Trade Show Exhibit Advice

By: Barry Siskind

I have been walking trade shows for nearly a quarter of a century and I still get excited each time I do. It’s the energy and the glitz and glamour of show biz that keeps me coming back for more. It’s especially interesting to watch a show during set up, sometimes from the vantage point of a balcony of mezzanine. Beneath me I see the organized chaos of hundreds of people scurrying around, forklift trucks lifting wooden boxes and empty spaces being converted into showpieces – each piece of the jigsaw puzzle magically coming together.

Try watching the show you are exhibiting at take form. See if you aren’t as impressed as I am. But, we don’t have to keep this excitement our little secret, my guess is that lots of your customers might really enjoy seeing the sights and sounds of a trade show even if they can’t attend. You can share the experience through the technology of social media.

I read an article in Exhibitor Magazine which reported that the Freedman Decorating Company of Dallas, Texas used Twitter to bring visitors to their booth. That sounds easy enough. They had a significant following on Twitter so by offering a $5.00 Starbucks coupon and an opportunity to hear about their latest offerings, their pre-show promotion took on a whole new look.

But, you have the power to take your show promotion even further. For example the technology giant Intel Corporation posted images and videos on YouTube and Flicker for people around the globe who could not attend one of their major international conferences. These absentee customers could see new products, hear speeches and share in the experience of a show.

It’s pretty easy to explore the world of You Tube. Visit www.youTube.com and enter trade shows. When I did it I was quite impressed. I found one video that received 1,940,425 views and another with 1,276,956. While this may be beyond most company’s realistic expectations you can still achieve a viewership. With a bit more searching I found a video posted by Auto Page, an automotive solutions retailer, who shot a video at their show in Las Vegas and received 5, 019 views and Freeline Skates who manufactures skate, surf and snow boards, exhibiting at in San Diego received 981 views.

Think about it. Freeline Skates was able to attract 981 people who spent 2:38 minutes watching a video about their products. That’s not bad.

So, if you are looking to beef up your show promotion efforts with a minimum of costs keep social media in mind.

Here are a couple of things to consider:

• Take serious steps to developing a social media site on Twitter, LinkedIn, Flicker or Facebook to encourage the people you want to follow you with interesting and timely information. You can also use social media to invite guests to your display.

• Videos don’t have to be broadcast quality. You can take it on your  iphone. An interview with a customer at your booth, a tour of your trade show exhibit booth or a walk around the show may do the trick.

• Video don’t have to be lengthy. The most popular videos on YouTube were those in the 2 – 4 minute range.

• Focus on the experience. Keep away from the tendency to reiterate information your customers can already see on your web-site and focus more on the experience they are missing at the show.

• There is no limit to the number of videos you can post. You can do a comparison of your display this year to the one you had last year to let your customers know that you really listened to their feedback. Perhaps you can do a mini version of an in-booth presentation or take a time-lapse video of your booth under construction.

Promoting your attendance at a trade show is crucial, but the methods have changed largely because of the demographic shift in your customer base. Years ago sending out a thousand e-mails might have done the trick, but not today.  The Generation X’s and Millennials who are technology savvy, demand information in bit size chunks. Keep these tips in mind when you promote your next show.

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By: Barry Siskind

One of my favorite places to buy books is Amazon.com. If you are one of millions of book buyers like me, you are familiar with the typical Amazon.com listing. Their history is noteworthy. Amazon started selling books on the internet in 1995. Over the past decade they have grown to the point that they sell more books, DVD’s, CD’s M3P’s software, videogames, electronics, apparel, furniture and toys on-line than anyone – anywhere in the world. Why? Because they have a formula that works.

Picture an Amazon.com listings and think of it as above and below the line.

Above the line you find the title, price, shipping dates, inventory levels, number of pages, publisher, language, ISBN number, and the details about what’s inside the book. There’s no fault here. Everything you need to know is clearly spelled out. But that’s not why people buy books particularly if it is an author they hadn’t heard about before. They need more than details which bring the discussion to those things that are below the line. These include information about the author, citations, customer rated reviews and a section called, “What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this page?” Above the line points the purchaser to the details and below the line reveals the experience. Which do you think is more important?

