Archive for the ‘Trade Show Marketing’ Category

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The rationale behind hiring a trade show model is simple – nail the first impression by leveraging the old advertising maxim of sex selling. And for years the trade show model was a staple, pulling show-going crowds towards booths and hopefully towards products. Recently, though, trade show models, or as they are more commonly known “booth babes,” have been going the way of the caribou. Case-in-point, the 2008 SHOT Show, previously known for its pairing of guns and babes, was so lacking in trade show models that Field and Stream Magazine was forced to pad their annual review of models with pictures of men sporting unusually long beards, and causing many readers to question, why are exhibitors messing with a good thing?

In 2006, the Electronic Software Association (ESA), the trade group behind the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) issued a press release stating that for the first time, the dress code, typically flouted by models, would be enforced. And by “enforced” the ESA meant a warning followed by a $5000 fine. Common motives associated with this new rule enforcement stemmed from the reputation of the trade show (previously described by IGN’s David Adams as “ribald”), the fear that the ESA was marketing sexually-explicit content to children, and the fact that the video game industry was reaching sales parity with Hollywood. There is, of course, a common thread between these arguments: the product didn’t need the sex, instead it needed to be viewed as professional. For the ESA, the video game had matured beyond the quick, impulsive sell that sex grants, and was finally a legitimate part of living rooms around the world.

The ESA was telling exhibitors to do something every trade show exhibitor should be doing anyways, they should be considering their brand. Whether you are an entrepreneur, an executive, or merely an employee, trade shows are worked with the explicit intent of drawing quality attention to your brand. The trade show exhibitor is there to build excitement that should ultimately turn a booth visitor into a repeat customer. The booth is a means to forging a lasting relationship on a personal basis. Working a booth allows a company to press the flesh and promote with a passion that simply can’t be found in traditional advertising. So, why would a company risk potentially isolating half the attendees at a conference with a booth babe?

Half? Well, close to it. According to a survey conducted by AffiliateTip.com, 70% of the female respondents and 41% of the male respondents (56% overall) said that they were less likely to visit a booth that used a booth babe. Conversely, 29% of the overall respondents said that a booth babe caused a null opinion, and a mere 15% said that a booth babe would positively impact their opinion of a booth. Perusing blogs will lead to an even larger mountain of anecdotal evidence that suggests that not only are individuals less likely to visit your trade show displays if a booth babe is present, but they are actually more likely to form a negative opinion of your company to boot.

Of course, not all trade shows are following the trend presented by the ESA, yet booth babes seem to be disappearing just the same. The use of booth babes at YAPC (Yet Another Perl Convention) sparked a thread on the Use Perl official message board regarding whether or not booth babes should be used at other conference. The quote that seemed to sum the experience up was “that is so auto show.”

The debate surrounding the use of booth babes even leaves the trade show, with various media outlets debating about whether they should continue to feature photos of the “best” babes, often opening up the discussion to readers. Tom’s Hardware, a forum and media outlet focusing on technology posed the question to their readership and the first response cut to the heart of the issue – juxtaposing the ‘for’ being juvenile and mainstream against the ‘opposed’ being adult and technical. Tech Republic, also opened the question up to their readers, and gathered likewise responses. It seemed that even the media was turning their backs on booth babes.

There is, of course, one final theory on why exhibitors were shying away from trade show models. At the 2006 E3, Disney was there presenting the video game tie in for their Pixar animated feature “Cars.” There between near-life-size examples of the film’s star cars was, you guessed it, a trade show model. The model in question was decked out from head to toe in skintight black jumpsuit, complete with plunging neckline and a checkered-flag racking stripe running up her sides, and covering just enough to show that Disney could play by the new E3 rules. Perhaps the world at large saw Disney’s display as truly jumping the shark and everyone simply moved on.

