- A PUBLICATION OF 366 Marketing -

1. - A PUBLICATION OF 366 Marketing - A COMPLETE GUIDE TO Trade Show Marketing Strategy and Logistics THE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO ROCKING YOUR TRADE SHOW

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Intro 5 Strategy 9 Theme and Message 12 Staffing 19 Timeline 23 Appendices

3. Introduction

4. Why am I making a trade show strategy document? Why am I wasting my time working on a trade show strategy document when I have to work on the actual trade show!!!!? Face-to-face marketing is a huge expense and so you should plan accordingly. Look at it this way. Let’s say you have a modest budget for a show, say 10k. Let’s assume it is a three-day show, and you have 7 hours a day. Out of that, you have 21 hours of actual show time on the floor. Multiply that out, and you have 1260 minutes on the floor. Now if you divide the $10,000/1260 m, you get $7.93 a minute that this marketing is costing you. That is pretty expensive. Not to mention the cost of the people you have working the show, travel meals, opportunity cost, etc. Shouldn’t you maximize your ROI? Much like any strategy, this is a physical manifestation of your goals and objectives for an individual trade show. It lets you know where you are going right and when you need to correct. This gives your team an idea of where you are going. It should be shared and used as a training document for all of the staff attending and supporting all of the other supporting the show. It illustrates to upper management that there is a plan and proves an ROI for events and you. Note: Just to make your life a bit easier the strategy guide is color coded. Blue and Black are the main outline that you can keep in the document you present Green are hints and notes that help explain the outline and where to add examples and items that pertain to your show. Here is your first note. You might want to make a new copy without the Red when you present to management or the staff.

5. CHAPTER ONE Show Strategy

6. Show Strategy Overview: What is the Show? This is where you add the general description of the show. This might be found on a brochure about the show or on the show website. It should answer the purpose of this show and who is the audience? It is niche or the whole industry? Where is it? Show Hours Add the show hours here. Goals and Objectives You will have some goals for the show. I have populated this with some common objectives and the specific goals beneath it. Remember Goals should be SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely Objective: Generate Leads for Sales. This objective the main reason most businesses exhibit at tradeshows. Few companies actually make sales on the show floor, so the generation of leads to follow up on is critical. Goals 1: Through prospecting and pre show marketing, generate 150 Leads and 50 qualified leads for follow-up by the end of the show Objective 2: Branding You have a sign up (at least) and your target market wandering around looking at it. That, my friend, is impressions. Every Time they see your image or logo or name that is an impression. So make sure that your message on the show floor is consistent and what you want to say to the market. Also, bear in mind that you have about 10 seconds tops to get your message across.

7. Show Strategy: Continued We want our prospects to know this___________________from being at the show. What do you want your customers/prospects to think when they think of you? How are you using this show to position your company for your market? A good thing to think about here is your USP or Unique Selling Proposition to the Market. Put a welcoming face on the company (always a good general objective). A smile on the face of a representative can go a long way to getting someone from the aisle to your booth. Objective: Introduce our New Solution: Most people go to a tradeshow to see a new solution. After all, why would busy executives spend time and money taking them and their people to Chicago or Portland for three days? Solution: What does that solution accomplish? What is the benefit to the customer (remember to sell the benefit, not the solution). The customer doesn’t care about what you are selling they have a problem to solve. Can this solve my problem? If so I’m interested. Objective: Meet Existing Clients. How much does it cost for one of your reps to travel and see five customers? Now how many of those “touches” can happen at a good tradeshow or conference? Enhancing the relationships that you already have in place and making new ones is one of the best ways to increase your ROI at a show Goal 4: Reiterate your value to your current customer. Resale yourself to them. Make sure that when there is a new opportunity, they remember you, not your competitors Objective: Evaluate the Competition: Hey guess what? All of your competition is trying to accomplish the same goals that you are at the tradeshow. There is nothing wrong with learning what they are doing, their message, etc. and learning how to sell against them. No need to do anything unethical, but it is a great opportunity for your staff to learn about the competition. Goals 5: Get sales prepared to counter arguments from competitors by researching what they have on the show floor. Encourage your team to walk the floor and check out the competition.

8. Show Strategy: Continued Objective 7: Media Contact: At most shows, there are members of the trade media in attendance. Try to arrange visits to your booth (ahead of time!) with them. Remember they need something to write about and your new cool development is exactly what they need to write about. It is also a great avenue to build face to face relationships with the media that you can use in the future. Goal: 3 Mentions in trade media from the show within a month following the conclusion of the event Other Industry /Company Specific Goals: Maybe you have other business, or industrial specific goals. Add those here. Goals:

9. Theme and Message Theme: What is the Theme or overall message for this show? What is the one thing that binds all of this effort together? You need to tie your theme directly to your branding. If you are demo-ing one thing, your message and branding all need to be consistent. People only have a finite amount of information they can retain and if you throw a lot of messages at them they will remember nothing. Instead offer one or two highly targeted and interwoven messages in an overriding theme. Message: What is your Primary message to the market? This is different than the branding of your booth. The message is what you want to convey to the show patrons. The branding is what you want them to think when they see your company. You have 3-8 seconds to convey what your message is to the market. After that your chance is gone, so make good use of that time. Check with current customers, your staff, even prospects to make sure that your message is consistent and easily digestible in a quick bite. It needs to be a sound bite. Not a speech. Save that for when you have a prospect in the booth. Tagline: This is the encapsulation of your message to the market. It is usually short and punchy and is consistent across all the branding opportunities at the show. Booth Overview: This is a 30,000-foot view of how you want your booth to look and feel. What you want it to do for you. Booth Description: the size the location, elements of the booth what are you demonstrating? Lead Capture: How will you capture all the leads that come to your booth? Will there be electronic scanning, Ipad scanning, a form for each representative to fill out? Maybe a combination of them all. The important part of the show is to drive traffic to the booth, and then capture it to result in a sale. So how will you capture it? Here would be a good place to have a sample picture of your booth layout. This makes it easier for management and sales to picture the plan and envision the booth.

10. Theme and Message: Continued Grouping of Leads:You get a variety of leads at a show. The best way to deal with them is to segment them. A traditional way is Hot, Warm and Cold. How you define each of those is up to you, but here is how I do it. Hot is people you need to send to sales, today! Warm needs to be nurtured by marketing to become hot. Cold is pretty much worthless (i.e. competitors, vendors, etc.) Post Show: All leads will be archived ____________________where they can be accessed by Marketing and Sales. Often people overlook the importance of archiving leads. No matter how you collect the leads, they need to be stored somewhere after the show, so the appropriate people have access to them. Whether that is filed, in a CRM or a shared drive, these are the reason for the show so treat them like the gold they are! Meeting Space: Do you need a space off or on the show floor to meet with prospects or customers? Where will it be? Let’s link to it here. What will it contain? A projector, screens, etc.? Do we need to have food there? A meeting space can give you a degree of privacy even in the sea of people at a tradeshow. This can be for entertaining clients, closing a sale or just for conferencing among internal staff members not needed on the floor. BOODLE. A boodle is everything that you need to survive the show. Your promotional items, pens, aspirin, notepads, staplers, a knife, etc. Anything and everything. At bigger shows, I will have 2 or even three boodles segmented by contents. So what will be in yours and how will you get it to the show? Product Showcase Product 1 Message: Underneath your primary message you may have individual product messages, especially if you have more than one product on the show floor. These messages should complement and reinforce the Primary message. Description This Product benefits the customer by……Remember you are selling benefits not features.

11. Theme and Message: Continued Product 2 Message: Is there another message? Do one of these sections for each product, description and message. Description: This Product benefits the customer by…… A Note on Graphics and Video On the booth you have less than 10 seconds to convey to people what your solution is and how you solve their problem. 10 Seconds. Sounds like a challenge, huh? It is but it can also help you define and distill your message down to what it is at heart. Make sure that everyone that comes by your booth knows what you are all about!

12. CHAPTER TWO Staffing

13. Staffing Booth Staffing Staffing • List the people that will be attending and working on your exhibition. List the people that will be attending and working your exhibition. This will be a brief overview. The full list and times they will be attached on the Booth Staffing Matrix: With this, list you can manage time on the booth, travel, and hotels. Bear in mind that sales may not always be the most productive people to have working the booth. Customer service is excellent and anyone who is technical (engineering, R&D, etc. could be good to have at the booth, as well). The requirement is only that they are knowledgeable and can talk to people. • Download the Trade Show Attendee Calculator Travel: Are there travel arrangements needed by the staff? You might want to create a matrix for managing that. Promotional models: Do you need to hire anyone at the show that is not a full-time employee of your company? Sometimes this is a good option when you have limited staff or need more experienced staff to handle sales or leads, while the promotional models can be greeting guests and funneling prospects to sales. You probably want to have them as involved in the training as possible. Doing a brief training with EVERYONE who will be on the booth is great the morning or afternoon before the show. Dress What will everyone wear that is on the show floor? Color and style of all of the aspects of dress would be a good detail to note here. If you are giving out attire where will the staff get it and when? Training: Training on the booth is very important. You use this to familiarize everyone working the booth with what is on the booth, where schedules may be, where the boodle is etc. You also train the booth staff on how you want them to handle leads or sales, and how to reinforce the message the of the products as well as the overall message. Talking Points: What are the talking points that you want your staff to know? This can be a variation of the Primary message and the theme but need to consistent. Talking Point 1 Talking Point 2 Talking point 3:

14. Staffing: Continued Note about talking points: They need to be true talking points. Don’t try to script everything your staff will say to a lead or prospect. It will come off as unnatural and stilted. Just give them guides and a couple of phrases and let them surprise you with the results! Booth Rules Suggestions. The best way to train the booth staff is not to dictate a series of rules. This does not work. Trust me; I’ve tried. A better way is to try a series of illustrations. Perhaps a walk through or demonstration of good vs. “bad” behavior. However you present, here are some points you might want to emphasize. When dealing with Prospects Get in and Get out. There is a lot of chaff at trade shows. You want your staff to get in, do an intro, qualify the prospect, get contact info and disengage. Thank the person for the time and it's on to the next. You want to interact with as many people as possible. Don’t be Desperate. Nobody wants to talk to someone who is desperate. Your booth people should be cool, and calm. If someone blows them off, no worries another prospect is right there, there, there and there. Don’t Block Entrance. Some people seem to want to stand on the edge of the booth and guard it. The perception from a visitor is that your staff member a barrier. Think of a knight guarding a drawbridge. That's not the best way to get people into your booth. Don’t Prejudge People Who Come to the Booth. This is one of the reasons that sales isn’t always the best people to have in the booth. They tend to prejudge by reading name tags and then dismissing. Everyone who comes into the booth needs to be talked to and qualified. And then on to the next one. Don’t Accost People in the Aisle. The aisle is the safe place for the attendee so even if you do “drag” them into your booth what kind of audience do you have? Is this someone who will be receptive? No, and you might be wasting an opportunity on a good and engaged prospect. Don’t Talk on the Phone, Be on Computer etc. I don’t think this needs a whole lot of explanation. If you are on the phone or computer, you are not receptive to someone coming up and requesting a demo. . Ask Customers How They Want to be Contacted. And then do that. Be sure that you follow up how you say you will. On some scanners at shows, you can add custom fields, do yourself a favor and make this one of them. If you aren’t using a scanner be sure you write it on the notes you are taking or the FRONT of the business card. (stuff tends to get lost on the back) Smile. Nothing is more welcoming than a smiling face. Don’t Sit. Ok, occasionally sit if you have to, but this is the reason you have the staff; to give each other breaks and you really should. On the schedule try to make it, so everyone has a break. NOTE: the busiest times on the floor will be between 11am and 2pm. So plan accordingly.

15. Staffing: Continued Not a Social Gathering. This is not a time to hang out with friends. I see this a lot at large booths where people are gathering from all over the country or world. Do you fail the “one grenade will get you all” test? To get people to refrain from doing this schedule “outside the tradeshow” activities. Dinners or breakfast before work nicely. No Eating. Wolfing down a donut or 6 on the tradeshow floor is not going to help booth traffic. Also, it leaves your hands sticky, which is not a good first impression. No Hands in Pockets. Look at someone with their hand in their pockets. They look uninterested. They aren’t open, they aren’t ready to engage. Be on Time. Easy, simple.

16. CHAPTER THREE Promotion

17. Promotion Media/Promotion/Ad Less than 70% of show exhibitors do any pre-show marketing. But most attendees plan where they want to spend their time in advance. So by having a promotional plan you are already ahead of the game and the competition. Now you have to decide what type of pre-show marketing you will you do? Print ads? PPC campaign? Direct Mail? Blogs? Landing pages? QR Codes? Will you buy a Pre-show database? Post-show database? Will you have a giveaway? Or gimmick for your booth? Are you going to have an event outside of the show? If so, where and who will you invite? You need to weigh the ROI of each and every method of communication with your market. Remember everything has a cost, even if it isn’t in money, there is always an opportunity cost. Print AD: What is it and when will it run? What is the target? What is it and when will it run? What is the target? The most important thing in ads is a great tagline to encourage people to come by your booth AND your booth number. So what makes a great tag? It grabs people’s attention and focuses on what you can solve for the person. And of course, raises some reason for them to come by your booth Email/ Direct Mail: Are you sending a Direct mail or email piece? Where will you get the names? What will it contain? Why are you sending it? Can you get people to bring it with them to enhance the chances of them coming to your booth? Outside the show event: Things to think about. Who will you invite, how will you get out word for the event? Is it exclusive? Where will it be? Do you have catering? How will it maintain and bolster your theme and message? Will you have more than one? Will there be different invitees? Social media: Remember to mention your attendance on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter and other social media. Have them link to your site if you have blog mentions or show offers there. If not, link to the registration page, or FAQ page on the show site. Also use the hashtag of #theevent. Live tweets from the show floor demonstrate that you are engaged and can influence traffic.

