January 7, 2015

Tricks of the Tradeshow: Get the Conversation Started

This is a guest post by Ruthie Abraham of The Brand Builders.

Regardless of whether you’ve worked at dozens of trade shows around the country or whether you’re headed to your first show, coming up with a compelling way to get people to stop and see what you have to offer is always one of the greatest challenges at a show. A standard greeting normally isn’t enough to engage someone, so you need to develop a catchy opener.. Pre-plan your opener. It can be catchy, intriguing, flattering, startling, weird, clever or some combination of these, but we recommend having a few on hand and testing your pre-planned lines to see how initial attendees react. If you get a good response on one, you can continue to use it for the rest of the show and at your next exhibition.
Here, we break down 10 ways to get the conversation started in a compelling way and connect with a quality lead:

Be upfront. Give me two minutes of your time to find out about how you can ___.
Lead them. What is your department doing to lower your total cost of _____.
Establish common ground. What do you think of our show so far?
Take an indirect approach. Can I ask your opinion on something?
Get physical with a hands-on demonstration of product. Help me out with this!
Show you care about client needs by asking them what problems they face. Which part of our service or product is most relevant to your needs?
Draw them in with an offer, challenge or contest. Have you entered our raffle to win a free _____?
Be presumptive. I see you looking at our services. Are there any features you have questions on that I can explain to you?
Ask them to think about an industry problem (that your product solves). Hey! Do you know the statistic of _____?
Make it open-ended. How are you familiar with our product or services?

Ruthie Abraham is the founder & President of The Brand Builders – a B2B marketing agency focused on helping companies drive results, return and revenue from their online marketing. Their B2B Marketing Blog is a resource for executives and professionals to learn about lead generation, content marketing, strategic sales, social media, trade show marketing and more.

October 17, 2014

Six Tips To Create A Top Custom Modular Exhibition Stand

The following is a guest post by Reno Macri.

A custom modular exhibition stand is an option to make the most of your investment, providing the chance to not only adapt and modify your stand for a program of shows, but also to re-use components from your stand in other events in between exhibitions. Modular design provides a uniquely adaptable framework for your exhibition, and can have greatly reduced shipping costs. The unique custom elements can provide high impact branding, whereas the durability of materials and efficient storage ensures your exhibition stand will look amazing every time you use it.

Create a Sense of Intrigue

Some of the best custom modular exhibition stands’ success lies in their creation of a sense of mystery that helps convert passive passers-by into active potential customers. Intrigue is one of the most powerfully effective ways of increasing interest in your brand, and a custom exhibition stand is a perfect canvas upon which to create it. Carefully plan what you want to achieve with your design, and ensure that the pay-off to potential customers hooked by the sense of intrigue created by your exhibition stand is worth their time and is relevant to your brand identity.

The Bigger the Better?

When choosing the size of modular exhibition stands, a larger space will obviously create more of a visual appeal to potential customers. If space permits, a large exhibition stand accurately portraying your brand identity, with a range of interactive technological aspects and friendly, knowledgeable personnel will combine to create the perfect exhibition.

Memorable Live Presentations

A lot of research has indicated that exhibits that provide interactive live presentations are amongst the most memorable to consumers. The opportunity to be equally entertained and engaged in a presentation presents an opportunity to be far more active in the event, and will also set you aside from your competition. Any exhibition is about standing out, and not simply blending in with the number of other stands there. It is things like live presentations and demonstrations that will help you achieve this, particularly with the flexibility provided with a custom modular exhibition stand, which will allow you to incorporate all of your design features.

The Power of Touch

Interactive digital technology has emerged as one of the most successful aspects of any exhibition stand in the last ten years. From the early days of simply having a computer present on which you could register your interest through social media sites, to the fully-immersive world of countless iPads and interactivity that continues to grow in popularity with the public. Again, it is all about ensuring your potential customers aren’t simply passive in their experience of your brand: integrate them into the experience, make them a part of it and let them feel what you product or service is all about.

The Power of Smell

Of all five senses, it is the power of smell that is the strongest in triggering memories or an association. Some aromas remind you of specific holiday destinations, of childhood memories, and can instantly transport you to another time and place within your mind. Drastically under-used in exhibition design, the power of smell as a memory trigger has the potential to be incredibly powerful with creating brand association through your exhibit.

