Marketing Tips

Pre Show Marketing - If you Send It, will they come? Part II

By: Steve Miller, President, The Adventure

Attendees say they received invitations from less than 5% of the total number of exhibitors from any one show. In fact, on the average, the MOST number of actual pre-show contacts any of them received was 40. Besides the three pre-show marketing methods I shared in an earlier article, personal prospecting, telemarketing, and direct mail, some very cost effective methods are also available.

EMAIL - FedEx wasn't fast enough. We had to have fax machines. But even that wasn't fast enough. Now we've got email. Is this finally fast enough for us? Using email for promoting your participation at the National Widget Expo can be a good thing. The thought of instantly sending hundreds or thousands of personal invitations with the push of one button gives us a great sense of power and effectiveness. But the truth is, we're really a long ways away from accomplishing that. Sure, you can type up an invitation and send it quickly through the Internet, MSN, America Online, or whatever gateway you have. The good news about email is that it doesn't cost a lot of money or time. It's basically a local phone call. The bad news comes in two parts, though. The first is we're still communicating with people on a mass scale; not the rifle-shot approach that makes for an effective promotion. And the second is the fact that email is so easy to use, we're all getting too many emails! If your email looks and acts like spam, then people are likely to delete it without even reading it.

WWW - Of course, if you already have a well-attended Website on the World Wide Web, then by all means use that opportunity to invite your online visitors to meet you in person at the National Widget Expo. You can create a page with photos of new products that will be on display in your booth. You can scan in and upload a map of the show floor with your own location highlighted and blinking. They can save and print an invitation to your hospitality suite. And they can even respond to an online survey about a new service you're planning on offering. The fact is, once you've got your Web site up and running, it really doesn't cost much to add in this type of pre-show information. My recommendation? If you've got it, use it.

FAX - Fax is back! Sending fax invitations can be a great way to contact your best prospects and customers. There is still a stigma in sending an unsolicited fax you need to be sensitive to, though. Because sending a fax is fairly inexpensive, some companies go overboard. If you're going to send faxes to potential trade show attendees, just keep a couple of simple rules in mind: * Keep it short. Don't make it longer than one page. Besides not tying up their fax machine, your prospect doesn't have the time, or the inclination, to read anything longer. * Send it at night. Again, you're not tying up their machine during the day. Faxes sent at the right time can really be attention-getters.

TRADE PUBLICATIONS - Trade publications, both domestic and international, are a good way to reach your target market. However, if your ad budget is small, steer clear of show issues, especially if they aren't mailed out before the show. In the advertising world, it's better to employ frequency over size; that is, it's better to run a series of smaller ads for a few months before the show than to have a full-page, four-color ad in a show issue, even if the publisher passes out thousands of bonus copies at the show. Study conducted by Exhibit Surveys for the CEIR shows booth traffic increases by about 40 percent for every four pages of pre-show advertising. It's my opinion that the show issue doesn't get read until after the show, if at all. Attendees at a show don't arrive, pick up show issues, and then sit down to read them before visiting booths. They set their schedule before walking into the arena. Be a part of their schedule by utilizing trade publications early and frequently.

STUFFERS - A must. Design and print an inexpensive flyer announcing the show, its dates, your location, and what you'll be displaying. Then, starting three months before the show, include it in every piece of mail (invoices, statements, letters, shipments, etc.) that leaves your company. Some Pre-show Promotion Examples. Let me give you some specific examples of various creative pre-show promotions:

Example #1: DRIpride Corporation was exhibiting at the American Health Care Association annual trade show in Orlando. They kept their costs down by calling a postcard manufacturer in Orlando, requesting a catalog. They then selected three different, very colorful cards, each promoting the Orlando area. They bought several hundred of each of the cards, took them to a local quick printer ... had a short message printed and mailed them in three waves to DRIpride's top 200 customers.

Example #2: Nike was looking for a unique way to attract attention for the Super Show in Atlanta. Not that Nike needed to attract attention. After all they had a 48,000 square foot booth. In an inexpensive pre-show promotion, they simply sent a personal invitation to their top 700 customers. There was a catch, though. The invitation was for access to the Nike booth on the first day of show. Out of the 85,000 plus people attending Super Show, these 700 were the only ones allowed in the exhibit on the first day. Security guards posted at the entrance only allowed those privileged 700 in. Imagine the reaction of everybody? The 700felt very special and everybody else couldn't wait to get in the next day.

Example #3: After Jack Nicklaus won the 1986 Masters with a unique new putter, a division of Emerson Electric was getting ready for a big show in the air conditioning industry. They carefully selected 50 top prospects important to their future. On studying these people, they found out that almost all of them played golf. Knowing these people represented millions of dollars in potential new business, they sent out a three-part mailing. The first had the head of the putter Nicklaus used to win the Masters. The second had a shaft. The third had a putter grip with the message, "See us at the International Air Conditioning, Heating, Refrigeration Exposition and we'll put it all together for you." 48 out of the 50 showed up.

Example #4: I was preparing for the Premium/Incentive Show in New York and wanted a certain company president to visit our exhibit. After several attempts at setting an appointment, all with no success, I was desperate for an idea. About 2 weeks before the show, I was in the LAX airport getting ready to fly out on a business trip. Walking by the flight insurance window, the idea came to me. I bought a policy, made him the beneficiary, and mailed it to him with the note; "Thinking of you." He set the appointment. Of course, I'm not so sure he was happy when I showed up.

Summary
Let's face it. Pre-show marketing is important. The sad thing is that most companies do very little. I have policy I call the Trade Show Rule. Basically, the Trade Show Rule is this: Your success at the National Widget Expo is entirely dependent on YOU and has little or nothing to do with show management. You need to accept responsibility for your success. Plan an effective pre-show campaign that will draw hundreds of qualified buyers to your exhibit. I say effective, because many of the companies who say they use pre-show marketing really don't. Sending out preprinted registration flyers from show management is not effective, if that's all you do. Telling buyers, in casual conversation, to "drop by sometime during the show" is not effective. Sending a memo to all your reps two weeks before the show imploring them to bring their key prospects by the booth is not effective. Those companies that understand they are responsible for the success of their show make a dedicated commitment to effective reshow marketing. This commitment ensures their success.

» Visit Steve Miller's web site - www.theadventure.com

» Pre-Show Marketing: If You Send It, Will They Come? Part I

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