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Exhibitor Tips

Trade Show Exhibitor Preparation with Joel Roy, Creative Dimensions

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Link to Podcast Available HERE Transcript to podcast found below: Bill : Hi and welcome to the next episode of belly2belly Bill Kenny here and today we have a really cool topic and it’s all about trade show exhibitor preparation, and I’m joined by Joel Roy from Creative Dimensions. Hi, Joel. Joel : Hey, Bill, how are you today? Bill : Fantastic. It’s great to have you with us and you know this topic. It’s something that it just seems like such an amazing issue. I think I’ve when I think about preparation, I think of what did Woody Allen say said 80% of life is showing up. And if you think about, you know, I actually was talking to a very big exhibitor large enterprise company that exhibits all the time. Not that long ago, and I asked them, you know, how do they define success and just to give context, in this company, there’s no sort of event department and, you know, sort of people have other functions and then they, you know, they also sort of manage the trade show presence, but they bring 30 people to a trade show, so they invest tons and tons and tons of money into this. But, you know, they really struggled with how do they measure success, which I thought was amazing. And I said, Do you is, you know, do you feel relief, when you actually just arrive? Is that just the fact that you got there with all the materials, and you got the printing done at the end and all that kind of stuff? Is that is that some measure of success? And they said yes, which seems like you know, you’ve totally missed the, the whole opportunity and I guess, when you start thinking about, you know, preparation for trade shows, what are some of the things that come to mind for you, when you think about you know, that the keys for an exhibitor? Joel : Oh, as a trade show organizer, slash designer slash builder. There’s a lot of parts involved. I mean, our job is to make the process as painless as possible. I, it comes with the client vision, really, I mean, we need to do a discovery process, go through a whole discovery process with them learn what it is that they’re trying to achieve. What is their look? How are they going to go through the process? How are they measuring that show? And, you know, understand what the end game is going in. You know, typically, we’re going to have what we call a discovery meeting. And it’s going to talk about all of those things. And our job is to do as much or as little as that client wants us. To do. Some people are savvy, and they want hands on and they’re going to go there and they’re going to take on the world and set it up and be ready for that show. And some people want to sleep in and show up at the booth that day, and everything’s all set for them. So I will say in COVID right now. Though, coming out of it. A lot of companies have lost their staff. And so they’re going to probably be relying on us a lot more. We have We also are short of staff. However, you know, that’s something that we’ve been talking about in the industry. In some of our calls and our you know, meetings with everybody comparing notes, and they’re just saying that people need to expect it to be different than it used to be. So I don’t know if that answers your question, Bill. Bill : Yeah, I guess I’m thinking about the individual exhibitor. And so I think a little bit of what you talked about was sort of how, how you prepare them, but what are from the exhibitors perspective, when you think about, you know, what are the what are they the keys, you know, for example, how important is it to consider who the customer is, and sort of designing things around as you said the outcome, but quite often it’s a business development related outcome. So what is the I guess when you think about you know, the preparation you know, are there some specific things around sort of Prospect identification and whatnot that that you consider in terms of preparing for a trade show? Joel : Yeah, I think there’s a lot of shows out there. You can be at a show that’s the perfect target or you can be at one that might not hit it, right. So I think it’s incumbent on them to understand their product and go out and research the best show for them. That gives them a fighting chance going in. They have to also decide how they want to measure what they’re doing. I mean, obviously, with social media these days, and everything else, some, some pre-event touches are maybe a lot easier than they used to be. So knowing identifying those customers knowing who they are reaching out to them ahead of time, I think if you are if they plan to set up meetings, at the show or in the booth, it’s going to raise their level of success versus just kind of sitting and hoping. But being in that target market is going to help that happen. You know, what we’re seeing is that a lot of people going to the shows are more of the decision makers than they used to be used to be a lot more of a party, everyone to go and is like hey, went to the show and let’s go to the pool. But I think the people are going now people are spending the money. They’re taking their people offline. They’re either Manning their booth, or and, or going in hunting for people at shows. And those people are more specific than ever, I