18. Promotion: Continued Integration with website. If you have a PPC campaign, you need a landing page dedicated to the site. You will also need some “honey” or a reason for people to fill out the information on the landing page. Maybe a pdf of your direct mail piece? Or an infographic or a white paper? Just make sure it pertains to your Theme. Consistency is the key in marketing. Promotional Items/ Giveaways: What promos do you have? Do you have any? Are they cheap pens and candy for everybody or something expensive for executives? Be sure the people on the booth know what is for whom and the overall plan for the giveaways Brochures or other support literature on the booth. Don’t bring every brochure you have. Keep it consistent with your theme? Don’t have a pamphlet? Maybe you can make a flip card (5-7) with information about your company, contact info, etc.

19. CHAPTER FOUR Timeline

20. Timeline The size of the event and your company's presence dictates a lot of when you will start planning. The longest is maybe 12-18 months out. Shortest is 4-6 months. 18 months to a year out: Get your booth space: Many shows start booking for the next year at that show. Some large ones that are not on an annual basis book even before that (18-36 months) Six to Nine months before the show; Initial Plans: This would be your messaging, branding, initial layout. Depending on the size of the show and your involvement in it, you should start planning at least six months out. For a huge show or where you have a significant investment nine months to a year is not too far out. Six to Three Months before the show: • Any Ads you have need to be ready to run in publications • Booth renderings completed • Video Are you promoting your attendance via Youtube or Vimeo? • Page of your website about the show SEO Optimized, of course • Mention in your newsletter/e-newsletter fulfilling • Order electricity and other booth amenities • Order shirts/uniforms and other promos • Finalize who is going and make sure rooms are reserved Two months before the show • Schedule for booth done? • Do we need booth help? • Start mentioning the show in social media Try to use the official hashtag of the event if there is one. If not, what’s to stop you from making one up? • Any team building or relationship building you need to organize? Team meals, dinners with clients, reception, etc. • Are you doing any Ads? If so, you want them to run before the show. If you have 3, start three months before, two start two months before. • PPC Ads? If you are using them, you probably want them to start running now.

21. Timeline One and a half months before the show • Direct mail piece completed and sent to printer • Do you have any paper invitations going out? If so, they need to be back from the printer and in the hands of your prospects. One Month before show • The last Ad will run in the industry media • Training scheduled and finalized • Reception invite sent • Email completed for “Thank you for stopping by our booth.” • Direct mail piece sent • Shipping completed for the booth One week before the show Booth arrives, First Day of install (depending on the show size, your booth size and a variety of other factors) Day before Show: • Training at the booth for staff • Any events that evening? First Day of Show • Send thank you for coming to the booth emails • Meeting with booth staff division of leads • Any events that evening? • Meeting with sales and division of hot leads • All “A” leads put into CRM Second Day of Show • Send thank you for coming to the booth emails • Meeting with booth staff division of leads • Any events that evening? • Meeting with sales and division of hot leads • All “A” leads put into CRM

22. Timeline Third Day of Show (Wednesday) • Send thank you for coming to the booth emails • Meeting with sales and division of leads • Any events that evening? • Meeting with sales and division of hot leads • All “A” leads put into CRM Fourth Day of Show • Send thank you for coming to the booth emails • Meeting with sales and division of hot leads • All “A” leads put into CRM Day after Show • Send thank you for coming to the booth emails • Lead nurturing campaign (What do you do with all those B&C’s that aren’t quite ready for sales? Why not put them in a lead nurturing campaign to get them ready for sales? Week after Show • All “B” and “C” leads entered into CRM (if wanted) and set for lead nurturing • Appraisal of number and quality of leads 1 Month after show • Analysis: Preliminary measurements • Number of genuine opportunities from the show 2 Months after show: Did those opportunities result in sales or projects or are they still viable (this will depend a lot on the length of your sales cycle). 3 Months Follow-up on show Leads the never went anywhere and move them to “see us at INSERT next trade show list.”

23. Appendices

24. Appendices Division of Responsibility Who is going to do what? There are a ton of different pieces of a trade show (even a small one) and this is a great place to figure what you and any other staff members will do. Below will be your full page attachments. Hotel Staffing matrix for check in • You might want to consider building one of these so you know where everyone is staying and when they are available to work the booth. A simple one in excel works great. On-booth Shift Schedule • Who will be working the booth and at what time? Booth Layout • Attach the full booth layout here Meeting Rooms and Dinners When will you be taking out clients and prospects? What is the location? Dress? Theme? Message? Budget? Who is expected to attend. I would make one of these for each event.

25. Want More In-depth Help? This guide is provided to give a general overview of how to improve your trade show and live event marketing. If you would like to talk about building a comprehensive and personalized trades show strategy that integrates into your current marketing, please contact us. FREE Evaluation