Why Didn’t That Attendee Stop 

In My Trade Show Booth?

1.Your booth looked too boring

2. Your benefit was not clear

3. He doesn’t know you can solve his problems.

4. Your booth staffers didn’t appeal to him

5. Your booth staff didn’t attempt to engage him.

6. Your booth space lacks activity.

7. He wasn’t invited

8. He already has an appointment.

You’ve got a tremendous investment, not only in money, but also time and hopefully training in marketing your business at trade shows. Don’t get in the way of your own success!

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Let us create your next custom trade show exhibit with the message that will integrate your purpose and goals to achieve results for the next season in your marketing program.

Get a quote for your project

www.anvidisegno.com/quote

10 Mistakes Exhibitors Make in Trade Shows

1. Underselling your company with bad graphics

2. Putting way too much text on your display

3. Not promoting your presence at trade shows

4. Not training your booth staff and discussing proper expectations

5. Not listening to your prospects needs

6. Depending on a fishbowl to bring in qualified leads

7. Hauling too much literature to your booth

8. Not planning for trade show success

9. Not informing your exhibit service partner

 10. Not following up on leads

You’ve got a tremendous investment, not only in money, but also time and hopefully training in marketing your business at trade shows. Don’t get in the way of your own success!

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Let us create your next custom trade show exhibit with the message that will integrate your purpose and goals to achieve results for the next season in your marketing program.

Get a quote for your project

www.anvidisegno.com/quote

10 Ways to Impress the Press at Your Next Trade Show

In the following article you will find different ways to capture the attention of the press in your event and increase the chances of generating traffic to your booth and grow business opportunities with your potential customers. Excellent article.

1. Find your angle. 
As you start to develop your press strategy, your first task is to come up with a spin that will get editors - and their readers - interested in your company. What products or services will you display that are new and innovative since the last time you attended this show? Do you have a story with a human-interest twist? What about your product will save the publication's readers time, money, or hassles? Skip the boring history of your company and bios of company officers. For the most part, editors couldn't care less, and neither could their readers. 

2. Work with show management. 
Start by finding out when show management will release the list of press reps covering the show. Then ask about on-site opportunities to meet with the press such as VIP press tours before show opening. Also ask if a press-briefing room will be available and, if so, how you can book it for the prime time slots early in the show.

3. Target the right press. 
There's no such thing as bad press, but write-ups in some publications are certainly better than others. Do a little research to find out which publications your clients and prospects are most likely to read. The most popular of those should become your "tier-one," or targeted publications. Defining this list of targeted media outlets will allow you to focus on creating relationships with writers and editors who have the power to put your messages directly in front of the end users you hope to reach. 

4. Start communicating early.
It's critical to get on editors' radar before they arrive at the trade show, or you risk not making their must-see list of exhibitors. If you're unsure about when you should start contacting editors, simply ask a few of your targeted journalists for the optimum time to submit an initial press release. Depending on their schedules, this could be months before a show, so they can meet editorial deadlines for pre-show issues. Others may simply prefer that you distribute your release as part of your press kit in the official press room. 

5. Create an interesting press kit. 
Unless you've spoken with members of the media before the show opens, your press kit may be your first - and only - contact with reporters. The way you present your information, the medium you use, and the content itself all have an impact on whether your message will reach your targeted editors or end up in the trash. 

6. Write an engaging press release. 
Once you've attracted editors' attention enough for them to pick up your press kit, it needs to deliver the kind of information they're looking for. Your press release should include the following: company name and contact information (including booth number); a short, informative headline with a secondary description as a subhead; the body of the press release; and finally, a brief boilerplate description of your company and why it's an authority in your industry.

7. Provide publication-quality visuals. 
If you have interesting photos to support your press release, include them in the press kit. For example, if your release is all about a new product you're launching at the show, provide high-quality images of that product. Oftentimes publications rely on provided product shots, meaning that if you don't have usable, high-quality images, your new gadget may have zero chance of getting reviewed. 

8. Develop an at-show press plan. 

Press kits and press releases can be great for getting the word out about your company and its products, but if you're really serious about attracting the press, consider adding at-show elements to your press plan. For example, you could host a formal press briefing in the show-provided press room, plan a before- or after-hours press event in your exhibit with hands-on demonstrations, or hold an after-hours wine-'em-and-dine-'em reception. Depending on your budget and press objectives, you may want to choose several different methods.