Exhibitor Tips, Return on Investment

Ready for SelectUSA? Crush this 12-Step Checklist to Make Sure

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SelectUSA is an unrivaled opportunity for international firms looking to scale to the U.S. market, making the event uniquely high stakes for economic development organizations, investors, service providers and the high volumes of mature companies in attendance. At MEET, we like to say that effective preparation is 90% of winning the race; this is especially true with SelectUSA. Increased participation rates due to lower barriers to entry (no travel expenses!) have raised the pressure to differentiate. It’s also raised the bar for a well-executed participation strategy. Are you ready for SelectUSA? Here’s a 12-Step Checklist to ensure you’re prepared to step up, stand out and walk away on top. And feel free to connect with us during the event or schedule a meeting with Bill Kenney at bill@meetroi.com. We’d love to hear how it’s going. SelectUSA Preparation Checklist 1. Nail Your Target Know precisely who you want to meet and what outcomes you want to achieve. It’s not enough to identify industries. Focus on categories within industries and refine your personas by role and type. If you’re able to narrow it down to specific people within each organization who you want to meet, go there. 2. Customize Your Value Proposition Always frame your value proposition from your target audience’s perspective. By fine-tuning your value proposition and self-introduction, you’ll help to ensure that every interaction is congruent with how you want to be perceived and your prospect’s pain point, improving the ROI of each interaction. 3. Create Your Agenda Spend time reviewing the SelectUSA agenda and overlay your objectives with valuable content. To increase the likelihood of building connections in these settings, be prepared with questions, speaker research and intelligent chat concepts. 4. Train Your Team Once you identify your internal team, hold an event orientation that focuses on company introduction and messaging. Bonus points if done by persona type and audience! Delegate event responsibilities by skill, type and role, and train individuals for specific tasks. These investments in your team will exponentially increase their likelihood of success, in turn improving yours. 5. Pre-Set Your Meetings Make sure every minute of your team’s time at the event is well-spent by using the big stone approach. Make introductions on LinkedIn and secure meetings with high-value connections (big stones) before the event to ensure they’re on the books. Then fill in with other agenda items (your small stones) to help meet your targets. 6. Prepare Your Pitch Prepare, practice and get feedback on your pitch prior to the event. Don’t be afraid to iterate and adjust, particularly as you consider different audience types and desired outcomes. 7. Collate Your Collateral At an event the size of SelectUSA, a good pitch will not be enough to keep you top of mind for target prospects. Prepare “leave behinds” – company overviews, investor summaries, and product sell sheets – for every meeting. Strong collateral will inform, excite, and remind your audience to take action after you’re gone. 8. Maximize Virtual Event Participation In many ways virtual events have removed the friction to participating in matchmaking, networking and spin-off events. Take advantage of these opportunities and prepare for each accordingly. Have prepared questions to build your intelligence and insights, and SHARE your insights/questions during presentations. Differentiate yourself and be ‘seen’. 9. Nurture Your Relationships Have your post-event communication staged prior to the event and block out time each evening to send these out. For each person you meet, make notes and customize your communications to ensure they feel personal. If you wait more than 24-hours after the event has ended, you’re too late. 10. Identify Your Allies Identify and be prepared to share your objectives with key resources and partners. Empower these allies to connect you with the opportunities that you seek and ask others how you can reciprocate. Network with connectors/leaders who can guide you, introduce you and promote you. 11. Optimize Your Presence Wear comfy shoes…virtual style. Help your team be on time and stay focused. Ensure your space is optimal – good lighting with enough room to stand up and move around – to keep your energy level high. Know the technology and how to navigate the platform so you can focus on actively participating and making connections, rather than “finding the bathroom.” 12. Follow Up Diligently Follow-up is the key to relationship building and event success! Develop pre-written text by persona type and reach out the same day you connect (not the following week). Keep following up until there is a next step. Congratulations! You’re ready to hit the virtual aisles of SelectUSA! And don’t forget to connect with us at the event to let us know how it’s going.   About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft-land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows, virtual and in-person events. MEET’s processes help clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward. Contact Bill Kenney for a no-obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Exhibitor Tips