The Power of Sound

Although you will need to research what regulations exist with the exhibition space, a good use of sound can be the perfect way to attract visitors to your stand. Music, or a presentation will help draw attention to your stand for those who cannot immediately see it.

Reno Macri is a managing director of Enigma Visual Solutions, a leading exhibition design company in Berkshire, UK. It specializes in providing exhibition services like custom stands design and build, signage system, conference set design, event branding, graphic productions and much more. He has been working in exhibition & the event industry for more than 2 decades. He enjoys sharing his thoughts on experiential marketing and design trends. You can follow him on twitter.

September 18, 2013

Generate Buzz By Getting Social For Your Next Tradeshow

This is a guest post by Matthew Brennan.

Tradeshows can wield a terrific impact for businesses. The effect of waves of people coming to your tradeshow booth to find out more about what you do – and buying from you – can be great for the bottom line.

The thing is that trade shows can be crowded, and you need to work hard to set yourself apart from the competition. That can be accomplished in person with great banners, marketing materials, and branding. But there are things that you can also do with social media to generate a buzz that will keep people talking for a long time.

Use Twitter Hashtags to communicate – Twitter hashtags are a great way to make sure that the conversation keeps going. If people have a question after they leave your tradeshow booth, or simply want to talk about what they saw, they can leave a tweet with the tradeshow hashtag. That way they can be sure that the right people see what they’re talking about.

Hashtags are simply the pound sign immediately before a word on a tweet. It makes them searchable in Twitter, so anyone attending the show, or looking to find out more information, can find it.

Use giveaways – Are you giving some promotional products away at your Nimlok tradeshow booth? You can use these items to spark a little interest online. Mentioning them on your Facebook page or in a tweet can motivate people to make an appearance, and see what you have to offer in person.

Why not let people know that you’ll have a free _____________ to the first 100 people? If what you’re giving away is truly valuable, it may just be the incentive to get them to come earlier, creating a demand.

Preview your exhibits at the show – Do you have something great planned for your tradeshow booth? Facebook and Twitter are the perfect place to give your customers and fans a little taste of what they’ll be in for on the tradeshow floor.

What aspects of your industry or business are you highlighting? Is there something specific that you’re looking to promote? This is the place to expand your reach and get in front of people. Letting people know what they can expect ahead of time can increase the crowd.

Use QR Codes – Your marketing doesn’t have to be strictly from the online world to the trade show floor. You can use your tradeshow presence to drive people back to your website and social platforms and create more long term relationships. This can be achieved easily through the use of QR codes. You can put these simple codes on any of your marketing materials, and when your customers scan them, it will return them to a specific website of your choice.

You can send them to your Facebook page, if you want them to become a fan. You can send them to your blog if that’s where you’re publishing your best content. You can send them to a Pinterest page, if that’s where some of the best pictures of your work reside. The possibilities are endless. This is a great way to keep people wanting more.

Use The Same Graphics And Logo – You worked hard to come up with the perfect banners, branding and message for your offline tradeshow presence. Don’t throw that all away. Make sure that your Facebook and Twitter cover photos incorporate the same design. This will help keep a consistent look and feel between your offline business and your online presence.

About the author: Matthew Brennan is a marketing writer based in the Chicago area. He regularly writes about content marketing, blogging, and engaging with your audience. He has been published on ProBlogger, Soshable, and Business2Community. Connect with Matthew on his website, www.matthewlbrennan.com, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+.

October 27, 2010

Connecting, Following, Sharing and Buying

guest post by Derek Leftridge of Optima Graphics

When I was younger I remember my grandparents always had the radio on in their car playing old radio shows that had big casts and sound effects and it was an experience. This caused me to have an addiction to radio.

That life long addiction to radio spilled over to a new addiction to Podcasts about two years ago. I tried a lot of them then settled on a handful that I still listen to today. I feel a connection with those individuals since I listen to them on a daily or weekly basis. And it is enjoyable and informative.

