HOME :: MARKETING SERVICES :: EVENTS & TRADE SHOWS
Events and Trade Shows can be a powerful way for businesses to get face-to-face with their ideal buyers.
JDM offers a variety of trade show and event marketing services including exhibit design, pre-show, post-show and at-show strategies, promotional collateral production, event promotions and list management. Click here for an example of our trade show marketing services.
For your next trade show exhibition to be a success, break down your marketing activities into pre-show, at-show, and post-show. Once you've got your plan for these three critical phases, there are a few event and trade show do's and don'ts.
Pre-Show Marketing Services:
- Show Strategy and Planning
- Promotional Offers and Offer Development
- Email Invitations and Pre-Registration Offers
- Integrated Direct Mail
- Online Promotions including: website updates, form integration, SEO, PPC
At-Show Marketing Services:
- Exhibit Design and Production
- Exhibit Signage
- Trade Show Floor plan
- Design, Print and Produce Show Collateral
(brochures, show-specific business cards, etc.)
- Show Technology Development
(Radio Frequency Tagging (RFID), Sales Force Automation Integration,
Bar Codes, Lead Integration)
Post-Show Marketing Services:
- List Management and Database Batch Updates
- Post-Show Direct Mail and Email Delivery
- Post-Show Sales Integration
- Show Metrics Analysis
JDM's Top 12 Trade Show Do's and Don'ts
12. DON'T be afraid to ask questions
A lot of first-time exhibitors are shy about asking the trade show staff questions prior to and during the show. Don’t be. They are a wealth of information. It's better to ask them than for you to break a show rule you didn't know existed. As a police officer once told our Managing Director, "Ignorance is not a defense."
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11. DO research
Having the best promotion, the best sales staff, the most attention-grabbing exhibit are meaningless if you’re not at the right show. It pays to do your homework and discover which show will most likely get you face-to-face with your ideal buyer for a price you can afford.
10. DON'T pass up attending other shows
It’s a great use of your exhibition budget to attend, rather than exhibit at trade shows prior to exhibiting. You’re allowed to attend the show as a “non-exhibiting” vendor. That way, you are able to meet and hopefully generate some new leads while assessing whether or not this particular show is right for your industry or offering.
Better yet, attending in this manner is often a tenth to a hundredth the cost of exhibiting.
9. DO have a list of measurable goals
Was the show a success or a failure? Setting measurable goals prior to the show will give you a really good idea of how successful the show was or how realistic your goal setting was.
8. DON'T do what everybody else is doing
Exhibition is no place for "Me too" marketing. This is the place for you to let your creativity (more so than your budget) win you business at the show.
For more information about getting creative at the show, see our marketing tip: "No One Can Resist a Monkey".
7. DO listen more than you speak
They say you should listen 80% of the time and talk only 20% of the time at the show.
The key here is not to "throw up" your value statement onto every passerby. Instead, look at this as a rare opportunity for you to market your business in person. There’s plenty of time to shout your value statement in your advertising. Spend the show listening to your prospects. You might be surprised what you hear.
6. DON'T "hang out" at the booth
Eating, drinking, chatting on your cell phone are all fine at your local watering hole, but the trade show is no place for overly-casual behavior. Remember that as you are there to meet your ideal customers in person, they are also there to meet you.
What’s the point of that professionally-produced exhibit and collateral if the staff behind the table looks like they have better places to be?
5. DO meet people
Why stay in the exhibit the whole time? We recommend to our clients that they leave one member at the exhibit while another trolls the food & beverage counter and the smoker’s station outside.
It’s been my experience that these are the places where you can leave a lasting impression.
4. DON'T depend on remembering everyone you meet
Even if you’re a memory savant, don’t leave the ultimate success of the show to your randomly firing neurons.
Take notes during interviews, collect business cards like they’re an investment and aggregate all that information. It’s all you’ll have left once they turn off the trade show lights and mail you the bill.
3. DO ask qualifying questions
Qualifying leads as they come by the booth with both allow you to more effectively budget your time as well as identify the hottest prospects for immediate follow up.
If you’re listening close enough, you might not have to ask anything at all.
2. DON'T forget to promote your exhibition prior to the show
It’s not the role of the venue to promote you. The fact that you are there means they've already done what they set out to do--sell exhibit space. It’s up to you (and your marketing firm, if you have one) to promote your attendance prior to the show and drive traffic to the booth once you’re there.
1. DO follow up
The number one mistake among first-time exhibitors is to take a break after the hectic show is over. I know it’s been a bit of an ordeal, but it's the follow up that all that work has lead up to.
Not putting adequate emphasis on follow up in the months following the show is like running a marathon and taking a nap once you’re within sight of the finish line.
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