Virtual Event Networking: How Not to #FAIL

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  One year ago, virtual events were limited to particular industries. Today they’re everywhere. That’s because in the absence of in-person events, we’ve had no choice but to embrace virtual platforms as a means of building and maintaining our professional networks. But if everyone’s networking through virtual events, then why doesn’t it feel easier? Having hosted, attended and evaluated numerous events in 2020, we’ve identified three of the most likely reasons why virtual event networking still feels challenging in 2021. Fortunately, we’ve also identified 10 ways to guarantee better results at your next virtual event. Three reasons why virtual event networking still feels hard #1 It’s difficult to know who else is in the room MOST event attendees do not take the time to complete their bio on the virtual event platform. This makes it almost impossible to know who is in attendance. Even when a platform utilizes AI to match registrants, it’s very difficult to make high quality connections in the absence of profile data. #2 Practically every virtual event uses a different platform Chances are, almost every virtual event you attended this last year used a different platform–interesting if you’re looking for insight into the growth of the virtual platform industry, less interesting (not to mention intimidating) if you’re trying to meet quality prospects and maximize ROI. For insights into the growth of the virtual event industry and what to expect for 2021, check out our interview with Allen Yesilevich, Head of Marketing & Growth at Accelevents or read the highlights here. #3 The learning curve is steep In addition to platforms being new, most attendees don’t log on prior to the day of the event. That creates a steep learning curve for new users, further complicating their engagement during the event. Case and point is this User Guide put out by one virtual event networking platform Remo. Amazing resource, but a lot of onboarding for just one facet of platform. But don’t fear! 10 strategies to overcome these and other challenges at virtual events #1: Take the time to log onto the platform prior to the event. Even just 20 minutes exploring the site will go a long way. Some events open networking access up to a month in advance, leaving you plenty of time to get started. #2: Set up your bio and upload a picture. Even a bad one is better than none when it comes to building relationships. #3: Know the persona you’re targeting. This is critical for any event but especially when profile data is inconsistent and you need to rely on other clues. Not sure you’ve nailed your buyer persona? Check out MEET’s 8 Point System to ensuring virtual event ROI. #4: Use the system’s intelligence to connect PRIOR to the event via email and start a conversation or schedule a one-on-one. #5: Do your research via external tools such as LinkedIn to gain background on event registrants and prepare for one-on-one meetings. #6: Set clear goals around the type of people you want to connect with, how many, and what you want to learn about them. Clearly defined goals help you to measure your own success across events as well as your team’s performance. #7: Be active and visible during the event. That means asking good questions, engaging the exhibitors, and leveraging all available networking sessions. #8: Be efficient with your time. Once you’ve connected with the right person, close for the next step. Secure an ‘offsite’ meeting and move on the way you would if you were in-person. #9: Don’t forget to engage speakers and sponsors. They are selected because they are opinion leaders and know the industry. #10: Last but certainly not least, Follow up! Why a good follow-up strategy is more important now than ever Nothing is more important than follow up according to Kelly Kenney, Head of Strategic Partnerships at MEET. “Virtual events work for a chat and brief exchanges, but they’re not optimal for engaging in the very complicated things that humans do to build trust.” If virtual event networking seems hard, that’s because it is. Therefore the important differentiator, in any event but especially with virtual, is a finely tuned follow-up strategy. “At the end of a virtual event, you’ve connected on fewer levels,” shares Kelly. “Your ROI depends on establishing a thread to build identity and trust. And for that, follow-up is your greatest asset.”   About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft-land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows, virtual and in-person events. MEET’s processes help clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no-obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821

Exhibitor Tips

Leveraging Virtual Trade Show Events as an Attendee

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Eight months into the pandemic, virtual trade show events have proven their unique value. Which means for those who thought they could coast until in-person events come back online—it’s time to get moving. On November 21st, MEET released the final podcast to a 3-part series: Leveraging Virtual Trade Show Participation See: Part 1: Strategy, Part 2: Exhibiting, Part 3: Attending  In this final episode, Kelly Kenney walks us through tips for getting the most out of virtual platforms as an attendee and what unique opportunities virtual events have to offer for differentiating yourself. First and foremost, know your tech We all know how to walk into a room and meet people. This is not the case with virtual trade show technology and those who are experts are quickly able to differentiate themselves from other attendees. “The tech’s either going to work for you or against you,” shared Kelly. “What we’re finding is that it’s really easy to differentiate yourself at an event if you understand the tech and use every facet of the event. A lot of people end up being invisible because they don’t know how to leverage the technology.” The technology is your roadmap—helping you to physically work your way through the virtual trade show floor and content. But beyond being present, you also need to know how to get results. Five steps to leveraging virtual trade show events Fortunately there are many aspects of your in-person event strategy that can be applied to virtual. Here’s the hit list: Complete your profile as early as possible before the event. The majority of visitors fail to do this and miss out on valuable networking opportunities, making this the easiest way to differentiate yourself from other attendees. Get comfortable with the technology. Sign on early and practice moving through the navigation tools. Look at the agenda–the topics and workshops—and have few good questions on hand for the chat or Q&A time. Engage in preset meetings (some platforms will suggest connections for you) Show-up and follow-up after your meetings! In essence, be vocal and proactive. “You can’t just sit there and drink your coffee and watch. You have to jump in, ask questions, interact positively, and be seen!” A behavior you want to avoid As is the case with all in-person events, there is a code of conduct with virtual. Unfortunately, with so many new players in the game, we still see a lot of cringe-worthy behaviors. Knowing when and where to be self-promotional is important. Workshops are not these spaces, and yet too often we see attendees (often competitors) using the chat feature to self-promote. Alternatively, make thoughtful, on-topic comments that do not distract from the context of the presentation. “Making yourself seen is not about announcing that you’re in the room,” shares Kelly. “The neat thing about virtual is that you’re able to see what everybody’s thinking during the presentation in the chat. You don’t get that in-person. Pay attention to what’s in the chat, who is saying it, and have a few prepared questions or relevant points to get their attention and prompt them to want to connect with you.” Exploring virtual booths and exhibits There are some key advantages to walking the virtual trade show floor. According to Kelly, it can be more relaxing but just as informative as in-person. “Instead of feeling like everybody’s looking at you when you enter a booth and hoping to engage you, virtual allows you to take your time and explore everything the booth has to offer.” Pro Tip: When you virtually walk into a booth, touch everything. Whether it’s a video, a live chat or a paper to download, it’s helpful to get the full experience of what is being offered. It’s also a great opportunity to meet your competitors. “I love these virtual shows to really get an understanding of the vibe of my competitor, their offerings and how we differentiate. I’ll even stop by and say something like: “This is a really interesting booth. We’re in the same industry and I’m glad that you’re at this show. How did you decide to come?” The future is hybrid While a reasonable number of in-person events are projected to come back online by summer or fall 2021, evidence suggests the future will be a hybrid model. Therefore, how should scaling companies plan to use the next six to nine months to prepare for the future of trade shows and event marketing? Given their low barrier to entry, virtual trade show events are ideal for exploring new market segments and buyer personas, engaging in rapid A/B testing, and checking out shows that you wouldn’t have looked at in the past. “The virtual aspect is such a boost to events in general. We recommend leveraging their unique assets now while they are plentiful, cheap and the playing field is even in that everyone is learning together.” However, a word of warning–the playing field will not remain that way.  From Kelly’s perspective: “By year-end there’s going to be people who are far exceeding the status quo because they understand the virtual format and are leveraging it to the hilt. In summary, it’s time to get on board with virtual events. “You will be outpaced quickly if you stand by. And if you do them well, virtual events will accelerate your results.” For more tips on leveraging your attendance at virtual trade show events, like how to fill up your networking table, effectively multi-task, and manage team participation, check out the full podcast. About 
MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft-land and scale in the U.S. through in-person and virtual trade shows and events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward. Contact Bill Kenney for a no-obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.  

