Posts Tagged ‘targeted giveaways’
Written by Ken Newman on 07 May 2010
1) Realize smaller can be better
When selecting your booth size, keep in mind that investing in a 20×40 might not guarantee you a more successful show. A smaller booth that is constantly packed is a lot less expensive than a large half-empty booth and will generate much more excitement. Think of your last dinner party. Doesn’t everyone seem to congregate in the smallest room in the house?
2) Make sure your booth staff is ready to talk to attendees
That means don’t sit down. Avoid standing in groups of two or more fellow staffers. Stand near the aisles. Look out at the crowd and make eye contact. Smile. Don’t say, “Can I help you?” They’ll say, “NO.” Instead, look at their name tags. Use their name. Ask them what their company does. Invite them into the booth. Now you’re getting somewhere.
3) Quickly follow up on leads
Three-quarters of the leads generated at trade shows are never followed up on … and when they are followed up, it tends to be way too late. Those 2,000 leads you got don’t mean anything if you don’t do something with them. You need a way to categorize your leads as “HOT,” “warm” and “cold” — and with hot leads, there’s no such thing as getting in touch too soon. First contact should come within days of the trade show’s end. When weeks or months go by, you just end up lumped together with all the other SPAM.
4) Use giveaways to build booth traffic
BUT, don’t just give stuff away. USE that giveaway item to quiz the audience on what they’ve just heard. Use it to get them to ask questions. You can also use higher-priced giveaways (from thumb drives to HD TVs to wads of cash) as an incentive to get people to the demo stations and get them into the booth. And consider “green” giveaways. Cheaply made swag just ends up in the trash and then in landfills. You want your giveaways to last … so that attendees hold onto your branded item as long as possible.
5) Keep product demos short
Seven minutes is ideal. Ten minutes is the limit. Fifteen minutes … Get the hook! Trade show attendees have a lot of real estate to cover. Don’t feel you have to tell them your entire story. Pique their interest. Get them to want to know more. Get them into the booth.
6) Limit your seating
A seating area with 50 chairs is intimidating. Few people want to be the first to sit down. Also, if you have an audience of 25 people, it still looks half empty. But with a dozen or so seats, you’re looking at a standing-room-only crowd. People walking by will be more interested in what’s going on if all the seats are full. It’s only natural to wonder what could be going on over there.
7) Have at least one crowd gatherer
We are not talking about scantily clad eye candy for your booth. We’re talking about warm, engaging, gregarious greeters. We’re talking about men and women who know how to chat up people in the aisles, ask them questions, invite them into your booth, introduce them to your knowledgeable (and well-trained) staff. These crowd gatherers will continue to invite people to stop and listen even after the presentation has begun. If you skip the crowd gatherers because of the stereotypes, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
8 ) Insist on an “open” booth design
Think about the lines. Think about the traffic flow. And think about how much you enjoyed the last time you couldn’t find your car in a parking garage. Try to design your booth in a way where there are virtually no impediments in any direction for someone coming in or someone going out. Make the booth’s architecture as open as possible to create maximum flow. You want people to just stroll through and almost accidentally find themselves in the booth. Booth layout and thoughtfulness has much more to do with success than booth size and “impressiveness.”
9) Do your pre-show work!
Promote in advance using social media. Send e-blasts to prospective attendees. Offer up a promotional tease to get people into the booth before the show even starts. Tweet from the trade show floor with your latest news and special offers. Utilize video. Do a “Live from the Trade Show Floor” spot and a daily wrap-up. Announce news and promotions with all the fanfare a live recording can offer. Make it short, interesting and something to get people excited in anticipation of your event.
10) Utilize a professional presenter
Bippy the Mime making a workstation out of balloons may be impressive, but it’s not likely to ensure you qualified leads. Have someone represent your company who is engaging, knowledgeable and will interact with the audience. Most trade show demos seem to be staged readings of marketing white papers. Whether you hire a professional presenter or not, don’t do this … under any circumstances. Everyone talks about “24/7, valued-added solutions.” Your audience will tune out. Say it in layman’s terms, and say it with passion. Find a reason to truly care about your subject matter.