Whichever theory you subscribe to – maintaining an professional image, fear of isolating potential clients, or merely staying one step ahead of Disney, the use of trade show models are certainly on the decline. And as John Davis, editorial director for Ziff Davis Media Game Group told ABC News, "Not having the booth babes isn’t going to make any difference." Instead, of babes, the new trend seems to be presenting your products in a professional manner, with booth workers who go beyond gimmick or sex and instead have a passion for your brand and a knowledge base to match. Guess which one leads to more quality sales?

About the Author

Mat Kelly is the president of ExhibitDEAL, a leading provider of trade show displays , trade show flooring , and other trade show accessories. An environmentally friendly company, ExhibitDEAL can be found online at: http://www.exhibitdeal.com .

This article written by Susan Friedmann looks at some innovative ways of reducing your trade show budget which can allow you to put more finances to your trade show display. At ExhibitDEAL we have many options from the low-cost trade show display to the high-end trade show display. Visit us when you are ready to upgrade your exhibit or buy your first booth.

Whenever a recession or volatility threatens the economy, companies immediately look at where they can cut budgets. Without much forethought, the first to hit the block is inevitably training, followed closely behind by marketing. Why? Both are viewed on the balance sheet as expenditures rather than income generators, so obviously they’re hot contenders for elimination.

This is a very myopic way of thinking, especially for companies who want to remain globally competitive. Instead, at times like these when resources are under severe scrutiny, look at this as a golden opportunity to analyze your strategies. Put your activities under a microscope and closely examine what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Often during times of plenty, the finance reins loosen up and some highly creative juggling takes place when budgets exceed their estimations. Obviously, we enjoy the abundant mentality and wish that it could last forever. But just as with all things in the universe there has to be a balance, and shortages add stability to plenty. Whenever highs exist, lows are inevitable.

So, instead of reacting to the highs and lows of the marketplace, what can you do to maintain a steady balance? Marketing and training are definitely keys to your success, so let’s examine five benefits and how they relate to your tradeshow participation.

1. Analyze your weakest links

When you take time to look examine your operation in more detail, you often discover that many of your actions are done out of habit rather than being productive and profitable. Think about some of the shows that you attend. How do they really fit into your marketing strategy? Are you attending them just because you’ve always done so, or because your competition is there? These are often your weak links, the shows that utilize unnecessary time and energy. Think about doing away with the “nice to be at shows” and rather opt at putting all your energy into the more profitable events that attract larger quantities of your target market.

Another weak budgetary link is associated with excessive employee spending at shows, such as dining at the finest restaurants and ordering the highest priced items just because the boss is paying. Consider setting up a per diem allowance and make employees accountable for expenses. You might even reward them with the difference if they under spend their stipend.

2. Exhibit a global competitiveness mindset

To be a contender in the global marketplace and establish a vanguard positioning, you have to be out there come rain or shine. And, tradeshows signify an essential marketing strategy when it comes to visibility. Exhibiting demonstrates that you’re a serious player in the industry. However tough, it’s important to keep tradeshows as one of your major promotional strategies. Rather consider reducing space than totally pulling out a show, provided of course, that it’s the right show for you. Unfortunately, if you stop exhibiting completely, the “buzz” on the show floor says publicly that you must be in financial trouble. This may be completely false, but it’s people’s perceptions that count. They’re the reality they believe. As the old adage states, “out of sight, out of mind.” And, since memorability is a key factor associated with exhibiting, if you’re not seen, how can you possibly be remembered!

3. Focus on long-term results

Investing in both marketing and training means that you’re interested and willing to focus on long-term results. Neither is designed to give a “quick fix,” rather using them continuously in an organized and planned manner, will produce results. They’re like a dripping faucet, so long as the drops constantly fall into the tub, it will fill up. However, if you maintain a “turn on, turn off” approach, that is train and market in times of plenty and discontinue when there’s a shortage, then your results are likely to mirror your actions. Look at how you can keep an operational equilibrium to avoid the highs and the lows. Develop a consistent marketing and training strategy.

