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Exhibition success: Revive your exhibition marketing strategy (Part 2) [Bizcommunity (South Africa)](Bizcommunity (South Africa) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Following Part 1 of "Exhibition success: Revive your exhibition marketing strategy" we continue the article with Part 2. But before we do so, all exhibitors are encouraged to remember this one important thing... "Visitors spend their own money and give up valuable time to be at the exhibition. Do everything possible to make their investment worth the effort; use the appropriate language or dialect in your communications." - Bob Dallmeyer Herewith are more steps to follow or at least consider, as an exhibitor, to revive your exhibition marketing strategy:Step 4: Pre-show communications with first time visitors At a typical exhibition, 40% of the audience is attending for the first time. Furthermore, over 50% of these important buyers and/or purchasing specifiers will not attend another exhibition in the year ahead. This creates a tremendous marketing opportunity for your company, and you need to let these new prospects know about your participation.Step 5: Pre-show communications with long time visitors Another important CEIR Research finding: 60% of a typical exhibition audience has been attending for two or more consecutive years. The tradeshow or exhibition organiser can help you effectively reach this visitor group by providing database information. You can then use targeted direct mail to inform these important buyers and/or purchasing specifiers that you are hoping to see them at the show this year. An effective direct mail program can increase visitors to your exhibition stand by 53%.Step 6: Management perspectives Time is money, and this is especially true for exhibition visitors. Never doubt that your pre-show activity is worth the effort, since 75% of all visitors arrive at an exhibition with a predetermined agenda as to whom they plan to see and very often, what they plan to evaluate and buy. You want your company to be on their predetermined agendas. CEO Studies: Incomm International (based in Chicago, IL) asked chief executives why they attended exhibitions and their responses were overwhelmingly positive: - 84% said they attended for personal contact with their customers; - 78% wanted to assess the marketplace and exhibitions were the best way to do that - 69% wanted to see what their competition was doing - 66% came to support their exhibition staff. A survey of CEO's found that 18% attended an exhibition because some exhibiting company gave them a complimentary pass. If the exhibition organiser offers complimentary show registrations, by all means, use them to further reinforce your participation with this management group.Step 7: Staffing your exhibition stand Your most important consideration is to select people who are enthusiastic about your company and its products to work on your stand. If you have multi-lingual persons, that's an added bonus. If you have a large exhibition stand, consider using a mix of employees - that is, executives, sales/marketing specialists, and technical support persons, as each fulfils a vital role in dealing with prospects and customers. Read more on exhibition stand etiquette in this article we recently published: "Exhibition Stand and Exhibition Show Etiquette."Step 8: Pre-show staff seminar and staff goals It's good business practice to always hold a pre-show seminar on your exhibition stand or in a nearby conference or hotel room before every exhibition. Everyone working on the stand should attend this meeting. Here's a possible meeting agenda to guide you: - Introduce everyone on the team, including translators - Review the stand in its entirety, structure and graphics - Briefly go over the Marketing Plan - Review objectives for each member of the team - Discuss the products to be displayed and/or demonstrated - Outline plans for greeting current customers at the exhibition - Present the staffing schedule - Discuss the lead qualifying and selling processes - Explain how to complete lead forms on prospects - Finally, discuss how to relate effectively to the prospects with buying powerWhen reviewing your company objectives, give every team member personal goals to achieve during each hour he or she is on the stand. Show them how to efficiently work in your exhibition stand, and remind them that you only have five seconds to make a positive impression with the visitors. A negative impression takes at least 30 minutes to correct. The better prepared your staff is, the greater your chances of achieving success. SSQ Exhibitions is a design and project management agency that carries a comprehensive understanding of quality, return on investment and brand experiences. Send us your brief now. Information retrieved from the following source: - Successful Exhibit Marketing - by Bob Dallmeyer All rights reserved. (c) 2014 Bizcommunity.com Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |