Exhibitor Tips

Developing a trade show strategy plan for any company is complicated. For those looking to enter the U.S. market, it’s even more complicated. Through developing a tailored trade show consultation strategy for each client, MEET supports companies looking to expand to the U.S. every step of the way. Here are six common challenges we’ve identified in the process. While some are transcendent to any new market or in-person event, others are unique to the dynamics of the U.S. given its regional diversity and capacity to signify large-scale growth. Challenge #1: Cannot identify an ideal customer. Similar to a business plan, every trade show strategy plan starts with a need experienced by an ideal customer. Absent the ability to identify a precise target prior to each event, it is extremely difficult to attract truly viable prospects. (Here’s how we define viable.) Challenge #2: Place too much focus on one large event Perhaps it’s the relative scale of the U.S. market, perhaps it’s the media, but companies looking to expand to the U.S. have a tendency to focus their trade show strategy plan too heavily on one massive event. Events of this scale are not only expensive, but they are also high risk. Challenge #3: Poor alignment Harking back to Challenge #1, absent the ability to identify an ideal customer, it is difficult to ensure that one’s offer, call to action, and value proposition are aligned with the target buyer persona. Knowing which events to select in the first place is similarly difficult without a well-aligned strategy. Challenge #4: Communication isn’t localized The U.S. market is large and diverse. A trade show strategy plan must be empathic towards local, regional, and industry-specific differences and reflect this awareness through written, verbal and non-verbal (how one presents) communications. Challenge #5: Having salespeople in the booth Staffing is a common challenge for trade show exhibitors—specifically the practice of putting salespeople in the booth to engage with prospects. Salespeople are not those best suited to work in the booth, at least not as their primary function during the event. Alternatively, we recommend transaction professionals. (Check out our post on how to devise an efficient and effective staffing strategy here) Challenge #6: Ineffective follow-up Trade show follow-up should not feel as insecure as dating. In other words, don’t sit around and wait for the phone to ring. Employing the right staffing strategy along with a well aligned, lead-nurturing offer will help to moderate the flow of prospects. With 900 species of freshwater fish in North America alone, a good fisherman must decide first which species and sub-species of fish he wants to catch, choose the specific body of water where the target species is plentiful, and chose the unique bait which is most likely to attract the target species in that body of water. With this information, he may choose to test several fishing holes and baits to determine which produces the best results. Taking a tip from a good fisherman, testing different geographic areas of the U.S. market before establishing a U.S. presence may be the most cost-effective first step. Narrowing your scope to five potential geographies and testing them for the best response will provide a lot of useful information. A carefully crafted trade show consultation strategy for U.S. expansion should begin with clearly identified target customers for each trade show opportunity. Selecting the right event, the right offer, and securing appropriate staff comes next. We can help get you started. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps B2B growth companies and pavilion hosts effectively leverage at 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 at MEET today for a free trade show participation assessment bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821

For many foreign B2B growth companies, USA exhibition planning is a daunting task. Much like that first jump into a swimming pool, the risks are real but so are the rewards. You know the water’s cold, and that you’ll have to work to get to the other side. You’re also aware of how refreshing the water will feel once you’re in. You do your calculation and take the plunge.  Now it’s time to swim. In our webinar: Scale Now, Entering the U.S. Market for Trade Shows and In-Person Events, we explore the dynamics of entering into the U.S. market and how effective USA exhibition planning must take into account the common pitfalls and leverage points of face-to-face marketing. Unique to foreign companies, however, are the unknowns of the U.S. market. Imagine you’re used to swimming in hot tubs and are now faced with an Olympic-sized pool filled with other swimmers. How do you navigate these unknown waters? 3 Risks of USA Exhibition Planning The risks of planning an expansion into the U.S. market are real. Here are three risks we see as the most common: Diluted management focus—The amount of time and attention it takes to carefully plan for U.S. market expansion means that your management team may have less time and attention for existing operations. Diverted resources—Any spare resources that you have available from successful markets will be diverted to this new, promising market, putting the stability of these successful markets at risk. Reputational risks—Expansion efforts that do not succeed can potentially put at risk market, investor, partner, and even team relationships. Many Potential Rewards The most obvious rewards of successfully expanding your company into the U.S. are the revenue and profit opportunities that come with entering a market of massive scale.  Others include enhanced credibility and the required systems that serve as a proving ground and can be used to launch expansions into other foreign markets. Time is a unique factor that inherently impacts both the risks and rewards associated with U.S. expansion. There is limited sand in the hourglass, particularly for your investors if you are venture capital backed, and certainly for your staff, who may have limited bandwidth for the additional workload. How much time you have available to gain traction may depend on the amount of time your staff and investors are willing to devote and stay committed. There’s a need to succeed, but there’s also a need to succeed relatively quickly to keep your resources intact. Why Start with Trade Shows? In light of the inherent risks and rewards that come with expanding into the U.S. market, exhibiting through trade shows is the most productive place to start for B2B companies. That’s because most B2B marketing dollars are spent with the hope of someday getting face-to-face with a target prospect. Trade shows deliver the most efficient way to this objective. Despite their inherent challenges, such as prospects not being labeled and their need to self-identify, the opportunity to interact directly with prospects cannot be matched by other marketing tactics. The U.S. is a huge market with complex dynamics. The upside is that there are an abundance of trade shows and events to choose from. USA exhibition planning must be considered carefully, based on risk/reward calculations. Fortunately poolside help is out there. