Understand the unique aspects of trade show marketing
The primary function of trade show marketing is to communicate your solutions to those who need what you have to offer, using a visual representation and the fewest words possible.
This isn’t always as easy as it sounds. That’s what Ad Agencies do. That’s a profession with specific expertise in that function. It requires the same specialized knowledge and expertise as it took for your company to provide quality solutions to your customers. The guy who makes the best pizza in the world may not be good at sales and marketing.
What would those words be if you had to say them in the fewest words possible? The pizza guy can get away with “world-famous pizza,” but it’s not that easy in your case.
What is the best way to communicate your message at trade shows?
Fine-tune your trade show marketing message headline
• A consultant would ask your employees and customers, what are the most important solutions we provide?
• What do we give you that you can’t find anywhere else?
• If what we offer looks the same as others, what’s the biggest reason why we have so many repeat customers?
• If we could do one thing better, that is, products, services, capabilities; what would that be?
You would get many different answers. Once you do your best at organizing/consolidating the answers and separating staff and customers, you keep asking the question, “What is the common thread among all of them?” Customers are given first consideration. Staff possibly moderates it.. or else you discover that there’s a disconnect from one direction or another. You must crunch that out. It has everything to do with who you are and what makes you different.
That’s a short explanation of a lengthy process. Coming up with a short phrase that communicates takes some wordsmithing. Again, it is something that you go over and over, coming up with answers until you settle on one that uses the fewest words possible.
What is the most important function of delivering trade show marketing?
The 3-second rule in trade show in successful trade show marketing
Once that goal is achieved, the next task is to make the idea easy to see and absorb. The most important goal is to make it easy to remember after the show. You must accomplish that in just 3 seconds. Within the industry, that’s a given. When customers look at your exhibit, they aren’t sitting behind a computer. In some ways, by the time they arrive at your booth space, they’ve experienced an almost circus environment, with everyone trying to give everything they could to be there.
What is the most important aspect of exhibit design?
Consistency in your marketing message
Effective trade show exhibit design includes functionality such as meeting spaces, workstation presentations, etc. However, applying the “less is more rule” in trade show marketing is essential for success. It’s important to recognize that all exhibitors are competing for visibility. The amount of information and visual stimuli that trade show attendees encounter on any given day is unlike any other business environment. Keep your message short and simple. If long dinner meetings and hospitality occur the night before, absorbing the message can be difficult, and retaining it is even more challenging.
The look and feel of your exhibit should be a visual example of who you are and what you offer
While having an impressive exhibit says good things to you, if the exhibit design detracts from your messaging, it creates obstacles to absorbing and retaining your message. The sole purpose of a trade show exhibit is to communicate the most fundamental aspects of what you offer your customers. The golden rule of trade show exhibit design is; “Form Follows Function”. When someone sees your exhibit, everything needs to mesh. That rule applies to every single element of your exhibit—the look, the feel, and clear messaging—but there’s just that one more thing.
What is the biggest mistake that trade show exhibitors make?
If you’ve accomplished all the hard work required to gain maximum ROI, here are some ways to waste it.
- Poor Planning: Trade show exhibits are marketing vehicles that must perform in an environment where everyone competes against each other for attention. At a certain point, attendees get overwhelmed with information. The marketing message must be distilled to its most fundamental form and communicated in an easy-to-understand and absorb.
- Undertrained Staff: Booth staff must recognize the essential strategies required for trade show marketing and sales success. First and foremost, rather than focusing initial conversations on lengthy descriptions of what the company offers, sales staff should ask the prospective customer about their needs. That enables them to build a relationship that separates them from everyone else.
After that, if there is a match, solutions are discussed for further post-show follow-up. Given the time constraints of trade shows, time and energy must be reserved for bona fide prospects that benefit from your products or services. Not doing this results in lost opportunities with legitimate prospects.
- Neglecting Follow-Up: The biggest mistake an exhibitor can make is failure to follow up on sales leads from the show. Again, booth staff must discover what specific customer needs their products or services address. Once that information has been reviewed after the show, time must be invested in outlining solutions available in a concise way. Once that information is organized, they have the foundation for a sale and, more than that, a relationship that benefits both parties equally. That brings the trade show marketing function full circle and establishes the basis for future, ongoing, repeat business.
Effective post-show follow-up by salespeople, once back in the office, is tough. Sales staff are oriented toward providing near-immediate results. Smaller companies don’t realize that the only way that sales can be produced is to have a strong marketing department or at least the backbone of a well-thought-out marketing strategy behind them, upon which they can build.
Post-show follow-up is a challenge for both the exhibitor and the attendee. However, the exhibitor is responsible for taking the initiative and maximizing ROI by developing an effective strategy plan.
The Image Design and Communications team is relationship-based. We’re great at what we do, and that’s what we offer you: a long-term relationship geared toward our mutual success.