This article originally appeared as a guest contribution on the ChoiceVendor.com blog. We’ll return next week to the usual Q&A format. If you have an industry-related question, send “Newman” an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.
Tags: Booth design, Booth staff, crowd gathering, lead follow up, targeted giveaways
Posted in Booth design, Booth staff, Going green at trade shows, Lead generation & follow up, Trade show giveaways, Trade show news & trends, Trade show presentations, Trade shows & social media | No Comments »
Written by Ken Newman on 10 November 2009
Hey Newman, I know that Twitter is great for letting people know insignificant details about my life, but what about trade shows? Is it really worth tweeting about THAT? –Richard in Chicago
Let’s talk about utilizing Twitter within the throes of a trade show. Preferably, you’ve spent months really connecting with key people through your Twitter stream, building brand awareness and building your follower count. But that time has passed. The trade show is now. So, what can you do to harness this new cool tool?
→ First off, start promoting the trade show before it happens. A series of 140 character tweets at regular intervals starting a month before the event will build excitement and interest.
→ Don’t interpret 140 characters as a limitation. In the trade show space, it’s something that can easily be used to your advantage by keeping your message short and sweet.
→ Leverage your trade show giveaways by tweeting about new free offerings every hour: “Come by the [company] booth within the next 30 minutes for a free T-shirt and other goodies.”
→ Give regular updates: “Author of important new book on Internet security will be speaking at the [company] booth in 15 minutes and signing copies.”
→ Direct Message followers you know to be at the trade show that you’d love some face time with. Leave them a breadcrumb trail of sorts to finding you.
→ Also use Twitter messages to follow up with people who did stop by the booth to gain some extra traction and clue them in to more information: “Thanks so much for stopping by the booth. Check out http://bit.ly/14jYU0 for more info on our trade show staff training services!”
→ Use hashtags to show up in the trade show stream. That way, those who search directly for feeds relating to the trade show will see your messages: “#INTEROP presentation about to begin! Run to the guy spinning plates and grab a seat.”
→ Lastly, help one another and foster goodwill: I was at the National Association of Broadcasters Show and someone realized he didn’t have the necessary connector to use his wireless headset mic. He tweeted his troubles, and 10 minutes later two people showed up with the connector he needed.
This works! So, go tweet your little trade show heart out.
Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.
Tags: booth buzz, targeted giveaways, trade show opportunities, trade show trends, Twitter
Posted in Lead generation & follow up, Trade show news & trends, Trade shows & social media | 1 Comment »
Written by Ken Newman on 28 September 2009
Hey Newman, there seems to be an awful lot of talk these days about “going green.” Is there a way that can be applied to the trade show industry? –Ellen in Oakland
Ellen, that’s a great question … and I almost went off on a rant about my random thoughts on “greening” your trade show presence. But that’s just what it would have been: random. So, I decided to do a bit of research and reach out to those who really know the answer to your question. Ever since you asked, I’ve been in an ongoing dialogue with Janet Pomeroy from The Good Mix. She’s a Green Marketing expert with one of the first Green MBAs offered. So here’s a real, informed answer to your question:
For starters, take a good, hard look at your trade show giveaways. Products have a lifecycle. You purchase it from a manufacturer, who generates waste in the making of the product. That product is then packaged and travels thousands of miles to get someplace. From there, it’s redistributed, repackaged and sent out again (this time to your company). In the end, that adds up to thousands of pounds of carbon for thousands and thousands of pieces of swag.
And where does that squishy ball or flying guerrilla go after you give it away at the booth? It’s going to go home with that trade show attendee, end up in the hands of his son who plays with it and breaks it … and from there it ends up in a landfill. It really never does go … away.
