Winning Strategy for Trade Shows

Ok. Let's talk specifics. For the next several entries we will focus on a number of industries and events. We will discuss which products seem to make the most sense for each, and how best to use them. It is always dangerous for us to do this sort of thing. Once we start naming products we run the risk that you will think we only offer those products. If we talk about an industry you are not part of, you may lose interest in us. Oh well. No risk, no profit…

Today… trade shows.

Exhibiting at trade shows can be a great way to build your business. Depending on the show, hundreds or even thousands of potential customers will walk past your booth, table or display. Your job is


1) to figure out which of the passers-by are good prospects and then
2) get the good prospects to stop so you can proceed though your sale process

Prior to the show it is a very good idea to decide who you want to meet and what your goals are. If you don't know who you want to meet, why spend the money to exhibit in the first place? Start with your best prospects. Add your dream accounts. Who are your best customers now and who might be their 'clones'? It doesn’t have to be a big number if adding just one of them can make your year.

Once you know who they are, invite them. Yes, invite them. Don't make the mistake of assuming that the event coordinator will send them an invitation. Send them something so that they know you will be there and that you want to see them. More importantly, give them an incentive to STOP AT YOUR BOOTH. Getting them to the show is NOT enough.

Here’s an idea. Send them an ‘invitation to the movies’ along with the event information and promise them a movie gift card when they stop at your table. Or, prior to the event, arrange with the event caterer to buy a number of drink tickets, then send a tote bag with your logo and a QR Code linked to a map with your booth location on it to your list promising to give them extra drink tickets when they stop at your booth WITH the bag. Not only will this send them to your booth, it will help you determine which of the people passing by your booth are the people you want to meet - they are carrying your bag!

More on trade shows later. For a sneak preview, CLICK HERE

Steve Raggo
www.raggo.com

Trial, Balloons

Ahhh....I have remembered one of the reasons I stopped making New Year's resolutions. It's the whole business of having to keep (or at least trying to keep) them. There is usually a pretty good reason why we needed to make the resolution in the first place - why we needed that extra 'prod' to our consciences that resolutions represent. It usually has something to do with liking the things that we resolve to give up or not liking the things we resolve to do. After spending a good number of hours this past week updating our Specials pages and repairing broken links on our web site, I found out on Friday that the repairs needed to be repaired again and some of the links that were working on our Specials pages no longer worked. I guess our vendors were working on their web page resolutions as well. Such a hard life I lead... (I know, I know, everyone is laughing)

So I have repaired the repairs and updates. Let me know if you find any of the hyperlinks on our web pages don't work. There is a sugar cookie dipped in dark chocolate in it for you!

I did notice something unusual this year while updating the Specials. For the first time in a very long time balloons are on sale - even the mylar ones. Balloons are one of those ad specialties that have never really needed to go on sale. They are quite inexpensive without the sale discount, and usually in fair demand. Think about it. Just about every event we celebrate can be celebrated with balloons. Open houses, anniversaries, Grand Openings, fairs, trade shows and award ceremonies almost always include balloons either falling from the ceiling or tied to sign posts or carried by kids of all ages. After all, if you are exhibiting at a trade show or expo or street fair of any kind, wouldn't you think it was great if everyone walked past your competitor's booth carrying one of your balloons!

Choosing the Right Promotional Product (2)

Here is our list of questions we must answer when choosing the perfect promotional item:

1) What do we want to happen?

2) How will we measure success or failure?

3) What is our target demographic?

4) How will we deliver the item?

5) How much can we spend?

6) How quickly do we need the product delivered?

Measuring Success

For us, measuring success is an automatic result of deciding to accomplish something. We didn’t open our business just for the sake of opening it. We do not buy printing and postage and Sticky Notes so that we can spend the money. We buy them to make the phone ring or to make the cash register beep or to keep our employees on the job. We make sure that those things happen by keeping track of the phone calls or the daily cash register totals or retention rates. By keeping track we can determine if the promotion was a success. If it is, then we will do it again. If it is not, we will need to make it better by changing the item, the target or the delivery.

There are many ways to keep track. Simple log books and spreadsheets work fine for most goal tracking. In other cases we may need to conduct surveys or send out questionnaires. Let’s say that your goal is to:

“Increase traffic at our trade show booth by 10%”

The plan then might be to send out invitations with flower seed embedded paper (maybe adding "We will help you GROW your business" to the invite text to tie it in) to all of the prospects that you would like to meet. In order to generate excitement, you might choose to offer an MP3 player as door prize, but everyone who stops by your booth will receive a pre-paid music download card in return for their business card. Tell them about the prize in the invitation. Draw your door prize winner from the business cards you collect. The number of cards will tell you if you have met your goal.


Steve
www.raggo.com