Most people have a love/hate relationship with tradeshows. On one hand, it may be important to participate to build market awareness, or perhaps you are an established brand and can’t afford not to be seen. Regardless of the reason, here are my six tips, collected over 20 years of attending shows as either a delegate or an exhibitor.
So whether you got stuck with a 10×10 booth in the bowels of the show floor, or your neighbours are lacklustre and unimaginative, you can still be successful if you keep the following in mind:
1. Know why you’re there
Are you a new company or is this your first time attending? If so, you’re probably looking to fill your pipeline with contacts (notice I didn’t say “leads”). Marketing will want to nurture the contacts; sales will want to build the pipeline. Both can be accomplished with patience and an understanding of what constitutes a lead.
If you’re an established company, then you’re likely looking to connect with prospects already in your pipeline to move them along the sales cycle. Tradeshows are a great opportunity to grow those relationships.
2. Make sure sales and marketing are aligned
What marketing considers a “lead’ and what sales does can often rival the Venus vs Mars analogy. As I see it, marketing’s job is to nurture any and all contacts for viability. If there is a real opportunity, intent to purchase, and budget allocation, then the “lead” can be handed off to sales. Otherwise, let marketing nurture the relationship by providing ongoing content such as whitepapers and case studies, invitations to webinars, etc. Sales need not waste its valuable time.
When agreeing on your success criteria, you must also agree your objectives. Are you participating to: foster existing relationships, generate leads (if so how many), have a strategic presence, or for competitive research? When the show is over, do a post-mortem and document the results. Sending a simple feedback form to the folks who worked the booth is a terrific gauge. Finally, agree on who should work the booth. Depending on the audience you will need a mix of sales, marketing/product management, and technical pre-sales people.
3. Drive Traffic
Are you doing a draw at your booth for a large ticket item (i.e. an iPad)? Are you giving away 200 “tchachkes” (i.e. pens, USBs, etc.)? Are you running a contest? Do you have dynamic presentations and presenters? Are you issuing a press release? Most importantly, are you communicating this well in advance to your prospects? Find out if there’s an official #hashtag for the event and use it in your social media efforts.
4. Integrate your messaging
Post your participation in the event to your website as soon as possible. Make it prominent in your newsletter. Add it to the front page of your site the week before the event. If you’re issuing a press release, get the show’s media list and notify them in advance (under embargo if necessary). Do an email blast to last year’s attendee list. If your budget permits, do a print campaign (yes….people open envelopes if the message is compelling). Run a contest. Use social media. Assign someone to tweet while at the show, take pictures and post them to your company and social media pages (LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, etc). Engage your prospects!
5. Be prepared
I am amazed at how many companies spend tens of thousands of dollars on events, but don’t bother to spend the time ensuring that their presentation is clean, free of typos, and has been well rehearsed. When you ship all the materials down, allow room for mishaps. Ensure your booth staff has time for bio breaks, competitive research, etc. Take the time to give them the show agenda so they know when to expect heavy traffic on the event floor. Arm them with breath mints and water. Invest in a lead scanner and give them all the return shipping waybills in advance. Make it easy for them to focus on a successful show, not all the minutiae best-suited to your events coordinator. And for goodness sake, check the booth before you ship it. Are all the panels intact? Do you need light bulbs? Is the messaging still accurate?
6. Follow up
Don’t lose sight of your valuable contacts. Get them into your CRM database ASAP. Yes, even the business cards that the salesperson insisted be put into his or her pocket for follow up. Ensure the lead source is specific (ie: Graph Expo 14), not simply “tradeshow”. Have a follow-up email ready to go, with content that wasn’t available at the event, sent within 72 hours of the final day.
BONUS TIP: Do more than exhibit. Are there speaking opportunities? Sponsorship opportunities? Can you partner with the event organizer to produce a webinar in advance and get yourself in front of their attendees? All of these should factor into your plan.
Six strategies for a successful tradeshow