That’s because most of this stuff is cheaply made. Giveaways have a very short lifespan because they’re not made to last. So, one of the first things Janet asked was: “Do you need so much junky swag? Are there alternative forms of messaging that will last for years instead of just one show? … Especially when all the leftovers are going to be tossed in the trash.”
What Janet’s words made me realize is I’ve always been against wasteful giveaways, but for an entirely different reason: You want the person to hold on to your branded item!
Years ago, I discovered a number of items that could effectively substitute for the typical giveaway—and not end up in a landfill a week later.
In one case, it was a simple card trick. The mechanism is this: One of three cards, a 5 of Clubs is placed into a spectator’s hand. Everyone is sure it’s the 5 of Clubs. When the card is turned over, it has magically turned into the company’s business card. It’s a simple illusion, but one that trade show attendees love to learn and repeat. I was recently at a trade show and an attendee recognized me from a show six months earlier. He asked me if I had any more of those magic business cards. I asked him why, and he said it was because he had been using it over and over as an icebreaker in meetings, and it wore out.
I couldn’t have asked for a better endorsement. Instead of a propeller hat, here’s something fun that keeps branding your company again and again. I guess in this industry, you can equate sustainable with interesting. If it holds their interest, they’ll hold onto it longer.
So, Ellen, giveaways is one place to start. And we’ve got plenty of ideas on giveaways that are practical, useful, interesting and won’t be thrown “away.” Keep an eye on this blog for much more about “greening” your trade show presence. I couldn’t even come close to fitting it all in one post. Thanks to you and Janet Pomeroy from The Good Mix for getting the gears turning on this important topic.
If you’d like more information on eco-business strategies (or anything green), please visit Janet at http://thegoodmix.com.
Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.
Tags: going green, swag, targeted giveaways, trade show trends
Posted in Going green at trade shows, Trade show giveaways, Trade show news & trends | 1 Comment »
Written by Ken Newman on 23 June 2009
Hey Newman, cash prizes at trade shows: A good investment or a waste of money? -Mike in Los Angeles
I recently did three days of presentations for a company that was giving away $10,000 at a trade show. The festival atmosphere this promotion conjured up was beyond incredible. I’ve seen companies give away cars and other larger-ticket items, but the buzz about this cash was unparalleled.
To win, you filled out a card with your name and contact information. To be eligible to enter the drawing, you had to watch the live presentation I gave or engage with somebody in the booth one-to-one and ask a question or listen.
All three days of the show, we never presented for less than standing room only. Ever. On the last day, the money had already been given away, yet we still packed the presentation. That final-day success had a lot to do with our crowd gatherers and how persistent we were about getting the seats full. But on those first two days, the money did a lot of the work.
I mean, it’s $10,000. That’s a lot of cash … and a substantial incentive.
Not every company is going to shell out 10 grand, but they might spend $1,000, which is still a good chunk of change. It’s enough for people to come into a booth and fill out a piece of paper just to enter the drawing. So, if a company is willing to spend $1,000 for the cash grand prize and a total of $800 more for three medium-priced electronic devices, what they’ll get back for that expense is huge. There’s a lot of buzz and booth traffic to be gained from an investment of that size.
Mike, the point of contention is whether this cash incentive will get you a bunch of greedy “dead-ends” or some actual leads on which to follow up. There’s a big argument in the trade show industry that says you’ve got to look for quality leads over quantity. I disagree. That’s because if you have 20,000 people attending a show, you must do something compelling in your booth to capture the names of a significant percentage of those people (even 10 percent over three days) and get that traffic to flow through the booth. If you don’t, there’s a good chance you’re never going to have the opportunity to identify those coveted high-quality leads. In fact, you won’t have any leads at all.
Those 25-30 key people—the dream leads—aren’t going to just magically appear in your booth. They’re likely to be swept into your booth along with the hundreds of other people who may be there to just win the $1,000.
