, get your message heard, and be memorable.

Some successful types of corporate events include grand openings, open houses, new product launches, dealer meetings and awards ceremonies, just to name a few. The type of event depends on your objective, but as you start the planning process, be sure to think about what your audience will find to be worthwhile. As hosts, of course you will make every effort to ensure your guests enjoy themselves, but also be sure to build in value so that they benefit from their time investment and leave enriched in some way. Often for B2B events, this means that they learned something. For B2C events, it could be the caché of being the first to learn about a new product, or a special offer for your products or services

Partnering with an exhibit and event design agency will help you pull off your event, both from a logistics and planning perspective, as well as an aesthetic one. Exhibit design and planning firms are seasoned professionals accustomed to the rigors of deadlines and coordinating the services of multiple vendors such as caterers, AV, and entertainment. Organizations that already exhibit at trade shows often combine their existing displays from their trade show marketing program with event-specific graphics, rental staging and special lighting. Additional rental display elements and floral decoration tie it all together. Event marketing firms can help you efficiently use what you already own, and incorporate rental properties into the design.

Offering wonderful hospitality is the foundation to a successful event, but take every opportunity at the event to reinforce your brand and message before, during and after the event. If the event is focused on a product launch, consider putting the product line brand out in front of the corporate one, and promote the event as an exclusive “unveiling” or even a “sneak peek” opportunity. Event-only graphics, giveaways or impressions go a long way towards making it a “moment in time” happening not to be missed. That said, there is every reason to broadcast the event afterwards online, in the media and in promotional materials. Get as much mileage out of the event as you can by distributing photos, video clips and press releases immediately.

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Exhibit Resources hosted another ICA (Independent Communicator’s Alliance) meeting Wednesday night at our showroom in Raleigh. And this time, in addition to providing the venue, we also offered the insight by presenting our talk “The Value of Face-To-Face Marketing.”

The trend in recent years has been for marketers with tight budgets to allocate their limited dollars to customer-facing and lead-generating efforts, including trade show and event marketing. At Wednesdays talk, I provided an overview of what it takes to create successful trade show displays and face-to-face marketing programs. I discussed how exhibiting benefits the broader marketing effort, how exhibitors can realize the greatest return on their event marketing investment, and I gave a sneak peek at emerging trade show display design trends.

Highlights from the talk were mentioned in a press release written about the talk by ICA member Cindy Turner.

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Trade shows have been an important part of a company’s marketing mix for some time, and have supported the overall marketing strategy by complementing the other “pillars” of the effort.

The marketing mix used to only include
Trade Shows, Radio, Print Media, Billboards, Newspapers and TV

Now marketers also have
The Internet , Social Media such as Blogs, Twitter, Linked In, Facebook and Special Events.

Special Events have emerged as another successful Face-to-Face marketing strategy because of the focused, direct interaction with the customer that they offer. A special event could be an after hours, off show site, invitation-only social event held one evening during a larger trade show. It also could be an annual gathering at a company’s headquarters to pump up dealers or introduce new product to the media and existing customers. It could be an appreciation or awards event at a destination location to thank loyal employees, company partners or long term clients. Or it could be a sponsored event tied to a charity fundraiser or sporting event. No matter the venue or focus, special events often have an element of exclusivity, and can afford companies the opportunity to present their message to a receptive audience without distractions.

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While aspects of the face-to-face marketing industry – which includes trade shows, special events, meetings, conventions, and the related travel & hospitality - have all felt the effects of budget cuts in the past year, there is plenty of justification to continue this type of highly effective marketing.

According to a recent survey of Fortune 1,000 Chief Marketing Officers, meetings and events provide the highest return on investment of any marketing channel. According to a recent study by CEIR, the Center for Exhibit Industry Research, exhibitions and events remained at the top of MarCom spending, accounting for 20% of the budget despite reductions in overall marketing spending.

Still, as a result of the downturn, exhibition budgets for 2009 are down by 17% and an equal 17% of exhibitors have reported that they will participate in fewer shows in 2009. The US Travel Association estimates that 200,000 travel related jobs were lost in 2008 and expect another 247,000 to be lost in 2009 According to the results of a Meetings and Conventions magazine, 52% of respondents claim that the economic downturn has influenced their company’s decision to hold events.

So why should companies still exhibit during an economic downturn?

To Close Deals & Sell More Product – Why would you want to shut off a stream of revenue when every bit counts?  Studies have shown that sustained marketing during a recession yields higher sales in the short term. And market share increases accomplished in while weathering a recession are often maintained or expanded during the recovery and subsequent boom years.

To Remain “Top of Mind” for Prospects and Existing Customers – Let them know that your company is still strong, or maybe even take this opportunity to kick it up a notch and stake your claim to the top player position in your niche.

