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Effective tradeshow
marketing
By Peggy Bekavac Olson
Strategic Marketing
Although just one component of the marketing
mix, tradeshows can drive sales and build
market share in an efficient, effective manner
while building brand equity for your company,
products and services.
With proper event selection, planning and execution,
tradeshows offer a unique and lucrative selling environment
by providing access to a captive audience of prospects
under one roof.
Tradeshow experts agree that while attendance may be
lower than in past years, people who attend in this down
economy are there with a specific purpose and mission.
They often plan in advance which exhibits they will
visit, and when they stop at booths, their objective is to
learn and gather information to spur buying decisions.
Attendees' interest is high and their quality and buying
authority is stronger than ever.
Face to face interaction is what makes tradeshows work.
You and your staff have opportunities to meet customers,
key prospects and even potential sales agents and partners
in person. And compared to other selling tactics, you
can show off your organization better and communicate
in a more personal business setting in a tradeshow milieu.
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Education (continued)
to use tradeshows to support achieving your sales
and revenue targets, to increase company awareness
and sales in a particular industry vertical or
market segment, to launch new products or services,
or to help reach your objectives in terms of
bringing on new sales representatives, sales agents
or sub-ISOs.
2. Identify and evaluate
Next, identify and evaluate various tradeshows
to assess which ones provide the best opportunity
to achieve the strategy you've defined. Conduct
research to locate the market verticals you'd like to
attack. Talk to your best customers and check out
your competition to see which shows they attend.
Then analyze demographics to determine if a particular
event provides a solid target audience for
your efforts.
If building your sales or sales agent team or taking
on sub-ISOs is a big component of your annual
strategy, consider exhibiting at the Electronic
Transactions Association's Annual Meeting & Expo,
as well as the quarterly regional acquirers meetings.
If generating merchant leads in a particular market
segment is a top priority, research and attend shows
within those industry verticals.
For example, if you're targeting petroleum and
convenience store merchants, consider exhibiting
at NACStech, which is the Association for
Tradeshows provide attendees a visual way to learn about
your company through your booth display and create
a way to accelerate the sales process by matching prospects',
potential sales representatives', sales agents' and
partners' needs with your company's ability to fill them.
Tradeshows sometimes get a bad rap because they can
be expensive, require significant logistical work, and fail
to generate leads or tangible return on investment (ROI).
This typically occurs when companies participate in
events without mapping out a clear strategy. It's not just
about reserving exhibit space, making travel reservations,
ordering show services and giveaways, and shipping and
setting up the booth.
Steps to success
Having a strategy in place sets your company on the path
of making tradeshows a valuable marketing tool. A number
of steps must be taken to ensure tradeshow success.
1. Develop strategy
First, define an annual event strategy that supports
your corporate goals. Perhaps you will want
Six key points for tradeshow success
1. Tradeshows offer unique, lucrative selling environments
with access to many prospects in one location,
using personal, face to face interaction to accelerate
the sales process.
2. Tradeshow success is driven by implementing a
clearly defined strategy.
3. Exhibit structures showcase your organization,
build brand awareness and recognition, and create
a favorable impression; they don't need to be large,
lavish and expensive.
4. Spend as much of your exhibit dollars and personnel
resources as you can on sales and promotional
efforts at your booth.
5. To justify activities and expenses, define metrics
and measure tradeshow results.
6. Take all aspects of exhibiting seriously; your company's
image and reputation are on display.