A big expense with powerful potential, such is the investment into trade shows. Businesses are spending thousands maybe even more to participate and showcase their portfolio. Yet, few reap the monetary results or can quantify the success of their attendance. Is the trade show just a prestigious ‘nice-to-do’? Or should it have it’s own return on investment strategy?
Spring is typically a hot time in the trade show industry. Construction, real estate and wellness are just some of the sectors on the calendar at the Vancouver Convention Center every year.
The past weekend, I visited the 21st Health and Wellness Fair at Canada Place. With roughly 160 businesses and a full schedule of workshops, demos and speakers, this three-day event is very popular. As the health and wellness industry is one of our niche market sectors of expertise, we visited to connect.
The observation on how vendors delivered, urged us to share these essential tips on successful trade shows. Having worked with many businesses in the industry, it is fair to say, that as it is in any other small to mid size business from other industries, marketing budgets are TIGHT. Therefore there is zero room for waste; neither time, money or energy. Therefore let us help you maximize any future investment with this blog.
So, if you are a business participating in trade shows, read on. If you have friends or know of businesses that do, pass it on!
1.) MARKETING THE EVENT – Don’t rely solely on the trade show organizers to spread the word that you will be there. At least one month before the date, start spreading the word yourself.
- Share it through your website, social media, as part of the email signature for your entire team.
- Ensure special connections and alliance partners receive a special invitation to come and see you.
- Give prospective customers a special offer during trade show time.
- Let third party partners help spread the word and give them an incentive for new business generated that they send to your stand.
- Send out a digital postcard invite to your entire database.
- Create a pre-show contest where existing customers and prospects receive a special gift by visiting you at the show.
- Have VIP tickets arranged for special connections and prospects.
The list of ways to create a buzz around your company for the show is endless. It is worth the upfront work to make sure you get lots of traffic coming through and instill more credibility for your business with future clients.
2.) CAPTURING INFORMATION – Most stands that we went to on the weekend had little paper sign up sheets, which can easily get lost. And most did not even request the email address! To decipher people’s handwriting after the show would also be tricky.
Therefore, planning how to capture and what to capture is critical. For the occasion you may want to invest into a tablet like the iPad, which has a free app called www.icapture.com, specially designed for these events. Plus, no timewasting and/or wrong data entry on return to the office. The new contacts that your business captures at the event are your golden nuggets for new business. Don’t be mindless or wasteful but prepared and strategic.
3.) STAFFING – This is a BIG one and so easily under prepared!
- Choose your stand team members carefully. They need to be motivated, self-driven and confident. Plus have excellent interpersonal skills.
- Train them really well on what you want them to share about your business (company values, unique features, special benefits and how it competitively compares to similar offerings)
- Make sure they know how to ask the right questions. Trade shows are a great way to test the market and get research on what customers really want. Instead of rattling off details about your company, get your team to ask lots of questions (and capture for future analysis). Then let them match what you offer with what they are looking for.
- Give them many breaks to refresh and reenergize. Share the ‘shifts’ among quite a few people to allow for time out. If you have ever spent time at a stand on a trade show as we have many a times, you will understand that this is a huge necessity!
- Incentive, incentive, incentive! If you make it fun and give the team a chance to shine with special rewards (not necessarily monetary), you will get much greater returns from their efforts!
These are just 3 Key Tips on how to maximize your trade show investment. Ultimately we urge you to monitor the return of your company’s trade show attendance. If it is just a prestigious gesture, the money, time and energy you are investing is better served elsewhere. If you don’t manage the attendance carefully and with much thought, you may well end up with less credibility and a tarnished reputation as well as being out of pocket.
Share your trade show experiences with us on facebook or email us at info@mcgbusiness.com if you would like help with a plan for your next prosperous trade show experience.
Yours in business success,
Conny & the MCG Inc. Team