Exhibitor Tips, Market-Entry, Workshops and Webinars

Digital Marketing Strategies for Market Entry How to Test, Gain Traction, and Scale

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Jeffrey Cohen, Vice President at Imageworks is interviewed by Bill Kenney, Founder and Client Advocate at MEET about Digital Marketing Strategies for Market Entry How to Test, Gain Traction, and Scale on the Belly2Belly podcast. Listen on iTunes or Spotify Watch on YouTube Bill : Welcome to the belly to belly podcast where we explore in-person business to business marketing. This episode is brought to you by MEET, the company that helps international companies exhibit at US trade shows. Check them out at meetroi.com Welcome, everybody. My name is Bill Kenney, and I’m here with Jeff Cohen from ImageWorks. This is the belly to belly podcast. It is a product of MEET and we help international companies exhibit at US trade shows. So one of the things that is so important with trade shows and really any marketing is is to have an integrated approach and to look at really a variety of ways that you can amplify what you’re doing and really nothing speaks to that more than what you can do today with in terms of digital media and we’re so excited to have Jeff Cohen here with us. That’s Jeffrey, welcome. Jeff : Thanks. Hey, everybody. Bill : So we have people, Jeffrey. So you know, we have people watching this from all over the world, what they’re concerned about is, you know, how do I get into a new market is effectively and efficiently as possible. And these are all b2b companies typically looking to attract, you know, that executive buyer who certainly is going to have specific needs they’re going to need, they’re going to have certain language opportunities and whatnot. So we’ll let’s get into that in just a couple minutes. But first, before we do, let’s make sure people know who you are your company, so that there’s context to your comments. So do you want to tell us a little bit about yourself? I know you’ve got a company called image works, but how did you get here? Jeff : Yeah, how long do we have for this? Bill : maybe a minute. Jeff :Very storied past I actually have two different degrees, because I made a career change 30 years ago. So I have a degree in graphic design and then I have I went back to school to become a computer programmer, because I wanted a career change, not because I was smart enough to know that well if you wait another 10 years graphic design and programming are going to merge and this thing is going to be called the internet. So yeah, I found myself uniquely qualified once the internet was born. Bill : Cool, thanks to Al Gore and all his hard work. Jeff : Yes, of course. Bill : So, let’s talk about imageworks you all and I’ve known you for many, many years now. And you know, it was originally a sort of web design firm. You all have you know, bolted on as the internet is developed as really digital media is develop, you have bolted on significant additional capabilities, but do you want kind of walk us through what you all do? Jeff: Yeah, Sure. So that’s that’s actually I forget how long we’ve known each other. But it used to be that probably for the first 10 years, we were in business and we’re in our 23rd year, just to give some perspective. launching the website was the end of the project, we would shake hands, we would get paid, we would launch the website, we’d all raise a glass and good luck and they call us once every whatever if they needed update to the site. The launch of the website now has become the beginning of the digital marketing process, not the end. So we sort of and I don’t want to diminish the importance of a good website, but that’s sort of the window dressing. And I can hear a lot of people in my industry groaning at me saying that, but you have a lot of options now for getting a simple website. Done. Especially if you’re in a small service business, if you’re a restaurant, you know, you need five pages, a map with directions, pictures of your food, your menus, how to order. simple stuff, you have a lot of options of where to go. Now if you want to get that website found, that’s a whole different discussion. And that sort of begs the question now what? So about 10 years ago, we started adding the now what services in those are it’s a huge array of paid search and inbound marketing and reputation management, social media, and search engine optimization and retargeting and remarketing. It’s a really big bucket. But that’s sort of, that’s our growth area. That’s what we focus on online lead generation getting people’s phones to rank. Bill : And how long have you been working with international companies? I know you’ve worked with Many over over several years long, Jeff : yeah. Um, so I would probably say maybe 15 years. Hmm. And that has changed even more dramatically than our industry. But yeah, there’s there’s It comes with certain complexities. But yeah, for a long time, we had companies who came into the US or opened up the North America division of a German manufacturer for quite some time. Bill : Hmm, cool. So let’s then that’s an awesome segue to really hop into our topic. So I know that you’ve seen some sort of the good, the bad and the ugly of market entry with regard to digital media. Let’s talk about some of the challenges that you’ve seen. international companies have when they’re when they’re entering a new market, and Kind of pitfalls that maybe have happened on the way? Jeff : Yeah, so, um okay, so there’s the language and cultural barrier and these are in no particular order. But really having someone on your