9. Offer one-on-one interviews. 
Depending on the news being announced, press members I've spoken with consider group press conferences less effective than one-on-one press interviews in terms of depth of information and relationship building. They'd rather spend their time speaking with a company executive and getting the specific information that would be of value to their readers than getting the generic information often presented in a group press briefing. 

10. Don't forget the follow-up.
Just because the show's over doesn't mean your press duties are done, too. Drop a quick e-mail to the editors you spoke with, thanking them for their time, providing any information promised, and asking if they need any further information. 

See full article: 

http://www.exhibitoronline.com/topics/article.asp?ID=19&catID=91

About Autor:

Candy Adams, CTSM, CME,CEM, CMP, CMM,"The Booth Mom,"is an independent exhibit-management consultant, trainer, speaker, writer, and an Exhibitor conference faculty member. CandyAdams

@BoothMom.com

6 Reasons for problems with your staff

1. Your staffers ignore attendees

It’s hard to believe, but far too often attendees walk into a booth and are ignored by booth staffers – maybe even your booth staffers. This behavior exasperates attendees. If you ignore them in your booth, they would expect to be ignored as a customer. Which is why they are unlikely to ever become a customer.

2. Your staffers do not make eye contact

Attendees can’t make a personal connection if your booth staffer doesn’t pay close enough attention to even look them in the eye. They don’t have to stare; they just have to demonstrate they are paying attention to your visitors, so the visitors feel valued.

3. Your staffers talk without listening

If your staffers are too intent on unloading the same talking points, rather than listen first to what each visitor is trying to achieve at the show, then your staffers’ data dump will fall on deaf ears. Attendees want a dialog, not a diatribe.

4. Your staffers don’t know what they are talking about

Thanks to all that product information on the Internet, today’s trade show attendees are better informed than ever before. So if your booth staffers lack the product and industry knowledge to competently answer questions, attendees will take their business to someone who knows their stuff instead.

5. You hire booth babes instead of brand ambassadors

An assertive, friendly, knowledgeable booth staffer will create far more real opportunity with buyers than a booth babe that will intimidate some men, be avoided by some senior decision makers who don’t want to look like they’re hitting on women, and by many women who are offended by them. If you do not have enough capable booth staffer among your employees, you can hire brand ambassadors, and skip the booth babes.

6. Your staffers stand in front of a confusing or shabby trade show display

Attendees quickly judge how trustworthy your company is by how well your booth represents it. Does it quickly communicate how you can help them solve their problems? Does it show that you are a good company to work with? Or does it send conflicting messages, and look like it needs repair or replacement? Your exhibit will reflect well or poorly on your booth staff.

Autor:

Mike Thimmesch

Mike is director of industry relations for Skyline Exhibits, designer and builder of custom modular exhibits and portable displays.

3 Ways Innovation in trade show

1. Bike Sharing -.Bike sharing has taken off in cities like Miami Beach, Boston, Washington D.C., and many others. Why not take that idea and offer bike sharing stations at your next event? Whether you make bikes available to get from one end of the convention hall to the other or to make lunch runs, biking is a great way to cover a lot of ground quickly. Biking is also good for the health of the person peddling and good for the health of the planet since it offers a way to get around without emitting carbon emissions.

2. Plastic Bag Bans - Plasticbag bans are gaining momentum around the world and for good reason – single-use plastic bags contribute to litter and this trash destroys ecosystems, kills wildlife, interferes with the food chain and is just ugly to see. Our bag ban map at FDPtracks the movement to ban disposable plastic bags by showing which cities and towns have successfully implemented bans and which places are trying to get bans on the books. Reusable grocery bags provide a great return on your marketing dollar because they can be used repeatedly and this helps spread your promotional message for years to come.

3. Community Gardens and the Local Food Movement - Both restaurants and consumers alike are working to continue the age-old tradition of community gardening, but the local food movement is gaining momentum as well. While you may not be able to make a community garden work for your next tradeshow, you could certainly source local foods for your event and let your attendees know about the benefits of doing so like supporting the local economy and limiting carbon emissions since food that is sourced locally travels a shorter distance from the farm to your plate.