There are only a few things that will draw people to your booth, and a lot of it has to do with what’s eye-catching. That can be movement, color, noise; those create crowds. When we did this drawing, and we have video documentation of this, there were 1,000 people standing around the booth. The fire marshals were getting people out of the aisle. It was insanity, pandemonium. People were walking by asking, “What’s going on here? … They’re giving away $10,000! Oh my, can I get in?”
Sure, that person may have no interest in the particular technology, but somebody they later talk to might … or somebody they’re standing next to might … or somebody just walking by. An adept salesperson will capitalize, and there’s a huge piece of business that’s been booked.
Trade shows are, by their nature, a little bit of “sideshow.” There’s no question that it’s all about buzz and excitement. And nothing says excitement better than an oversized check with $10,000 printed on it.
Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.
Tags: booth buzz, Booth staff, booth traffic, qualified leads, targeted giveaways
Posted in Booth staff, Trade show giveaways, Trade show news & trends | No Comments »
Written by Ken Newman on 07 April 2009
Hey Newman, what’s your take on trade show swag? Is it worth doing anymore? – Kenneth in Los Angeles
Back in the heyday of COMDEX, an attendee could come home with literally two suitcases full of freebies—enough for the next five years of stocking stuffers. Companies would spend an extra $5,000 to $10,000 just on T-shirts, stress balls, hats with propellers on them or whatever else they could come up with.
These days, companies are spending more frugally on “swag” and trade show attendees are coming home with less of it. This change is primarily because companies are asking a very important question: “If we lure 2,000 people into the booth with free T-shirts, are these people actually qualified leads?
At Magnet Productions, we don’t think so. We think those are just people who have a rabid desire to get a new T-shirt.
When a salesperson calls those folks two months after the trade show, they’ll have no idea who the salesperson represents or what the product is. They’ll have no compelling interest; they just wanted a free tee.
Now, the T-shirt did accomplish something: It created buzz in the booth. But you can’t assume for a moment that the free T-shirt is also going to be translated into a qualified lead.
We recommend that clients use a different mechanism to attract and identify qualified leads: a two-tiered giveaway. You offer the typical swag on the front end—some sort of stress ball or trinket or USB keychain—whatever will get people into the booth. That will create the necessary commotion to get your booth noticed by passersby. It also means your trade show presenter will be delivering a talk to 50 guests instead of five.
But Phase II must be much more targeted. There are many different possible approaches, but one is to have the presenter follow up with questions and comments that identify qualified leads:
“How many people here are familiar with our technology or use our technology? Well, in addition to all that, we also provide consulting services. An hour-long Needs Evaluation is normally $500, but we’re going to give one away to a lucky person. So, for those of you who are interested, we’re doing a drawing. Just come on in the booth and talk to one of our people. We’ll stamp your card and enter you in the drawing.”
So, essentially the giveaway prequalified the people who had actual interest because the giveaway was directly related to the company’s technology. It wasn’t a DVD player. It wasn’t an iPod. It was something very specific and relevant.
If you don’t have something like that you can offer, you can still utilize a raffle. In order to be entered in a drawing for a high-ticket item, they have to come into the booth and actually watch a demo. And then you can gauge the actual interest of a person.
If you’re just trying to get numbers, you absolutely can do that with T-shirts because they have always been, and always will be, one of the greatest draws. T-shirts (and other gadgets with a “wow” factor) can succeed in getting a lot of butts in seats and a lot of eyeballs on a screen for a demo about the company. It’s just that many of them won’t necessarily be the “right” people.
Trade show swag can still be worth the expense. The key is there has to be clarity about the purpose of a giveaway in order to get the most return on your money.
Do you have an industry-related question you’d like answered on “Hey Newman”? Send him an e-mail and get your inquiry answered on the blog.
Tags: booth buzz, clarity, qualified leads, swag, targeted giveaways
Posted in Trade show giveaways | 4 Comments »