Exhibitor Tips, Workshops and Webinars

Leveraging LinkedIn for Market Entry How to Create Your Future Advocates

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Bill Kenney, Founder and Client Advocate at MEET interviews Laura Hannan, Co-Founder and Director of Client Success at Pitch121 on the Belly2Belly podcast. Listen on iTunes or Spotify Watch on YouTube Bill: Welcome to the belly to belly podcast where we explore in-person business to business market. This episode is brought to you by MEET, the company that helps international companies exhibit at US trade shows. Check them out at meetroi.com. Welcome, everybody. And this is belly to belly, our podcasts for MEET. And we’re a company that helps international companies exhibit at US trade shows. And the whole goal of this podcast is to really help you get the most out of your marketing and leverage, really all the resources you have. And we’re so delighted today to have Laura Hannan with us from pitch one to one. Laura, welcome. Thank you very nice to be here to see Bill. Oh, it’s wonderful to see you. So when we got started talking. It sounds like you had a bit of a role change. And now you’re the director of client success, and you’re a co-founder of the company. So what is the director of client success? What’s your job? Laura: Ah, all right. Well, let’s you know, when you’re a business owner, you’re doing everything I do. I am lucky to have a co-founder, Fergus Parker, so I lead on well, it says on the tin, it’s the director of client success. So I do have an account manager who is managing sort of day to day tasks with clients and I get to have the wonderful job of overseeing the strategy and just making sure that they get ROI. You know, it’s, it’s as simple as that. So all that we’re aiming for is for our clients to be happy and delighted and never cancel. Yeah, so obviously, the job gets bigger and bigger over time because we’re now in the beginning of our third year of business. And you know what the great thing about having this overview across lots of clients is that ideas come from everywhere. So you can really sort of them the platform changes, LinkedIn changes the way that people are using and consuming content changes, and I get to do the innovative stuff, you know, seeing what other people are doing, testing things, seeing what’s working and moving our product on. Bill: So cool. It sounds like you think a lot like we think and that is, you know when we think about serving our clients, it for us, it’s, it’s really what our job is to assure that our relationship matures and it’s successful enough for the client to where they’re a wonderful advocate for our services. And so that you know, with that as our sort of true north, it becomes very easy to make decisions. about what your service should be. It’s very, obviously very aligned with the right outcomes for your client, which Laura: I bet your network is full of future advocates and current advocates, Bill: Hopefully, and we’ll get into that, for sure. And certainly talking about your methodologies. But before we do, and just so everybody knows, so, you know, the real goal of this podcast is to help give you very useful information. And obviously, to do that we want to have context in terms of the information we’re sharing. So you all you and Fergus formed pitch one to one how many years ago Laura: And just over two years ago, cool. Bill: Excellent. And so what was the original impetus? What was it that caused you to do it? Laura: Okay, so I’ve been in sales for years and years as a sales practitioner and Ferguson I used to work on the same sales team. I’m looking at the date now. Let’s find out how many years was 14 years ago? And Bill: You were just a teenager then? Laura: Yeah, yeah, I was just, you know, thing. And what have we we’re in a content marketing agency. And I think that what you see in pitch One to One is the mix of burgers and I salespeople. But, but selling inbound marketing products, you know, we were selling content before content marketing was a phrase and you will see those influences coming in to pitch one to one. I think the thing that we discovered when we were working there, Fergus, by the way, ended up you know, working there for over a decade and becoming CEO of the company. The thing that was really overwhelming to us nothing because I went and worked for digital agencies and after that is then a tech startup after that is the time I worked at this content marketing agency was when I was the most effective at selling in terms of every quarter hitting my results. Why? Because we had telemarketers that would set up the meetings, then I’m not concentrating on lead gen, as well as closing as well as delivering a client and there is this. There’s a book called Predictable Revenue, which I’m sure some of your listeners will know. And it’s, you know, it’s absolutely convincing that you shouldn’t have your expensive salespeople, the salespeople are expensive, doing 360 sales. Obviously, telemarketing used to be effective and became less and less effective and you know, the, you need to adapt to how you’re doing lead gen. And but actually, the principle remains the same. That if you have your salespeople focused on just that part of the funnel, you’re going to help them to avoid that roller coaster of a great, great quarter. You’re so focused on closing that you haven’t done any legal so the next quarter is awful. And so that’s basically what pitch One to One is, is based on is, you know, working with in house teams to make sure they’ve got a predictable funnel, you know, got new opportunities coming in. Bill: And so your