Autor:

Shane Shirley

Shane Shirley is CMO for SBS Brands, which is a 90 year old global brand leader focused on creating digital and print business solutions to save you time and offering traditional and eco-friendly customized promotional products to accelerate your trade show marketing.

5 Common mistakes in Trade Show

1. Focusing On Logistics But Ignoring Marketing

Trade shows require an attention to detail and awesome organization skills. But if marketing is ignored, you may get a dull display delivered on-time to an empty booth at the wrong show. The pitfall here is that because the logistic needs must be attended to, the marketing opportunities are left until later, and then left undone. When you apply marketing as well as organizational skills, you create a custom trade show display that appeals to your buyers, who are the people walking down the aisle, and whose attention you caught with a great reason to visit you before or during the show.

2. Picking The Wrong Booth Staffers

At first glance, selecting the right staff seems like finding the best sales person, or the person who lives closest to the show. But if you walk a trade show, you will be startled by how many booth staffers are not focused on attendees, but instead have their head down, immersed in their smart phone or laptop. You need to choose booth staffers who are willing to actually work the show, people with the right attitude and work ethic. That may mean people who work in customer service, marketing, or other departments.

3. Not Qualifying Leads During The Show

For too many exhibitors, lead fulfillment means sending the entire list of booth visitors out to the field sales force. If you want your trade show leads to be ignored, then by all means, send your sales force the names of all the people who visited your booth, and nothing else. But if you want to get maximum value from your trade show leads, only send them the best leads, with the story about each that lets the field salesperson know why they are a great lead. To get that information, your booth staffers must be trained to write down the details of their conversations, and to rank leads according to value, such as A, B, and C leads. Send the A leads first, the B leads soon after, and put the C leads into your marketing list.

4. Not Trying New Trade Shows

I don’t mean not going to shows in their first year, I mean not going to shows you never exhibited at before. Your trade show schedule is not set in stone. Does your company already specialize on serving a particular vertical market / industry? If so, you may have greater success at that smaller, vertical market show, than at your big overall industry show. Has your company moved into new vertical markets to focus on? Do you have a new product that is particularly successful or helpful for a specific industry? If you have trade shows on your schedule that are performing poorly that you could drop, you can then shift budget dollars to these new shows. Keep experimenting!

5. Putting Too Much Into Your Trade Show Exhibit

A lot of your fellow employees apply pressure to have their part of your company story told in and on your trade show display. However, your trade show display is not a warehouse, nor is it a full-length novel: its job is to capture attention and support your booth staff. If you give in to everyone and load up your booth, it creates a confusing obstacle to understanding, rather than an enticement to enter and engage. If you switch your focus from trying to please every stakeholder in your booth with equal treatment to all, and instead, prioritize your messages and products, so that you only display what matters most, you will get more attention and visitors to your booth. This takes buy-in from the top, and willingness on their part to say “no” when needed.

Autor: 

Mike Thimmesch

Mike is director of industry relations for Skyline Exhibits, designer and builder of custom modular exhibits and portable displays.

4 Reasons Why Trade Shows Are Better Than Cold Calling

Knowing where to direct your efforts will help you get more customers who actually want to buy your products. This often leads to a big question. Should you focus on trade shows or cold calling? Here are 4 reasons that trade shows almost always come out on top.

Cold Calling Annoys People

Consider the mindset of people who get unexpected phone calls. They're either working, eating dinner, spending time with family, or engaged in other activities. They aren't sitting there waiting for you to give them a sales pitch.

When you cold call someone, you automatically have a disadvantage because that person sees you as a disturbance. He doesn't care what you have to say. He just wants to hang up and get back to life.

There's a reason that over 217 million people have registered with the Do Not Call List.

People Go to Trade Shows to Learn

People at trade shows have the opposite mind set. They're there because they want to learn more about products and services.

That means you get to meet potential clients on equal ground at trade show booths. You both want something from each other, and you're both willing to talk. No one is intruding. No one is being rude. You're engaging in the same activity. That makes people more cooperative and willing to listen to your pitch.

