If someone tells you trade shows are yesterday’s news, they are making a gross miscalculation. There are no bad marketing strategies. Everyone is unique, and everyone needs a mix that works for them. “All you need is online marketing” is one of the world’s three great lies (the other two are “This won’t hurt as much as you think” and “I’m from the government and I am here to help.” In marketing, the magic is in the mix. When I ranked marketing tactics during a ten-year lead generation study I conducted, networking at trade shows finished in the top five. The best marketing tactics are educational in nature, and a trade show let’s you educate prospects face to face (or “belly to belly,” as one of my mentors used to say).
According to statistics compiled by the website spingo.com, “The cost of a face-to-face meeting with a prospect at a trade show is $142. The cost of a face-to-
I had a phone chat with trade show expert Alice Heiman, co-founder of TradeShow Makeover, and asked her for the key to trade show success. She said one word, “Preparation.” Then she added some other great words. “The key to success with any event is preparation and yet, it’s where people spend the least time and effort,” said Heiman. She explained that everyone prepares. “They think they have done all the prep needed but truly most of them have left out several important pieces.”
See you on the expo floor!!
Guest Blogger: Henry DeVries, M.B.A., cofounder and CEO of Indie Books International, speaks to thousands of business people each year on how to persuade with a story. In his writing and speaking he shares, in humorous ways, pragmatic strategies that can double sales results and achieve marketing returns of 400% to 2,000%. He is also the president of the New Client Marketing Institute, a training company he founded in 1999. He is the former president of an Ad Age 500 advertising and PR agency and has served as a marketing faculty member and assistant dean of continuing education at the University of California, San Diego. https://www.forbes.com/sites/henrydevries/2019/05/26/why-trade-shows-are-still-important/#18e957a87a08