Exhibitor Tips, Return on Investment

The Four Biggest Stumbling Blocks to Trade Show Success

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A report by PwC values the B2B trade show market at $14.3 billion. By 2021, that figure is expected to reach $16.8 billion. Renowned as the best content marketing strategy for B2B companies, these figures come as no surprise. By offering face-to-face exposure to large numbers of high-quality prospects, there are few if any comparable B2B marketing opportunities than trade shows and in-person events. But just because trade shows have the capacity to deliver ROI doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed. Critical to achieving trade show success is identifying and removing the most common pitfalls and stumbling blocks. Fortunately, we’ve come up with the top four challenges that every B2B company should be sure to avoid. 1. Lack of focus Whether a company has misidentified their target prospect or failed to identify one at all, lack of focus is a serious risk. In the absence of a clearly (and narrowly) defined buyer persona, it is impossible to develop a well-aligned, effective marketing strategy to attract, engage, and enroll future customers. For more on developing a clearly defined buyer persona, check out this post. 2. Persona creep In the presence of 1,000, 10,000 or even 100,000 people at a trade show, marketing professionals have a tendency to widen the scope of their carefully conceived buyer persona in hopes of attracting more prospects. At MEET, we refer to this tendency as persona creep—the dilution of marketing and messaging in hopes of broadening reach. The problem with persona creep is that it attracts too many suspects—picture people on the trade show floor looking for a free pen or to Enter to Win your free I-Pad. The result is that high-quality prospects are crowded out, wasting valuable resources in the process. 3. Opportunities are not refreshed With so many complex growth strategies in place, many B2B companies let their trade show plan run on autopilot, failing to refresh and analyze new ways to reach target prospects. Beyond that, many companies select trade shows based on what’s been done in the past or by following the industry crowd. At MEET, we recommend basing your trade show selection on a range of criteria, all of which enhance your overall engagement strategy. The obvious place to start is with shows that feature your target persona and your industry. But don’t stop there. Remember that it’s also important to go to shows that are only relevant to your prospect, i.e. not relevant to your industry. Sitting in the audience alongside prospects allows you to build relationships, learn their language, and gain further insight into how to address their concerns. Events such as these may also help you find additional, even unexpected partners. Keeping tabs on all kinds of in-person event opportunities available to you and your customers is fundamental to maintaining a successful trade show strategy plan. Need help identifying a range of high-value opportunities? Reach out to us today. 4. The Lazy Susan Approach If you’re familiar with a Lazy Susan, you can picture a device that rotates for the purpose of conveniently delivering content. The problem with a Lazy Susan approach is that in exchange for convenience, your view is limited. You don’t see the entire picture of what is available to you. As each opportunity pops up you are left to decide – do I take it or do I leave it? When a client asks us whether or not to attend an event, our response is always the same: let’s look at how it fits within your annual trade show strategy. At MEET, we strive to help our clients approach each decision from an analytical rather than emotional perspective, utilizing formulas that allow for good decisions to be repeated and optimized. What’s the best approach to overcoming the four most common stumbling blocks to trade show success? Four words: trade show strategy plan. And while building and managing your trade show strategy plan may seem like a large investment, the ROI is incomparable. For more on how to ensure trade show success in 2020, check out our recent webinar on this topic. To check out all of MEET’s webinar content on how to successfully scale your company in the U.S. market, subscribe to our YouTube Channel. About
 MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft-land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no-obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Exhibitor Tips, Uncategorized

