Beyond The Ordinary – How to Stand-Out at a Show

The show is busy, lots of people milling about. The perfect opportunity to ensure your investment in your tradeshow program pays off. At a show, it is all about ROI. You want to generate a positive ROI (defined as [Sales divided by Investment $ > 1]) at every show. So how do you stand-out from the crowd?

1. Keep it simple – elaborate methods of garnering attention cost a lot and require you to push more sales through to generate a positive ROI. Sometimes the most effective ways are the least expensive ways. I once saw a large number of an exhibitor's staff wearing large brown paper bags as their uniforms. They would hang around the aisles and were handing out environmentally friendly paper bags for carrying swag. Cheap, simple yet very effective. The simple cartoon below, while not very repeatable is an example of a very effective "gimmick" – when it works.
2. Focus on your theme – the "paper bag" company was an environmental company and the attention grabbing method they choose fit well with their theme, significantly enhancing memorability. It takes time and a lot of effort to come up with a theme that is cost-effective, memorable, fits in with your company's products, and is one that your staff will embrace. Brainstorming prior to attending a show is crucial, and no idea no matter how outlandish should be ignored.
3. Keep it consistent – make sure your theme is carried through from your pre-show mail outs, to show presence, and finally to post-show follow up. Repetition of a theme allows your presence to stand-out from the crowd and remind prospects of why they need to deal with you. You may want to consider a tease of the theme in your pre-show mail outs, a full unveiling at the show, and then an evolution of the theme for the post-show follow up. A simple example for a cataract surgery hospital may be to send a glass eye with the quote "an eye for an eye making the whole world blind". Ask them to bring the eye to your booth. At the show, hand out inexpensive toys without the eyes and put the first eye into the doll. Have them complete a survey and as their reward, the remaining eye will be mailed to them. The "evolution" may be that the eye is a different colour and is the result of a positive cataract surgery. At the same time you will send them your marketing material and put them into your database for a follow-up call.

Have fun with themes and ideas, but don't spend a lot of money on brochures or giveaways that the attendee will not keep. They have enough pens, pads, envelope openers, key chains, etc. Give them something that will appeal to their children and the odds of them keeping it will significantly increase. When their children play with it the positive associations with your company will be well worth the investment.

Exhibiting “One on One” written by David Woods

Okay so the cliché is Exhibiting 101, and we've all read the reams of articles on basic exhibiting, in fact Google brings up over 19 million hits for "Exhibiting Tips". If a person is fairly new to exhibit marketing and the trade show floor they will be bringing, double-sided tape, Windex, power cords and power bars, more office supplies than they have in their office, a wastebasket, spare bulbs, a tool kit, probably a vacuum cleaner and more gadgets than Agent 007. All of the tips are basic common sense and your exhibit supplier will be able to pack your "goodies box" in with the exhibit.

The basic fact is you will arrive at the arena (The Trade Show) and over the next few days have the opportunity to meet the attendees "One on One" face to face. Investing in exhibiting is like no other media, this is not a print or an ad campaign, no "Fire Hose" here, this is it; a captive audience. As Woody Allen said, this is show business and it is a business, if it wasn't it would be called show show.

So the first tip is to be ready for the arena. Have your unique selling proposition down pat, your one liners, the short stories and don't forget the opening lines, these are the "engage lines" open ended. For example: Where… When…What… Why….How; now the attendees cannot simply answer yes or no and leave.

My next tip is what if. Have you done your research on the show? Have you studied the demographics of the attendees? By the way, the show organizer can always supply you the audited demographic information if you ask. Some years ago I was supervising a national pavilion at the National Hardware Show in Chicago, one of the exhibitors had an interesting product and his annual production capacity was 50,000 units. In the first day he had enquires for 300,000 units with deliveries required within 3 months, he had no plan B for production. Needless to say he walked away from solid business and wasn't that the reason he was exhibiting anyway? So remember, what if you find that perfect buyer? Be prepared.

Tip number three is
looking the part. So what is the part? Well let's face it the stage has moved, you don't have to impress the visitor with an elaborate office building, showroom or roadside signage, now that you are on the show floor and so is the competition. Yes your competition is also away from their impressive head office, so give consideration to how you look at the show. Consider when buying a car, who wants to enter a car lot where the owner has only invested in a chain of colored lights and a used trailer? Invest in looking the part and remember: the stage has moved so "to be or not to be, that is the question"

The last tip of this article is lead each night. It is a fact 60% to 80% of all leads are not followed up, this is astonishing. I met an exhibitor once that appointed a "lead sheriff" at the show, one of her staff. The sheriff entered all the leads in a simple Excel spreadsheet during slower times during the day. Each night the sales manager distributed all the leads to the various dealers and reps. the follow up was now in place and the sales cycle had begun. Amazingly leads were followed up during the show, eliminating the stress of "who has the leads? What does the back of this business card say? Who spoke to this company? And so on.