4. Inspire loyal workers

Often companies are reluctant to invest too much in training staff for fear that once trained, they’ll leave for “greener pastures.” Since there are no guarantees in life, that’s always going to be a risk, but does that mean you shouldn’t develop your people to be the best they can be? Absolutely not! The reasons employees leave may be many. Employees may leave because of frustration or stress. They might feel unappreciated or undervalued. It could be that they believe your company is heading for an iceberg and want to “jump ship” before it sinks. Maybe they feel that their salaries are not in line with the jobs they are performing. Or they could feel that they don’t have enough authority, growth opportunities, or direction in their careers. Training is often the key to help inspire loyalty.

5. Improve performance

Employees are the backbone of your company. Without them, your company cannot stay afloat. The relationship between employees and employers has to be a partnership; if they feel their needs are being ignored, they will leave you. But when both sides work on the same wavelength, share the same goals and ideas, the company will be on the right track for success. What better place than the tradeshow floor to exhibit this mentality. Your exhibit staff represents your internal customer-service team and your company ambassadors. They stand for your entire organization. These people have the awesome responsibility of making or breaking future relationships with attendees, prospects and customers. Their attitude, body language, appearance, and knowledge help to create positive or negative perceptions in the minds of visitors. Make sure that they’re well trained and can do what you expect of them. Training shows that you recognize your team’s importance in the company and look to develop their skills to improve performance.

Exhibiting is a powerful extension of your company’s marketing strategy and your people are the backbone of your company. Eliminating your marketing and training budgets during times of recession is tantamount to profitability suicide. So consider looking at other places to make those cuts!

Written by Susan A. Friedmann, CSP, The Tradeshow Coach, Lake Placid, NY, author: “Meeting & Event Planning for Dummies,” working with companies to improve their meeting and event success through coaching, consulting and training. Go to http://www.thetradeshowcoach.com to sign up for a free copy of ExhibitSmart Tips of the Week.

No matter how much money you have in your marketing budget, it seems there’s never enough. From the marketing department at Microsoft to the small nonprofit start-up, there’s always the desire to expand your budget for more effective promotion.

On the surface, trade shows may not seem to be the best use of those marketing dollars. But when you factor in some basic components of effective marketing strategy, such as target audience, immediate one-on-one personal attention and follow-up, there are few marketing strategies that produce such a strong return on investment.

Now, a good marketing plan will include more than just attending trade shows. For maximum exposure in your market, you must have a multi-faceted approach: network marketing, marketing materials, a website and trade show marketing These tools and strategies are just a handful of effective marketing techniques, and generally perceived as the most essential. And while each technique has its strengths, none will give you the return on investment that you will receive from exhibiting at a trade show. (more…)

Steven R. Covey has helped millions of people in their business and professional lives with his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The Seven Habits, first written 17 years ago, has proven to be an effective guide for personal and professional development. And these principles, when applied to your trade show experience, can dramatically improve your experience at the event and your results.

Treating your portable trade show display like your portable office is the key to maximizing your effectiveness at each and every event. The purpose of a trade show is connecting with people, and portable trade show displays enable you to create a space for educating prospects about what your company has to offer and qualifying leads to pitch them for a sale or follow up with them later. (more…)

Most companies spend a good chunk of money on trade show admission fees, the trade show booth, marketing and even generating publicity about their presence at the event.

But when the trade show is over, there is no strategy or accountability for contacting the leads generated from the event. And that, my friends, is like flushing money right down the toilet.

Because we’ve all heard it before, and there’s no need to sound like a broken record, I will simply say this: FOLLOW UP ON YOUR LEADS! Julia O’Connor, a speaker, author, and consultant who is an expert in psychology of the trade show environment does a great job reiterating this point in her article on TradeShowAdvisor.com’s website:

http://www.trade-show-advisor.com/trade-show-job.html

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When shopping for trade show displays, save money on your overall budget by choosing trade show accessories that stretch your marketing dollars. Table top displays, literature racks and portable projection screens are all products that can be used after the trade show to enhance your office environment or used in other ways.