Keeping an Eye on Your Target Market

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Knowing your target market is part and parcel to starting a successful business. In the absence of a remote sense of whom your product is aiming to serve, it is practically impossible to develop any sort of viable marketing and sales strategy. With 75+ years of experience in trade shows and in-person events, we’re well aware of the challenges many companies face in remaining focused on the target market that inspired them to start their business in the first place. Specifically when it comes event opportunities, sharing the space with thousands of potential customers causes many companies to develop a syndrome we refer to as FOMO (fear of missing out) and lose sight of their target customers by casting the widest marketing net possible. Drilling down, the specific challenges we witness companies face in keeping an eye on their target market stem from: Poor alignment between modes of marketing and performance outcomes; and Communication that is not localized. Here are our recommendations for how to overcome these challenges and keep an eye on your target market during in-person event and trade show opportunities. Creating Alignment A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer. Creating buyer personas for the target of your product or service should be a part of any go-to-market strategy. For more information on the steps to identifying an ideal customer who will be the focus of your buyer persona, check out this post. While it’s certainly possible that you may identify two or three buyer personas, we recommend resisting the temptation to have too many—particularly at an early stage. Your goal is to place this buyer persona at the center of your trade show and in-person marketing strategy such that when these individuals are in the room, they are immediately drawn to your offer. Alternatively, those who do not qualify as ideal customers walk right by. It’s a win-win in that no one’s time is wasted. The key strategy for maximizing ROI at trade shows and in-person events is to identify the buyer persona you’re are aiming to target and make sure it is well-aligned with every aspect of your event selection, association memberships, marketing, and communications tools, lead-nurturing offers and follow-up strategies. Sound difficult? We can help. Localizing Communication Sometimes when we don’t have the correct language to express ourselves, we resort to bad habits—like raising our voices or repeating ourselves. Unfortunately, these tactics do much less to help us achieve our goals, particularly when it comes to sales and marketing. Especially for international firms scaling to the U.S., it is critical not to misinterpret poor traction with the need to speak louder and more frequently. We recommend localizing your communications strategy using audience-centered techniques that relate to people in ways that resonate with them. This goes beyond using the right language—it requires selecting words and phrases that reflect local nuances, and understanding regional customs and culture. For more information, check out our webinar: Localizing Communication: Connect with and Enroll Trade Show Participants.  The most effective way to determine which language will be the most impactful with your target audience is to test your strategy. At every event we participate in, we like to test at least two Call to Actions that can the A/B tested and collect data on the results. Collecting and using the data from these tests to refine your communications strategy will ultimately improve your ROI by helping to inform your buyer persona and enhance your ability to attract high-quality prospects. Alignment and localized communication are two strategies that any company can use to remain focused on their target market. Especially for firms scaling to the U.S., keeping a close eye on your target market and seizing every opportunity to learn about their preferences, will deliver sustained results. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Exhibitor Tips, Return on Investment, Uncategorized

Are Trade Shows Still Relevant for Scaling Businesses?

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In these times of rapidly evolving technology, we often get the question “Are trade shows, trade fairs, and in-person events still relevant in today’s marketplace?” With the growth of online marketing and global remote services companies, it’s a fair question. Here’s our answer. Particularly in the B2B and B2G (business to government) space, the vast majority of marketing dollars are spent with the hope of someday getting face-to-face with a target prospect. At MEET, we define target prospects as those with a NEED, the RESOURCES to fulfill that need, and URGENCY for a solution. Think NEED, MONEY, NOW! One of the unique things that *carefully selected* events, trade shows and trade fairs offer is a large number of target prospects within arm’s reach. With the right strategy, these attendees can be filtered so they’ll be easy to find—they’ll even self-identify. *For more on how we recommend selecting trade shows and forming an annual trade show strategy plan, check out our Special Report: How to Maximize ROI with a Trade Show Strategy Plan. The goal of any marketing strategy is to build trust The number of meetings with prospects created is the first metric of success in B2B marketing. In order for a prospect to get the point where they feel comfortable agreeing to a meeting, they must go through several stages to build trust. The first of these stages is the awareness stage—your prospect needs to know you exist. Once they have become aware, the second stage is to build a level of intimacy. Building intimacy can be achieved by simply helping your prospect understand the link between the problem they are aiming to solve and your skill and capacity to solve that problem. In other words, helping prospects make a connection between your company’s services and their needs. At MEET, we recommend devising an offer that speaks directly to the needs of your buyer persona. Similar to selecting the precise bait for the species of fish you are aiming to catch, this offer should match perfectly with the needs and desires of your target prospect. Looking for ideas of how to devise the right offer to reel in more high quality prospects? Contact us today. Ultimately, the goal of all these marketing activities is to facilitate enough intimacy for prospects to trust that a meeting is worth their time. How trade shows accomplish this Trade shows and in-person events are a high-effective way of moving prospects through the marketing funnel stages: Awareness Intimacy Trust In terms of building awareness, trade shows provide the best mode for publicly displaying your company to a variety of mass targets. The beauty of building this awareness in person as opposed to electronically is that it allows companies to easily transition from the awareness phase to the intimacy-building phase. This transition occurs through targeted offers and face-to-face interactions with transaction professionals in the booth and the rest of the team at the various other social and professional development sub-events. Seeing your company in-person, knowing that you are real and invested in solving their urgent problem will generally progress the prospect relationship further down the marketing funnel more quickly. Utilizing targeted offers to attract these prospects will help to guarantee that those who are entering your marketing funnel are in fact high-quality prospects. Despite our rapidly evolving technological world, the power of relationships in securing new business transactions reigns supreme. And in the B2B and B2G world, trade shows and in-person events offer the most effective way to build trust and establish these relationships. Are trade shows, trade fairs, and in-person events still relevant in today’s marketplace? The answer is yes, now more than ever. For more tips and resources on MEET’s approach to effectively entering the U.S. market, check out our latest webinar: SCALE NOW: Entering the U.S. Market through Trade Shows and In-Person Events. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation: bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821