To Take Advantage of Less a Crowded Space – Perhaps your company can secure more prominent booth space that may have been vacated by the competition. And with fewer exhibitors, there will be less noise, allowing your message get through and resonate longer with attendees and the media.

To Make High Quality Connections – Although the industry has seen a drop in the number of total show attendees and the sizes of booth spaces have been reduced, the QUALITY of the visitor now is much better. Companies may no longer be sending 25 reps to a conference or industry expo, now it’s maybe 10 or 12 – but those that they are being sent are the key decision makers and top representatives of companies you are looking to connect with. While companies are watching travel and entertainment expenses, they still feel that it’s important for their staff to stay connected, stay current on emerging trends in their industry, and to participate in education opportunities typically offered in conjunction with trade shows and other events.

Face-to-Face marketing experiences are personal, sensorial, tactile, emotional, and tangible.  No alternate or surrogate for that kind of direct contact exists.

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This long weekend, many Americans will be heading out to special events around the country in celebration of Independence Day. Whether you’re headed to a city-sponsored parade downtown, a fireworks show over the water, a BBQ competition in the burbs, or a Bluegrass show at the local taproom, there will undoubtedly be “Mobile Marketing” present at the event. Although trade show marketers may not typically do this type of “in the field” marketing, the trends for these types of events can inform and inspire other types of face-to-face marketing. We suggest that as you roam the craft stands, food vendors and antique car shows that you keep an eye out for clever event marketing strategies in action. Take note of what technique might be drawing crowds at the new car tent off to the side. Why is there a line in front of the stand promoting a new brand of sugar water? At the end of the day, think back about all of the branding you saw that day and consider which brands stand out most and why. Obviously, the biggest brand of the day will be the Red, White, and Blue of the Stars and Stripes – AKA Team USA. But the brand that comes in second has benefited from a well-executed Event Marketing strategy, and stands a good chance of growing their business, the pinnacle of the American entrepreneurial spirit.

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As an event marketing manager, you may be asked to justify the costs of face-to-face marketing. Here is a quick list of the benefits of event marketing that no other marketing effort can offer:

Start a dialogue. A two-way conversation is better than mono-directional broadcasts, and face-to-face marketing on the trade show floor, or at other events is the best way to begin that communication. Of course you’ll want your booth staff to be on-message, but because it’s a conversation, they will be able to give the visitor best-targeted message.
A personal connection builds trust. Meeting face-to-face, with your company’s brand and message on display around your, a prospect is likely to be comfortable being approached and learning about what your offer is. A trade show exhibit space is one of the few places today where a “sales pitch” isn’t taboo.
Access to a receptive audience for your message (they are likely there to learn about emerging trends in their industry).
Immediate fulfillment of prospect requests. Booth staff can answer questions, provide information, deliver catalogs, and set up accounts on the expo floor. The interested client doesn’t need to wait for a returned call, a sample to ship, or a sales person to schedule a meeting in order to get the process started.
Establish or reinforce brand awareness and industry prominence. Even if your company is lucky enough to enjoy a dominant position in your market, it’s wise to reinforce that lead position and stay top-of-mind for your existing clients in addition to maintaining or enhancing your brand awareness to those who haven’t yet joined the majority.

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The best investment an exhibitor can make in addition to exhibiting at a trade show, is to get the word out ahead of the trade show that they will be there. There are several effective ways for exhibitors to do this. One is to send out a pre-show mailer or email campaign. A postcard or blast announcing that your company will be exhibiting at an upcoming show, complete with your trade show booth number is a start, but you can further entice prospects to visit with a special offer such as a giveaway. Many exhibitors have found that they have success with promoting special in-booth presentations or new product introductions during the expo. In addition to mass-marketing efforts like those, you should also mention your show presence to each prospect AND client you speak with in the months or weeks leading up to a show. It can even be a good reason to place another call to that prospect you haven’t heard back from. Sales staff can personally call and schedule in-booth visits with key prospects and existing accounts. Even if it’s just a mention of when that sales person plans to be in the booth, such personal invitations are highly effective.

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Seasoned event marketing professionals undoubtedly have developed a number of tools and processes to help them do their jobs more efficiently and more accurately. In the course of helping clients, we are always on the lookout for cool tools that make the event planning professional’s life easier.

Here are some cool little online tools we recently found that you may find helpful:

event space planning and event budgeting tools:

Event Budget Calculator
Room Size Calculator
Room Capacity Calculator

color and image resolution tools:

Color conversion (RGB / CMYK / HSV / YUV)
Megapixel Calculator – digital camera resolution

font help and typesetting tools:
What The Font?
IdentiFont
TypeSetter

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