This same analogy applies to an exhibit program. What do your signs and graphics say? Are they filled with information about products and services? What about your literature? Is it teeming with enough information to sink a supertanker? And what about your trade show booth staff? Do they fill hours at the show telling people all about the features and benefits of your products and services?

If you answered yes to any of these then it’s time to stand back and re-think your approach.

It all comes down to understanding the difference between remembering and knowing. Remembering, which is prone to error, requires a deep mental level of processing information that is often referred to as the “episodic memory.”  Knowing on the other hand triggers a familiarity which interestingly enough is often without the details of a specific product or service. This is referred to as the “semantic memory.”

The lesson to learn is that knowing lasts longer and has a more powerful impact on decision making than remembering.  When I decide what to buy on Amazon.com, I often refer to the items below the line. This is because to have an  experience on-line, the best I can do is find out what other people feel.

But in a show environment we have the advantage of face-to-face contact. Our customers have an opportunity to touch, hold, smell, taste and hear our products and services through one or more of their senses. It’s when we harness the power of presenting below the line that we create a lasting impact.

Here are few quick pointers:

1. Your front line booth staff should be passionate about the product and services they represent.
2. They should leave the customer with a positive feeling about doing business with your company.
3. Signs and graphics should focus on experience rather than details.
4. Literature should utilize lifestyle photos.
5. It’s little stuff that makes the greatest impact.

This last point focuses attention on an important quirk of human nature. People who expect a certain level of service become very critical when it slips even one iota. When dealing with the public you and your staff should constantly try to provide extras that go above the standard. It’s these little things that often solidify the knowing part of memory.

Whether you are in your showroom or at a trade show, leave your customers  with a positive experience and you will remain top of mind when it comes time to place an order.

By: Barry Siskind

After exhibiting at a trade show you come back to the office with lots of leads. You know you should tend to them quickly but are not sure of the best method.

You can send an e-mail or text message which is fast and inexpensive but leaves you wondering if it got through a spam filter or was designated as junk. You can send your information by snail-mail which is slower and not terribly costly but you don’t know for sure if the person who you intended to contact actually received the message. Or you can send a package by courier which is costly but dependable as you can rest assured that your intended recipient did receive your information.  Which is the best method?

The answer is simply it depends. Not on what but who. Each lead you obtained will have a personal preference for follow up. Some want information sent by snail-mail and others welcome e-mail or text message. Then depending on where in the world you exhibited, courier may be your only choice.

Finding this out is easy and will not add additional time to your already overworked staff. There are two steps.

1. It is essential have some sort of lead gathering system at your disposal. This can take the form of one of the many electronic lead retrieval systems that are available through show management.  You may also have an electronic system of your own tied into your PDA.  Another solution is to create a lead card. This is a pre-printed form with a list of all the questions you will ask each visitor and room to record additional information you pick up during the conversation. In no case should you consider writing on the back of a business card as you can only jot down sketchy and inconsistent information and in some cultures it’s often considered rude.

2. Whatever technology you choose be it electronic or manual, make sure you have room to ask one additional question which is, “What is the best way to stay in touch with you?” This goes to the heart of their personal preference and knowing this important bit of information will help you create a follow-up plan that has a better chance of success.

Once you return to the office you can instruct your staff to follow-up with each lead according to their preference. If this sounds like a lot of work, it really isn’t. The trick is to focus your lead generating efforts on quality rather than quantity and to gather information in a consistent manner.

It’s easy to come back from a show with hundreds maybe thousands of names but many of these are not real prospective customers.  By focusing your energy on finding those prospects that closely fit your customer profile and asking the right questions to whet their appetite for more information, you have done your job well. You may come back with fewer, but better quality leads and if you contact them in the manner they choose your chances of improving your exhibit ROI are greatly enhanced.