Exhibitor Tips

Nailing the Follow-up

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Devising a follow-up plan before you leave for an event is the best way to maximize ROI, plain and simple. At MEET, we specialize in devising strategies to get the most out of every event for our clients. Here’s a peek at how we do it. Prioritizing contacts At high-value events like SelectUSA, almost every interaction will be worth remembering. We find card marking a helpful way of immediately prioritizing each interaction for follow-up. There is neither time nor space to write extensive notes about a conversation on a business card. The three most relevant pieces of information are: who on the team should follow up, what is their relevance to your company, and where do they fall in terms of priority. We use the following code: Initials for team member responsible for follow-up
 Relevance
 P = prospect R = resource T = potential team member Speed of Follow-up
 1 = hot, same day 2 = moderate, 2-3 days 3 = not critical For those deemed not critical to follow-up with, you may decide to enroll them in your relationship or lead nurturing system. This will enable them to receive your communication and be in contact should an urgent need arise. Whether you have a card scanner back at the office or use a Google Docs system, it’s important to have a plan in place that allows you and your team to execute on these valuable and perishable opportunities in a timely way. Set follow-up dates in person There’s no time like the present to schedule a follow-up meeting with a high priority contact. With smart devices allowing us to carry our calendars at all times, don’t be shy to set a time to speak again before leaving the interaction. Asking someone in person to continue the conversation at a later time during the event or in the days following is an efficient way to guarantee effective follow-up with high priority contacts. For everyone else, don’t wait Whenever we go to trade shows we hear people say they’re going to wait a few days to follow-up, give the person a chance to catch up, recover from traveling, etc. With 75+ years of event participation and management experience, we have never heard anyone complain about somebody following up too quickly. Most marketing dollars are spent with the hopes of someday getting face-to-face with target prospects. Prospects are defined as those with a NEED, the RESOURCES to fulfill that need, and URGENCY for a solution. Think NEED, MONEY, NOW! If someone is urgent for a solution, then the longer you wait to follow up with them the more likely it is that they’re going to find someone else to solve their problem. Like a piece of fruit, true prospects have a short shelf-life—one or two days before rotting. Make sure that your follow-up speed corresponds to the importance of the lead. The longer you wait, the worse that fruit is going to taste. Nurture the relationship Once you have followed up with someone, they should be entered into some kind of lead nurturing system that serves as a mechanism for communicating to your community. In some cases, you may have different types of communication that you use depending on whether someone is a prospect, investor, mentor, partner, etc. The relevance of this person to your company should dictate the type of communication they receive. Nurturing your relationships through an ongoing communication loop helps to build awareness and stay connected should future opportunities arise. Looking for ideas on content to share with your contacts? We can help. We hope you’ve enjoyed our webinar series on how to leverage your time and resources at SelectUSA. For those who are not planning to attend this year, we believe these are great tips for any high-value opportunity. For those who are attending, we can’t wait to see you there!   About MEET (meetroi.com) helps international B2B growth companies soft land and scale in the U.S. through trade shows and in-person events. MEET’s processes help its clients ramp-up sales quickly and maintain a steady stream of high-quality prospects going forward.  Contact Bill Kenney for a no obligation conversation bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

bill@meetroi.com

+1 (860) 573-4821

+1 (860) 573-4821

bill@meetroi.com

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