As you purchase your trade show booth, you will find offers to purchase additional items to make your space more efficient, more organized or more appealing to trade show attendees. If you’re on a tight budget, the costs can quickly add up, so it only makes sense to purchase those items that can later be used in your office or retail space.

Here are a few ideas to get more “bang for your buck” with your trade show accessories.

Table Top Displays

Table top displays are an affordable option to begin with because they can be used as the focal point of your trade show space, or as part of a larger trade show display. And when the trade show is over, this marketing piece can continue to be useful

The table top display is a strong visual element that contains key information about your product or company. You can extend its usefulness after the trade show by putting it on display in several different ways:

• In your company reception area or at the front of the store to inform visitors about your company or a new product
• In training sessions with employees to remind them of the company’s key business principles
• As a portable marketing tool when making presentations to clients
• To introduce the company to the general public or communicate a key message or messages when sponsoring an event

Table top displays are one of the most useful and versatile marketing accessories that are worth the investment whether you decide to attend a trade show or not.

Literature Racks

While you literature racks are very useful in organizing your printed materials at a trade show, they can also be used as an organizational tool around the office.

Organize Your Marketing Materials at the Office - If a prospect walked in off of the street and wanted general information about your company, are your printed materials easily accessible?. The literature rack will keep all of the materials organized and your staff will easily be able to see when materials need to be replenished.

Shape Up Office Décor - Do you have magazines for your clients to read while they wait to meet with you? We’ve all been to a doctor’s office that has magazines strewn all over the tables and chairs. A literature rack is an excellent way to keep all of the magazines organized and in one place. Also, you can avoid clutter by using a literature rack in your own personal office to organize the various weekly or monthly magazines, annual reports and other publications you receive.

Keep Employees Informed - You can place a literature rack in the employee kitchen or “break room” to display updates to company policies such as: health insurance or investment benefits, holiday schedules, worker’s compensation rights, special company-sponsored events for employees and the community and even the latest internal company newsletter or publication.

Literature racks are an incredibly helpful organizational tool that reduce clutter and can be used to keep internal and external audiences abreast of the latest developments within your organization.

Portable Projection Screen

Whether you are showing a slideshow or a mini-movie, the portable projection screen can be that little something extra that increases traffic to your trade show booth.

Because it is easily transported, the portable projection screen can also be used inside and outside of the office after the trade show. When giving a client presentation, your portable projection screen enables you to arrive at the meeting fully prepared to do a standard Power Point presentation, or a more elaborately executed multimedia visual. At the office, whether you are reviewing graphs with statistical data at an internal meeting or showing a slide show of candid office photos at the annual holiday party, your portable projection screen is a handy tool that can easily be stored without taking up much space.

If you use discretion when choosing your trade show display accessories, you will have materials that can be quite useful around the office. Depending on the size of your office space, and the needs of your staff, keep the table top display, literature rack and portable projection screen in mind when you want to make a wise investment with your marketing dollars.

Tags: literature racks | table top displays | trade show accessories

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There’s only a small percentage of businesses in the marketplace with firm brand recognition like Oprah, Microsoft, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Amazon.com. While the hefty marketing budgets of these behemoths is impressive you can promote your company and get your piece of the pie with a considerably smaller - even miniscule - budget. From advertising to how you execute your trade show display, there are low-cost and effective alternatives to traditional marketing strategies that create impact.

The first step is to focus your marketing efforts (otherwise known as target marketing). A topic that has nearly been discussed to death, target marketing is essential for just about every company, no matter how large or small. You don’t see advertisements for Oprah’s show on ESPN because that’s not her target market. And while a household name like McDonald’s appeals to almost everyone, their advertising efforts tend to be targeted toward specific marketing trends. Their latest marketing campaign is focused on the youth market that, these days, have much more of their own money to spend than the youth market of yesteryear. (more…)

Once you get traffic flowing to your trade show display, beyond the product display and basic information about the product and your company, how do you keep the prospect’s interest?

Clearly your potential client has some level of interest in your product or service or they would not have stopped at your booth. But the cut-throat competition that exists at trade shows requires you to be at the top of your game so you can demonstrate what separates you from the competition. The doorway to closing the sale is building rapport - and at a trade show you don’t have a lot of time to do that.