You Can't Educate People Over the Phone

Think of every cold calling script you've ever seen. They're all geared towards promising the customer something. Very few of them focus on educating the customer.

That's because it's difficult to educate anyone about anything over the phone. You can't use visual aids, and you can't gauge a person's understanding by watching facial expressions.

When you're on the phone, you're at a disadvantage that you can’t overcome. At best, you can throw promises and "facts" at the client. The chances are slim that the person will even listen to what you're saying.

Trade Shows Offer Great Educational Possibilities

With trade show displays, you have numerous educational options. You don't even have to talk to someone to teach them about your products and services. Some of your options include:

• Signs
• Videos
• Brochures
• Demonstrations

Of course, it's great to talk to people who pass by your booth. Unlike cold calls, you can have a real conversation with these people. You can watch their expressions, read their responses, and get a better sense of what they need from your company.

You can also send them on their way with printed information and giveaways that will remind them of the positive experience.

Cold calling has its place in the business world, but it's limited. In the long run, cold calling offers a cheap way to reach a lot of people. Unfortunately, it fails to generate the sales and personal connections that you can get from a trade show.

Autor:

Timothy Carter

Timothy Carter is the Digital Marketing Manager for Nimlok (www.nimlok.com), designer and builder of custom trade show display exhibits and portable displays

6 Tactics to Keep Exhibitors Happy and Coming Back

How do event organizers keep exhibitors happy and coming back every year? Here are six new ideas to consider.

1. Strive to solve top exhibitor pain points: cost, confusion, lodging, and shipping. Discover their expectations.

2. Rewards Program: Ways to reward loyalty beyond priority booth selection: local discounts, perks, discounted sponsorships.

3. During move in and move out offer free snacks and drinks to weary exhibitors.

4. Minimize pages and fine print in exhibitor kit. Limit rules and guidelines and consolidate suppliers.

5. Consult all year long, be available on social networks, ask questions, and listen. Post pictures, attendees and exhibitors love their faces. Include their booth logos to extend their exposure.

Autor:

Lew Hoff

President at Bartizan, Lew has spent the last 40-plus years focusing on bringing buyers and sellers together, face-to-face.

5 Ways to Promote Your Trade Show Display

Being a trade show success takes more than just setting up your booth, collecting business cards, and handing out freebies. To get the most targeted traffic at trade show displays, having a proper marketing campaign is essential. Promoting the booth before, during, and after the event is important because this is what brings awareness to your audience about your presence at the trade show. So, what is the best way to do this? I have narrowed down the top 5 things you could do that are cost-effective and will draw in more traffic.

1.       Social Media
Most people can be found on their Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts on a daily basis. This is why connecting with your audience using these websites can help get the attention of thousands of people who originally didn’t have any intention on going to the trade show. Use hashtags related to the expo on Twitter in order to get the attention of those who are not fans or followers … yet.
2.       Email
This method is not my favorite because, unless you are really close to your customers, there’s a good chance your email will get overlooked, deleted, or put directly into their spam folder. Use a subject line that will clearly tell email recipients what it’s about and why they should take a look at it. If they could win a prize or discount at your display system, let them know by working that into the subject line.
3.       E-Newsletter
Send out e-newsletters to all of your subscribers with information about your booth. Let them know your booth number, where it will be located, and why they should choose your exhibit over that of your competitors. Also, don’t forget to let your audience know of the date and time the event will take place.
4.       Mobile Apps
These days, you will find most people surfing the web, looking at their social media, or checking emails on their smart phones. Many trade show organizers have created mobile apps that will allow attendees to check out trade show schedules, a map of the floor, and other show information. Ask these organizers about advertising or sponsorship opportunities in these apps.
5.       Website
Put a link to the show’s website on your site in order to make it easy for your audience to get more information about the show and to add you to the list of exhibitors they plan on visiting at the event. If you have a blog, writing about the show will also bring awareness to your booth.
Whatever method you plan on using, give yourself plenty of time to promote your show booth. This will give your customers a chance to pencil your booth into their schedules. Also, consider having a free gift at your display in order to get more people to stop by.

by Kristin Hovde

Kristin Hovde is the

Website Manager and Blogger for Smash Hit Displays, an online trade show display company that has many booths, accessories, and flooring available.

