The Exhibitor's Resource – Trade Show Marketing Blog

Trade show exhibit design and planning should focus on the following objectives that lead to sales:

Attract visitors to your trade show booth to learn more about who you are and what your company’s offer is.
Captivate your visitors once inside your trade show exhibit by presenting a compelling message or a high-energy presentation.
Engage your guests in a dialogue about their needs and how your offer may help meet those needs.
Educate potential clients and existing customers on the benefits and advanced features of your offerings.
Inspire trade show booth visitors to become subscribers to future communication from you and a continuation of the conversation.
Motivate your prospects to take the next step, such as accepting a product trial period, receiving a quote, or placing an order during or immediately after the trade show.

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A - Get the word out to prospects, clients and trade show attendees ahead of the conference.
B - Make the most out of every minute on the expo floor, and then network as much as you can to drive traffic to your exhibit outside of expo hours.
C - Follow-up on show leads and other connections immediately and persistently after the trade show, or even while still at the show.

A) Pre-show mailers, email blasts, and calls to set up at-show appointments are the three tasks you and your team should be focused on one to two months ahead of your show. Your team’s goal is to “get on the dance card” of every potential customer. Consider an incentive to get pre-qualified prospects to your exhibit space. Take advantage of show-sponsored marketing tools, such as postcard mailings to all attendees, or email blasts to lists of attendees from your target segment. Many shows can break out lists of just your target audience, often by their professional title.

B) Schedule enough booth staff to cover your exhibit space for the entirety of the expo hours, factoring in snack, lunch, and bio breaks. Make sure that knowledgeable staff are available continuously until the show hall is empty. Once you and your team leave the expo floor, make an effort to connect with prospects and clients at after hours receptions and networking events. Encourage those you meet outside of expo hours to drop by your trade show booth to see that demo or meet with that colleague that has experience with their situation. Do everything you can to drive traffic to your booth on the next show day.

C) If you’ve done A and B, you’ll have a long list of interested prospects to call on after the show. This is a great problem to have, but you need a strategy in place to make sure you turn those leads into sales. One idea is to handle as many requests and follow-ups as you can while still at the show. This offsets the work you’ll need to do when you return to the office, but also ensures that you are seen as responsive and engaged. But once you’re back to the routine of the office, it’s important to make time for proper follow-up on all of the leads acquired at the show.

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No Sitting!
There is no reason for booth staff to sit while in the exhibit space, unless your exhibit space has a lounge area or conference are and you’re having a productive conversation with a prospect or client. Booth staff need to be up and actively reaching out to potential visitors. Sitting behind a table creates a barrier between booth staff and visitors. Booth staff should wear the most comfortable professional looking shoes they have. And schedule your staff so that they can take regular breaks to rest those legs and feet.

Absolutely No Eating or Drinking!
Schedule breaks and lunches for you and your staff so that staffers can have snacks or meals somewhere else other than in the booth space. And leave the coffee cups and soda cans in the food court, you’ll be able to get more at the next break. And think twice about that stick of gum, a mint might be the better option.

No mobile phone usage or texting.
Of course these days it’s very easy to quickly check your email or txt messages on a smart phone, but while you’re representing your company in your booth space, you shouldn’t reply to those messages or receive or place calls. Set your email outgoing message to let your clients know that you’ll be at the show, and will return their calls ASAP if you happen to be unavailable when they call. Adhering to this rule will ensure that you are available to make eye contact with show attendees and effectively engage them in conversation when there is interest.

Never leave an booth unattended.
Be sure to schedule booth staff so that breaks and meals are accommodated. It’s wise to try and have two staffers in even the smallest booth space, just so that there is some overlap in case one person must leave. An unattended booth during show hours is the just like a store being closed during the posted “open” hours. Again, you’ve spent enough money to reserve the booth space, design and set up your display, get staff to the show, so get the most our of ever expo hour with a staffed booth.

Don’t neglect housekeeping.
All booth staffers, no matter how much of a super-star they may be, need to be vigilant about keeping the booth space neat and tidy. Keep trash cans out of sight, personal belongings in storage areas, pick up any trash that appears in the booth, place furniture back into the default locations when visitors leave, replace any light bulbs that may burn out, vacuum the carpet at the beginning of expo hours, and generally do whatever you can to keep your space looking its best.

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Exhibit Resources just started using twitter to see what all the hype was about. We initially thought that it would be no more than a novel way to discover like-minded trade show exhibit professionals and display designers and suppliers. Little did we expect that this twitter thing actually had a lot of value. So far, we’ve made some pretty interesting connections.

We’ve also noticed a lot of trade show producers using twitter to communicate with attendees and exhibitors. One example is InfoComm09, which posts informative links, info and statistics on the InfoComm show in mid June. How else would we learn that 7.2 miles of Aisle Carpet will be installed at the show, or get a handy link to planning your trip to the show? Here are some recent InfoComm09 tweets:

# From move-in to move-out approx. 18,058 hours of labor will be used to produce InfoComm 09
# Visit InfoComm’s booth, #5261 to find out more about membership, certification, education & social media
# 7.2 miles of Aisle Carpet (38349 liner ft) will be installed at InfoComm09
# Don’t miss over 100 new exhibitors at InfoComm 09!
# 50% of Classes are new at InfoComm 09! Check out all the classes, http://bit.ly/OUBI7
# Planning your trip to the show? Find deals to Orlando from Total Travel http://bit.ly/12UsDk

We’ve also seen some companies tweeting about the trade shows they are preparing to exhibit at to drive traffic to their trade show booth, tweeting from their trade show display during the show, and using twitter to update followers from live demos, key note addresses and conference sessions.

Exhibit Resources plans to participate in a webinar on the future of “Digital’s Role in Exhibit Marketing” on June 4th, when The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) will share the findings of their recent survey findings on the topic. The session will include stats on measurement, ROI, budget for digital media and best practices exhibitors can use to integrate digital and social media into their event marketing plans.

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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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Exhibitors benefit in many ways from the shows that they exhibit at, but their post-show process can really be a factor in success, now and for future events.

Here are some of the post-show activities that should be planned to maximize the effectiveness of the show:

• Has a daily debriefing meeting among booth staff been planned?
• How will show leads be processed and followed-up on?
• Has a system been put into place to handle the fulfillment of visitor requests for literature, samples and other follow-up materials?
• How will conversions and sales resulting from the show be tracked?

• Did the show expenses stay within the budget?
• Does the budget need to be adjusted for the remaining show calendar, or for the same show next year?
• Based on the show results, what other shows should you consider exhibiting at?
• What recognition will the booth staff receive for meeting show goals?
• How will the success of each show be determined?

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What’s the best way to get prospects to visit you at your office? Set up shop on the trade show floor! Many sales professionals would jump through a lot of hoops to have hundreds of qualified prospects visit their office in just a few days. Yet some sales people are less enthusiastic about staffing their company’s trade show display. Are expo days long? Yes, they are! Are your feet tired by the end? If you’re not gelling, they may be. But look at what you get out of it: lots and lots of leads, many introductions, several good starter conversations, a few really promising business relationships, and a handful of sales or pending sales. Is it worth it? Absolutely! You just need to think of your trade show display as your office away from office. Or showroom away from showroom. Would you show up for your work day without appointments on the calendar? Of course not! Be sure to set appointments at your show just as you would at the office. You need to get on your prospect’s dance card. You need to make time for existing clients. Reach out, be a good host, and make the most of your satellite office!

Office Away from Office

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