And while you aren’t necessarily expecting to close the sale with every prospect at a trade show, Zig Ziglar says there’s one simple way you can more efficiently move toward the close. Before beginning your presentation, you establish an agreement with the prospect that at the end of the presentation you expect them to either:

• agree that the product is in their best interest so the two of you can discuss the purchase options available OR,
• indicate the product is not in their best interest and the two of you will discuss options from there.

But first, you’ve got to make it to the close of the sale. In his article, “How to Build Trust and Rapport Quickly,” sales trainer John Boe reviews tips and strategies to consider once the prospect is standing before you.

How to Build Trust and Rapport Quickly

By: John Boe

If you’re working hard, but aren’t consistently generating enough sales and getting referrals, chances are it’s a matter of trust. One of the most critically important and yet frequently overlooked aspects of selling is creating a solid foundation of trust and rapport.

Suppose you could incorporate a few simple, yet highly effective ideas into your selling process and substantially increase your bottom line?

Successful salespeople have a knack for making people feel important. They understand the value of building trust and rapport early on in the selling process. For you see, it really doesn’t matter how knowledgeable you are about your product line or how many closing techniques you have mastered, unless you earn your prospect’s trust and confidence you are not going to make the sale period.

Read more of “How to Build Trust and Rapport Quickly”

Tags: sales | establishing rapport | building rapport | sales strategies | closing | trade show tips

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Six Do’s & Don’ts for Creating Impact

The graphic elements of your trade show display are as essential to getting results as the paint on an artist’s canvas. There are many creative directions you can go with this idea, and many of your competitors will default to using the company logo for their graphic because it’s easiest. But this works best when you have firm brand recognition, like Apple Computer or a compelling, attention-grabbing logo like Target Stores, or you have a combination of both, like McDonald’s

But if you don’t have that concrete brand recognition yet, there are plenty of alternatives to effectively executing the use of your trade show display graphics. Here are some guidelines you should follow to give you the best chance at getting the results you want.

Do:

Think from the Customer’s Perspective – If a prospect knows nothing about your company, what would you first want them to know or understand about you? And how can you communicate that in your trade show display graphics at first glance? Put yourself in the customer’s shoes – most of us know from Marketing 101 that if you don’t get the customer’s attention in a few seconds, you can forget it. So, don’t waste their time – make them feel grateful that they stopped to talk to you. (more…)

When planning to participate in a trade show, how often to you really think about safety and security? Exhibitor Online’s Candy Adams reviews potential risks in her article, “Trade Show Safety and Security.” From splitting the contents of her wallet between two pieces of luggage to making sure you safely set up your trade show display, she covers common vulnerabilities and how to protect yourself, your staff and your equipment during the next trade show that you visit.

Trade Show Safety and Security
By: Candy Adams

From airports, to the hotel, to the show floor itself, exhibit managers face threats to safety and security at every step of the trade show experience. Because much of what we do, and exactly how and when we do it, is not within our personal control, planning safety and security for ourselves, our staff, and our exhibit property isn’t something we can leave to chance.

Personal Travel Safety
What would you do if your wallet, containing all your cash, traveler’s checks, credit cards, and ID, was stolen going through the security checkpoint at the airport? This exact scenario happened to me a few years ago on a two-show road trip.

I now split my cash and credit cards between two pieces of carry-
on luggage whenever I travel. I also keep a photocopy of everything in my wallet on file at home, just in case I have to report the loss or theft of my credit cards or ID.

But simply arriving safely is only half the battle. Be aware of scams at gas stations near airports where travelers typically refuel rental cars. One thief will set up a distraction as you pump gas, and another will grab your purse or wallet from the opposite side of your car.

When checking in to your hotel, be sure the desk clerk doesn’t ann-ounce your room number in front of other guests. If this happens, request a room reassignment.

Read the rest of Trade Show Safety and Security.