5 Reasons Going Digital Can Help You Be More Green at Your Next Show

In the spirit of Earth Day, I wanted to touch upon how digital/social media can be an effective way to lower your shows carbon footprint. Printed materials have always been the hallmark of doing business when face-to-face at a show, but more times than not, companies print more than is needed. The result, it will be thrown out at the end of the day. The way to remedy this waste of paper would be to have your company starts to convert some of your physical promotions into digital ones. This change would not only allow you to increase your opportunities to be found, but also help the environment in the process.

Below are some reasons and examples why going digital is good for the environment, your business and your show.

1. Less Materials Made - Less Thrown Away
Most booths at a show generally have some type of handout to give attendees and media when they stop by. They can be news releases, brochures, sell/spec sheets or just a flyer, all of which are helpful, but will eventually find their way to the nearest waste basket. By publishing some of this information online, either by emailing a link out to your customers before the show starts or you can take down information of customers/attendees stopping by your booth and followup with them after the show.

2. Digital is quicker to produce and is infinite and evergreen
Creating digital and social media is generally a quicker process than designing print materials. One of the hardest things to do for a show is estimating how many of flyers/handouts you need so that you don’t run out. Result, you generally end up with extra inventory, which is also a company expense. With digital content, your scale is infinite because creating it once is enough for everyone to be able to share and socialize it with as many people as you want. Also, if you make a mistake, you can easily update it.
3. Print, Pack, Ship — Unpack, Pack, Ship
We all know this scenario. There are many printed materials that you can now make digital. While you may feel this will decrease your footprint, just think of the financial savings, and “no back pain”, by having less to ship and handout.
4. Tracking your marketing materials
You can add a link or QR code on your printed materials which will allow you to know when someone used it, and when they did that specific action. However, if your materials are digital, you can know how they got to your site, how long they were there, what they clicked on, and what other pages they visited. When your information is digital, you can get a lot more information about a customer/attendee, while allowing them to also get more information about your company.
5. Less to carry for the attendees and media
We are seeing a growing trend with show organizers who want to be able to send everyone attending the show more information before it starts. Some of our show partners have moved away from printed show directories and press kits in favor of mobile apps and using an online newsroom as they are easier to produce, create less waste, provide a better experience and can cost less.

by Trace Cohen

Trace Cohen is the Co-founder of Launch.it, the only Event News Management Platform for expos, tradeshows and events to increase their social engagement, buzz and revenue with their exhibitor and show news by creating a Digital Media Center for them. 

Getting Your Booth Experience Just Right

Getting Your Booth Experience Just Right 

by Lisa Apolinski

 

inShare

I attended a show recently in Las Vegas, and I was amazed with the exhibits on the show floor.  Some, however, were just a little off.  Take heed of these common trip-ups around your next booth experience.

A design that is too feminine or masculine.  This is a delicate balancing act.  You want a booth design that appeals to both, so you want to work with elements that add both into the mix.  Think about the colors you choose and the types of materials that are in the booth, including furniture choices.  And having both feminine and masculine elements in your design will give a great balance and uniqueness to your booth.
 
A demo that is too easy or too complicated.  This too is about balance, but more of a balance of time.  The use of your demo is to engage and excite your attendee.  If your demo is too easy, they could easily skip the demo or be done and out of the booth before you know it.  A demo that is too complicated, on the other hand, can cause confusion or even frustration and leave the attendee with a bad experience from your booth.  Have just enough elements in your demo so that there is a bit of thinking required and some good engagement for your attendee.

Staff that are too laid back or too eager.  I saw both of these scenarios at the show.  On one side, you may have staff who are sitting, looking at their cell phones and looking completely bored.  On the other side, you may have staff who are almost on top of attendees as they pass by the booth, trying to get them in.  You need to have staff be aware and alert, looking for opportunities for engagement, but without overpowering the attendee.  This is about being aware of the attendee and the body language, versus either waiting for the attendee to ask for assistance or trying to get everyone in the booth.  This is also where strong sales skills come into play, and why staff choices are so critical for the success of the booth.

About Autor:

Lisa Apolinski is a writer, blogger, and digital strategist, having founded her own

consulting company