The Magic 3’s:Pre-Show, At-Show and Post-Show Promotion to Customers, Prospects and Suspects

I’ve got 3 questions for you to ask yourself before your next show: 

1) Have you identified the top 10 prospects and/or customers you want to talk with at the trade show and put together a plan to invite them?
2) What are the demographic and psychographic profiles of the suspects (attendees you haven’t yet met) who will just wander by your exhibit –
and what are their current hot buttons?
3) What are you doing to promote your company and product to these attendees who are your target market?
If you’re not asking yourself these 3 questions at the beginning of your planning cycle for your next trade show, and basing your messaging and promotions around them, you’re leaving your success and potential ROI in the hands of fate… Will they turn down your aisle and randomly find you? 

Every trade show exhibitor gets not one, not two, but three opportunities to sell to their target market:
• pre-show
• at the show
• post-show

Then multiply these three show timeframes by the three types of attendees you’ll see at the show:
• customers who are already familiar with your company’s product or service
because they’ve already bought it your old product
• prospects you know and who know of you but haven’t been convinced to buy yet, and 
• suspects who you don’t know and they don’t know you. 

If math isn’t your strong suit, I’ll help. Multiply 3 timeframes x 3 types of attendees = unlimited opportunity to influence your target market.
Many exhibitors though, try the “one-size-fits-all approach” for their messaging and promotion, which can be disastrous if your target market thinks you’re missing their bulls eye. Each type of attendee with a different level of knowledge about your company and product can make getting the best message geared to the right attendee a challenge. The more you hone your message to each type of attendee’s level of knowledge, the more successful your messaging will be. 

Remember that attendees at a show are all tuned in to the same “frequency” as they peruse exhibits: WIIFM – “What’s In It For Me?” Your offer to them should be: 

• Unique
• A solution to their problem that shows your products’ benefits
• Appealing to both their emotional and logical side
• A clear offer that is both exciting and different
• Something that instills a sense of urgency to respond i.e. a “limited time offer”.

Pre-Show Promotion Tips 
At a recent show-sponsored exhibitor workshop, a panel of 5 long-time trade show attendees agreed that they start planning their schedule of their short-list of companies to visit far ahead of what most exhibitors believe they do – up to 6 weeks before the show! They said that the promotions that hit them in the last few weeks before a show are too late.
And industry surveys consistently find that exhibitors who launch a pre-show promotional campaign double the number of qualified attendees who visit their exhibit. 

It really pays to begin selling prior to the show. Send direct mail or email information to your target audience inviting them to see your new products/services at “Booth #123” and giving them a compelling reason to stop by – whether it’s a cost-cutting or efficiency-improving benefit of using your product. 

The word “new” should be highlighted if you do have a product that has not been seen by this group of attendees. “New” is the most powerful word you can use in both your pre-show correspondence and on your exhibit graphics, as three-quarters of attendees state that seeing what’s new is their #1 reason for visiting the show floor. 

To generate maximum traffic to your exhibit, try these techniques: 

• Focus your efforts and a proportionate amount of your promotional budget on your best customers and top sales prospects.
• Consider implementing multiple types of pre-show promotion: direct mail, email, Web- and publication-based advertising, fax, telemarketing, PR/media relations and conference speaker placement. 
• Contact your customers, especially those within a 400-mile radius of the show, to let them know you will be at the show and note the show’s location, dates and times.
• Mail coupons to your customers for “show special” pricing.
• Email the URL to download complimentary show floor passes to your customers.
• Invite your clients to any special customer appreciation events you’re hosting at the show.
• Consider the target and send different, customized messages to your customers (“Thanks for your past business! And we’d like to show you our new XYZ at the show”, prospects (“Haven’t seen you in a while, stop by and see our new XYZ”, and suspects (“We’d like to meet you and have the opportunity to show you XYZ because [benefits]”).
• Schedule advertising in the industry publications your target audience reads to coincide with the show dates.
• Write a compelling, solution-oriented description for your online company listing and inclusion in the show’s directory. 

At the Show
• Consider the many options for on-site promotion, including airport advertising, mobile advertising i.e. headrest covers on the shuttle buses that face back, billboards/banners, hotel promotions i.e. room drops or custom room keys, show directory or show daily advertising and trade publication ads. 
• Offer price discounts or value-added promotions.
• Schedule customers and prospects for specific on-site appointment times during the show. Don’t forget the time slots during breakfast, lunch and dinner; they have to eat, too! Pair up your best customers with your “on-the-fence” prospects at these meals or events to augment the sales process with first-person testimonials.
• Develop easy ways to qualify new prospects such as conducting a prize drawing where your lead form is the entry form.
• DO NOT collect business cards, since they won’t give you information you need to qualify prospects’ interests, current problems and needs, decision-making authority, budget, timeframe to buy or preferred mode of follow-up. A business card is NOT a lead!
• Offer customers who complete your lead form white papers, case studies, articles on industry trends, etc. on a CD as your giveaway. Or use them as part of your post-show promotional campaign.
• Only use giveaway items with your company name and URL imprinted on them if they help convey your message or as a thank-you for qualified prospects spending time with you. Remember that giveaways need to be of usable and of high-perceived value that the attendee will keep, not throw away or take home to their child. Personalized gifts are the ultimate giveaway, since the attendee often has to come back to the exhibit to pick up their gift after engraving/embossing.
• If you conduct giveaway drawings in your exhibit, hand out business cards with a special URL to your Web site where attendees can check to see if they’ve won. In addition to winners’ names, list your key show messages with photos and links to the products you displayed in your exhibit.
• Distribute discount coupons valid only for a specified time period after the show. 

Post-Show Promotion
• Plan your follow-up, including budget and staffing resources, collateral literature, and postage and stationery BEFORE the show.
• Write the content of follow-up letters or emails before leaving for the show. Refer to your exhibit theme or corporate tag line, reiterate your top 2-3 key messages, and give them contact information such as your toll-free number or company URL.
• Use information on how attendees want follow-up -- and when -- that you collected during your lead gathering on the show floor. Contact all prospects/customers who visited your exhibit when and how they requested. Generally, if no other timeframe is requested, attendees expect follow-up via email within 72 hours or by postal mail within 10 business days of the close of the show. Honor the attendees’ requests for specific types of follow-up (by phone or email, sending fulfillment pieces or a demo) as specified on the completed lead form.
• Fulfill requests for more information with the URL to your Web site, hard-copy brochures, spec sheets, catalogs, samples, case studies, white papers, reprints of trade journal articles and client testimonials. 
• Just because your prospects’ needs aren’t immediate, keep in touch with them via direct mail, email or phone calls and you’ll be top-of-mind when they’re ready to buy. 

Follow these simple suggestions and discover how powerful exhibit marketing can be when you plan ahead. To paraphrase an old saying, “Don’t fail to plan unless you plan to fail!” 

And don’t forget the power of focusing on “The Magic 3’s!”

Candy Adams, CTSM, CME, CEM, CMP, CMM
a.k.a. "The Booth Mom®"
Trade Show Consulting
www.BoothMom.com   

Candy Adams, a.k.a. “The Booth Mom®”