Tradeshows are like the new Yellow Pages ads – most business owners assume they need it just cos, but do not plan or incorporate it into a wider strategy and either have no idea on the ROI or are ignorantly washing wads of cash away.
But exhibitions and events are such a big deal now they have their own special name: “experiential marketing”.
Done right, you will be itching to make it more than an annual event!
Why?
It is like the physical version of an inbound lead.
THEY came to the event.
THEY came to your display.
THEY indicated their level of interest, feeling like the open space offered them safety from being sold anything.
If they went so far as to sign up for info or close a deal, you as the business owner need to realize the sheer power of that, and never again showcase at an event and NOT follow up your prospects. By phone, ideally.
So, before we go any further, make that deal to yourself – that you will have a follow up plan in place before event D-day.
(In fact, tag your right-hand person or EA into this article and say “make a note to set up follow up plan).
Onwards!
Some people have a knack for planning this stuff, but most businesses we talk to have a roadblock either in imagination or budget.
If you need to help using this process, huddle around the staffroom or chat with one of our team.
Firstly, choose your objectives.
1. Network/launch/get your name out there. This will require just as much walking around talking to other display owners as attending your own.
2. Getting leads. This will require demoing stuff or letting people interact with your product in some way and getting as much of their contact and qualifying details as possible without boring or scaring them away.
3. Closing deals. This will require having brilliant people manning your stand, a sense of urgency (e.g. 1-day deal), and a way to filter out spectators from ideal clients.
4. Maintaining your dominance in the market. Best achieved with novel displays, good location, and premium advertising.
High ticket items generally require 1-to-1 chats. You are going for quality of prospects.
Things people can buy there and walk out with, you can get away with creating a presentation of sorts. You are usually wanting as many people to see it as you can and for them to self-qualify.
Next, snoop on your competition.
If you haven’t been to this event before, a quick online search ought to bring up some material to give you a sense of the look, feel, and objective they went for.
Jot down what you like about it, what you don’t, and any novel ideas that would have made it better – what would have bought more people in, resulted in more eyeballs on the presentation/chats, made them talk about that stand when they get back to their workplace.
Don’t be fooled by a customer with bigger dollars or market share than you, there will be things you can do that they can’t, especially due to corporate policy and the like.
Don’t backtrack on your chosen objective based on them having a different one, either. You are not trying to BE them, you are trying to BEAT them… or at least carve out your own niche and strategy.
Now obviously you are not going to give these ideas of improvement to your competition, you are going to hoard them for yourself.
Get the feelin’
The thing a lot of stands miss is that decisions at a tradeshow are based on emotion and then logic.
It doesn’t matter if you are the guy selling tractors or the hipster pushing sustainable backpacks.
What is the feeling you want to create? Wonderment? Trust? Pride? Ambition? Free spirited? Exclusive?
Now, what are some things achieve this by engaging the senses?
Tractors: Pride – let them sit up there or try to pick up a gumboot and carefully place it on a pile of dirt for a prize. Give them a trophy to carry around the event so blokes ask them “where’d ya get that thing mate?”
Sustainable backpacks: Free-spirited – set up your stand like a remote forest scene; the four walls backdropped with tall trees and the roof resembling the sun sneaking through the leaves. Remove them from the artificial lighting of the event so they feel like they are in nature. Set up a campfire scene. Don’t make a costly video about ocean rubbish being the source material for your bags – literally get a large cube of compacted “ocean rubbish” and display the bags on it.
Paleo-friendly snacks: Trust & Exclusivity. Sure, let them sample the food. But these stands get swamped with freeloaders who are not genuinely interested in that lifestyle. Try doing things more like a cooking-show – limited seating, and by putting stools at your counter and having a schedule of when the next presentation starts, it means the target market prioritises your stand and the rest keep moving. It also means you have a captive audience of people who already value your product.
Hit play.
Well, you know your objective and your imagination is ticking.
Now it is time to get quotes on setting it up and marketing this little gem.
You will need to give a budget, because the materials used in the stand and promotion can be reverse engineered from there, without you sacrificing every one of your glorious goals.
We are biased, but our recommendation is to outsource this part, because you have other things to be doing – making sales and setting up your post-event follow-up plan, which might include email templates and telephone scripts.
Weirdly, we know someone who can hold you hand through this process.
Try our free event guide or call us up to tell us what parts you need help with.
Whichever way you do it, make sure your stand stands out.
Don’t be the boring kid in the corner everyone awkwardly smiles at as they walk on by.
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