One in particular announced about 6 months ago that they were on Twitter. I began following them there. I started to get cool info and announcements I would not have anywhere else.

Then a contest was announced on there Twitter feed. You enter through a link in the post and agree to follow two other people on Twitter. Those two other people had a connection to the person I was already following so it was a type of bonus. And once you entered, a post from you on your own Twitter feed was created so you could begin sharing the contest with those following you. Then they could also register. Sadly, I did not win.

To recap I listen to multiple podcasts daily, I follow many important and funny people all the time and get access to things and people I could not otherwise. I pay nothing for this ability. That sounds great for me but a big waste of time and money for those who produce the podcasts, take time to post on Twitter and those paying for products then giving them away.

Or is it?

That particular person I mentioned above whose podcast I listen to, follow on Twitter and had a contest has written a book and it comes out in November. I will be buying that book thank you very much.

Yep. That is the sound of money changing hands. The ROI if you will. This relationship has taken a while but we have finally arrived at the serious part of all relationships – the spending of money part. Social Media / Social Networking is like building up to that first kiss; except it is not guaranteed on the third date.

This is an example, maybe small but true, of how offering valuable content and experiences over the Social Media / Social Networks, in time, can have a monetary result. However, I do believe the relationship I discussed that finally paid off took longer than it has to. You have to decide how much time you want to put into this type of marketing. That time, along with the content you provide, will determine how quickly someone starts buying from you.

Derek Leftridge has been in the Tradeshow industry, with Optima Graphics, for 17 years and Marketing Coordinator for the past 5 years.

With his experience and drive he is helping Optima enter into new avenues of Marketing. E: dcleftridge (at) optimagfx.com / P:636-680-9262

photo credit: ellenm1

October 12, 2009

Increasing Tradeshow ROI

Here’s a guest post by Kevin Ehlers of Event Technologies of Long Beach, California

In today’s economic climate, increasing tradeshow ROI is as important as ever. While we can get very in depth on how to do this, I’d like to throw out a few quick trade show strategies that can help your company close more deals from your trade show leads.

Trade Show Lead Qualification – Being face to face with prospects is the main benefit of exhibiting at a trade show. The conversations that take place on the show floor determine which leads are good opportunities. The challenge is recording that conversation. Just scanning their badge with an exhibitor lead retrieval system doesn’t cut it. You need to either have to use a trade show scanner with custom qualifiers or use lead retrieval software with custom surveying capabilities.

Lead Rating – Once you have the trade show leads qualified you can use a lead scoring system to rate the leads (hot, warm, or cold – A, B, or C, etc.). There is no need to waste the sales reps’ time with the cold leads, so only send out the good leads. This will keep the reps engaged in your program, save them time, allow them to put more energy into the quality leads and, as a result, increase trade show ROI.

Sales Lead Distribution – With each day that passes, the trade show leads get colder and colder. You ideally want to get the leads to the reps within 2 or 3 days after the show. This gives the reps a week or so to contact all of their leads before they turn cold. Rapid sales lead distribution will increase your sales reps’ success rates.

Trade Show Lead Follow Up – As I just mentioned, the leads get cold quickly after a show. Trade show lead follow up needs to happen while the show (your company) is fresh in the prospect’s mind. Industry studies show that the leads are cold about 2 weeks after the show ends. A good idea is to send out an email immediately after the show to every lead saying “thank you.” This will keep your message fresh in their mind while you go through your lead rating and distribution processes.

I hope this post will help you rethink your trade show strategy. While these tips will take a little of your time to research and implement, they will reap rewards in the form of increased trade show ROI.

Event Technologies provides custom solutions for exhibitors that want to employ technology to improve the means by which they collect, distribute, follow-up and report on the leads that they generate at their tradeshows and events. Kevin Ehlers is the VP of Sales and Marketing and can be contacted at Kevin@event-technologies.com or www.event-technologies.com.

1 2 3

Guest Post

Tricks of the Tradeshow: Get the Conversation Started

Six Tips To Create A Top Custom Modular Exhibition Stand

Generate Buzz By Getting Social For Your Next Tradeshow

Connecting, Following, Sharing and Buying

Increasing Tradeshow ROI