| 9 Tips to a Better Trade Show |
|
|
|
|
Trade shows can be an effective but also expensive way to market. That's why we've come up with nine tips to make the most of a show. Including: how to plan the event, market it and get customers to evangelize your product. -> Tip #1. Get the team together Most of getting ready for a show often falls to an events team or other group in charge of logistics. But those team members need to coordinate with your marketing staff to determine what you want to get out of an event, what marketing tactics can achieve those goals and which customers should be targeted. The planning team should include:
- The events team Starting the process early is critical. Figure you'll need at least three to four months lead-time to brainstorm marketing ideas and perform pre-show marketing. -> Tip #2. Facilitate the event, but don't dictate the content Listen to your customers to determine the content of a show. Know their hot-buttons and address them at the show. Don't assume you know what they will want to see. -> Tip #3. Plan promotions and activities that customers and prospects Trade shows are great relationship-builders, but many companies don't create enough ways to interact with attendees. Here are a few ideas to engage the crowd with special events:
- Use part of your exhibit space as an area for attendees to set appointments with your sales team. You can add a promotion, such as a free giveaway, to encourage customers and prospects to arrange a meeting, but you might want to limit the sign-up process to key customers or your best prospects, whom you've identified and invited before the event. -> Tip #4. Use pre- and post-event marketing to make your customers feel like VIPs If attendees feel good about the experience you provide, they'll probably feel good about your company, too. So make sure they know they're appreciated. o Send key customers and prospects personalized, pre-event marketing. For example, a personalized welcome kit or handwritten notes thanking customers for attending, go a long way. -> Tip #5. Invite a company's entire team, not just one or two employees The decision to buy or renew a contract with you is often in the hands of an entire team attending the show. Yet most companies only invite one or two employees to their booths and other events. To build the strongest relationships possible, you should reach as many attendees within a company as possible. Here are a couple strategies to boost attendance:
- Make the event relevant to people in multiple roles. -> Tip #6. Use customers to evangelize your product Prospects at a show want to meet someone just like them who's already a customer. Make it easy for prospects to find and talk to those people:
- Ask a few of your best customers if they will meet with prospects at the show. Create a forum so that potential customers can sit down for a conversation. -> Tip #7. Give unhappy customers a chance to speak their mind, too Most customers cite customer service as the No. 1 reason for dropping a vendor, yet many vendors don't realize a problem exists until the customer is gone. Shows are a great place to look for those unhappy customers -- before you lose them forever. Have a customer-service presence at the event, not just sales and marketing folks. You can field questions or allow clients to vent what's bothering them with their account. Important: Coordinate with your technical support or customer service team beforehand, so you have the files and records that document ongoing client problems. The last thing you want is for an unhappy customer to talk to you about a longstanding problem and have no knowledge of the situation, or at least know how much back-and-forth has already taken place. -> Tip #8. Plan ancillary events that encourage networking Fact is, networking is hard. Most people don't know how to do it and end up sticking with their co-workers or, worse, standing by themselves at networking events. Do what you can with events outside the formal program to help attendees meet one another. Organize industry tables at conference lunches. Put big signs at each table indicating what industry type will be sitting there. That way, a lone attendee looking for a place to sit will be assured they'll have something to talk about with the other folks nearby. And don't forget to market at cocktail parties and other after-events. Make sure you have plenty of signage at your parties, and don't think that just because attendees are there to unwind that they won't take time to learn more. You can set up nice product displays or other means to engage customers with your company. -> Tip #9. Add a virtual element to the event Look online to extend the networking capabilities of a show. You can post notes and presentations from the show for those who couldn't attend (and those who could but want to see the data again). Or, you can create online-only special events and product showcases and demonstrations that extend the conference long after it's over.
Need help implementing a new sales or marketing program? We've got two suggestions:
a)
Check out our free marketing templates and tools on this site. There's
ton's of them. You might want to bookmark the site now, you could be
here awhile.
Just become a registered member (it's free) of the myMarketingGuide.com website and you can download hundreds of other articles, templates and more. Don't worry, we respect your privacy. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
