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[P752]Promotional Trade Show Item

by Jim Hawkins, Jim

After the Show

1.Follow up on requests immediately.

Send requested material within 24 hours. A quick response is your second opportunity to make a favorable impression. (Your performance in the booth is the first). You could even arrange to have your office forward the material while you're at the Trade Show, so it's waiting for your prospect on their return ? now wouldn't that be impressive!

2.Include a tag on the envelope or in the e-mail subject line.

Your organization's name and the name of the conference on the outside of the envelope, or in the e-mail subject line, will help differentiate your letter from junk mail.

3.Make it easy your prospects to take the next step.

Make sure your literature packages make responding easy for prospects by including your web address and information on the opportunities available to them. Remind them of any ?Trade Show specials? (and suggest you're doing them a favor by extending a time-limited offer?). Always start any communication with, ?It was good to meet you at this year's XXX Trade Show? (no, not that kind of Trade Show?).

4.Keep track of your prospects.

Nothing highlights the success of your Trade Show effort better than having prospects purchase your products. Keep a record of the customers who found out about your products through the Trade Show. If you're using a CRM to track your prospects (please say you are?), then tag them with an appropriate Look Up word for the Trade Show. Use these results to demonstrate the show's return on investment.

5.Send out any ?Thank You's?.

Just like you're Mother always said, you should send a brief ?Thank You? to anyone that helped make your Trade Show a success. Always include the Event Co-ordinators, Hotel staff, Convention Center personnel, etc., etc. It doesn't cost a thing (especially if you bulk e-mail?) and it just may make the difference next year when you're begging them for an extension cord or something.

6.Analyze "lessons learned?.

After each show, do a debriefing. Evaluate what went well, what didn't, and what could be improved for next time. Critique each aspect of the show and ask others for comments. Keep it real ? don't suggest ?better weather? for next year. Pay special attention to feedback regarding communication to prospective customers. The "lessons learned" will help improve your efforts for future Trade Shows.

7.What was the score, anyway?

Remember Point #3 and #4 from the Before list? (You didn't think there'd be a test, did you?). It was ?Identify your goals?, and ?Define measurements of success?. So, okay, did you meet or exceed your goals? If not, why not?

8.Make a decision for next year.

You should quickly reach a decision as to the value of the last Trade Show, and whether or not you should attend next year's show. If it's a ?go?, book that more favorable booth location early, and designate who is in charge of putting next year's Trade Show together. Maybe you want to change hotels, as well, to get closer to (or farther from!) all the action.

9.Knowledge is power.

Keep track of all this Trade Show information in a spreadsheet or simple database. By recording things like number of attendees, number of leads, total costs, deals closed, amount of sales, etc., you can make informed decisions in the future about the value of individual Trade Shows, or what works or doesn't work for your company. What was the ROI?

10.It's never too early to start again.

Take time to research all the valuable information on the web regarding Marketing in general, but specifically Trade Shows. One of my favorites is Susan Friedmann, ?The Trade Show Coach. Do a bit of research, and enjoy your next Trade Show!

On the surface, trade shows may not seem to be the best use of those marketing dollars. But when you factor in some basic components of effective marketing strategy, such as target audience, immediate one-on-one personal attention and follow-up, there are few marketing strategies that produce such a strong return on investment.

Now, a good marketing plan will include more than just attending trade shows. For maximum exposure in your market, you must have a multi-faceted approach: network marketing, marketing materials, a website and trade show marketing These tools and strategies are just a handful of effective marketing techniques, and generally perceived as the most essential. And while each technique has its strengths, none will give you the return on investment that you will receive from exhibiting at a trade show.

Network Marketing

This is one of the oldest, most effective, time-tested methods of marketing. Before there were business cards and brochures, offices and telephones, marketing strategy and advertising budgets, business owners promoted themselves by literally speaking to customers one-by- one. Idealistically, speaking to one person and asking to be referred to friends who may match your demographic creates a ripple effect and brings customers to your door.

The downside of this age-old tactic is the time involved. As a professional, time is money. In order to network, you must attend meetings and go to events that may be of interest to your target market and personally introduce yourself to people one-by-one. In addition, you often pay membership fees for some of these networking functions. The problem is, these meetings and events are smaller gatherings of people, and you are not going to be able to cover the ground that you would at a larger gathering.

Marketing Materials and Website

Most businesses arm themselves with business cards, brochures and other print marketing materials to distribute to the public. And increasingly, the essential need for a website has become standard for any smart marketing plan. Without these basics covered, you will find it quite challenging to compete in your market, no matter what type of business you are in.

The print materials are a good start but allocating the costs of reproducing and mailing them, and the process of constantly updating them, are no small tasks. Websites are an incredibly powerful marketing tool because any business ? whether one employee strong or tens of thousands strong ? can present you to a global audience. But like the printed materials, the site must be maintained and continuously updated to truly have impact. In addition, because neither of these tools lack interactivity with the prospect, you are not immediately able to guide their interpretations of the information or answer their questions.

Trade Shows

There's two reasons trade shows draw millions of people from all around the world each year ? a targeted audience and face-to-face, one-on-one contact.

The trade show is similar to network marketing but on a much larger scale. You have a large target audience swirling around you, so you conquer the first big hurdle of marketing ? weeding out the people who are not interested in your industry (because they aren't going to attend the trade show). And face time with your prospects enables you to further pre-qualify them to set a smooth landing for a follow-up or a sale.

The only possible objection with trade shows is the expense of them. When calculating your trade show budget, you must factor in travel expenses such as airfare, ground transportation and accommodations, meals, snacks, giveaways, the cost of being out of the office, the cost of your trade show display, and trade show exhibit fees.

The costs can really add up and, on paper, may make your finance manager reach for the antacid. But there is no other marketing opportunity that affords you personal contact with such a concentrated target market. In the end, attending a trade show is likely to produce the largest pool of qualified leads when compared to many other marketing tools ? giving you the best return on your marketing investment.

Trade shows are a crucial ingredient of your marketing strategy. While networking, printed marketing materials, your website and trade show marketing are all interwoven to execute an effective plan, the trade show provides the highest volume of potential customers and is the most direct. Attend trade shows on a regular basis and the results will likely eliminate any second guesses you may have about the money spent.

Article Source : Shows In New York

About Author

Both Jim Hawkins & Mat Kelly are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Jim Hawkins has sinced written about articles on various topics from Trade Shows, Information Technology. Jim Hawkins works at Windward Software, developers of , and, among other things, is responsible for organizing Trade Show attendance. While he doesn't actual. Jim Hawkins's top article generates over 1900 views. to your Favourites.

Mat Kelly has sinced written about articles on various topics from Trade Shows, Trade Show Exhibit. Mat Kelly is the president of ExhibitDEAL, the Original Exhibit Wholesaler specializing in trade show displays and accessories. The company has different trade show display models to fit every need and budget. For info, visit: http://www.exhibitdeal.com/. Mat Kelly's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.