You decided that participating in a trade show this year will meet your business objectives. Great! Now, you need to decide your messaging, how to promote your participation as well as to how generate foot traffic to your booth.
To determine messaging, you need to ask yourself what you wish to accomplish.
What are your objectives? Are you looking to build new relationships for better sales, distribution, or representation? Are you going to launch a new product at the show? Shows are all about relationships, – creating, building, and maintaining them. I encourage my customers to build messages that focus on the benefits of their product/service. An example of this would be, “MintChewies cleans a dog’s teeth using all natural ingredients that protects their teeth from gingivitis and decay!”
Who is your audience?
Do you know who buys your product? Do you tier these buyers into groups? If so, do you think each group will give you the desired behavior if they all received the same message? Probably not. I encourage my customers to tier their audience with different messaging for each within an overall theme for cohesion. Most companies would break down their audience into at least 3 categories; prospects, introduced prospects, and customers. Prospects are those companies who don’t even know you exist, introduced prospects are those who know about you, but haven’t committed to a sale, and customers are who currently use your product/service. You can immediately see here these three groups have very different needs based on their stage in the sales cycle. Therefore, they will each respond differently to the same single message. (You can break down these groups further if you chose to for more complex metrics.)
How can we motivate our current customers to visit our booth?
Practicing the art of gratitude is a good way to get existing customers to come to your booth. How can one say “no” to a gift? However, the gift needs to be a premium, personal item that the customer needs or wants to entice them to stop by. (iPads, iPhones, Android Phones, Kindle and Nook seem to be the coolest gadgets in town. They’re great for business minded folks, too. Need help finding the perfect promotional item?) Once they’re there, make them feel comfortable. Offer them their favorite drink, give them a place to sit down and relax for a bit. Ask them if they’re willing to talk with other people about their experience and match them to a prospect with a similar challenge so they can compare “notes”. There is nothing better than word-of-mouth marketing from your very own customers.
What can we incorporate into our booth’s presentation that will enhance its visual impact from good to “Wow!”?
Incorporate visual cues that match your booth whether you are renting or purchase a custom one. For example, be sure that any vertical banners used for the show complement your booth’s design and not detract from the visuals. (A local company to help you design or rent an affordable, yet effective booth would be Exhibits Northwest. Plan to spend at least $2,000 for a portable 10' by 10' booth.) Display your product(s) prominently in the presentation area so prospects can see, touch, hear, smell, and taste (if they want) your product. Think of apparel retail and how these brands add to their customer’s experience with displays, lighting, scent, music, product samples, and demonstrations. Use all areas to display product and key messages. Hang promo graphics in your booth or use floor graphics if that makes sense. Would a cushioned, thick carpet enhance the experience or a hardwood floor? Allowing prospects to experience your brand with all the senses helps eliminate a hurdle between you and the sale. What about the booth’s staff? Have them wear corporate attire that enhances your visual brand and helps create a professional environment to conduct business. Lastly, don’t forget consistency in visual cues reinforces your brand in the minds of your prospects, creating “mindshare” or remembrance. If they’re not buying today, they’re buying tomorrow.
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