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps B2B growth companies and pavilion hosts effectively leverage at 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 at MEET today for a free trade show participation assessment bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Most web-based marketing strategies these days rely on some degree of A/B testing. A trade show strategy plan should be no different. As your best opportunity to get in front of high volumes of quality prospects, trade shows are a perfect opportunity to use A/B testing to inform which of your booth offers are most effective. Here’s how. What is A/B Testing? Also known as split-run testing, A/B testing is a simple way to test a hypothesis. In marketing and sales, this translates to testing the performance of a particular strategy. Whether you’re aiming to test the visual impact of a campaign or determine the most effective communications strategy, this form of rapid testing through small adjustments is used to answer simple questions like: “What makes people click?” How to Determine Which Offers to Test Assume you approach every show targeting two specific buyer personas. (See our post: Personalizing Your Trade Show Business Strategy for how to assemble a buyer persona.) The next step is determining an offer that will speak directly to your personas’ greatest, most pressing challenge. The type of challenge that, when confronted with your solution, causes them to immediately stop in their tracks. Rather than a chance to win an iPad, (one of the most common and harmful mistakes a trade show strategy plan can make) try what we refer to as next level lead nurturing assets. Whether it’s marketing newsletters, webinars or white papers, client assessments, informational videos, or facilitated discussion groups, these are your best marketing assets that you can promote in the form of an offer. (See our post: Your Trade Show Business Strategy Starts with a Need for more on developing the right offer.) How to Use A/B Testing to Test Your Hypothesis Now that you have determined your offers, it’s time to test whether your hypothesis was correct. In other words, will these offers cause your ideal customers to self-identify as prospects and self-enroll in your sales process. Before you even begin testing, increase your likelihood of getting good data. In our recent post on 5 Steps to Achieving Your Best Trade Show Selection Process, we talked about the value of local and regional events, particularly for early-stage companies. Local and regional events typically occur more often and are more intimate than national or global events that take place annually. This provides an excellent opportunity for testing of different targets, value propositions, and offer hypotheses at every interaction. A/B testing allows you to test your hypotheses by rotating between offers throughout an event to help you determine which is more effective. Try testing one offer in the morning aimed at one buyer persona, and another in the afternoon aimed at a different buyer persona. Or you can test the attractiveness of different offers for the same target. Just as fishermen try out different lures depending on where they are fishing, there’s much to be learned about trade show waters by engaging in simple A/B testing with your prospects. How to Inform Your Trade Show Strategy Plan Congratulations! You’ve determined which offers are most effective for attracting your ideal customers. What about the rest of your trade show strategy plan? Use these findings to inform your entire marketing and communications strategy, including how you present your offer and your value proposition.  The most important thing is that you remain buyer persona-centered. Like an effective billboard, keep your communications bold, simple, and provocative. And keep them data-tested and validated. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps B2B growth companies and pavilion hosts effectively leverage at 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 at MEET today for a free trade show participation assessment bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Determining the best trade show selection process for your B2B company takes time and resources. At MEET, we often witness companies making a good effort to survey the market of available shows, however, when it comes time to make a selection, they fail to identify a process that is reliable, repeatable, and has future value in guiding their ongoing event selection decisions. The best trade show selection process is one that maximizes ROI. To use our favorite fishing analogy, it places you in the right body of water, at the right depth, with the precisely the right bait to catch the exact fish you set out to catch. And because you have employed a strategy, you’ll catch more than one today and several more the next time you go out fishing. At MEET, our goal is to help companies eliminate the guesswork in achieving their best trade show selection process. We help growth companies and pavilion hosts effectively exhibit at trade shows, a process which starts with determining which shows will deliver the best ROI. Why exhibit at trade shows? Companies that exhibit at trade shows typically do so for the following four reasons: Identify new prospects Engage with existing prospects Market knowledge and competitive intelligence Hypothesis testing First and foremost, companies attend trade shows to identify new prospects—ideal customers who match their buyer persona. (Check out these posts for more on defining a prospect and buyer personas.) Trade shows are also excellent opportunities to efficiently connect with and nurture relationships with those already in your sales funnel, moving them closer toward closing a deal or elimination. Trade shows also put you in an ideal space to assess the market, evaluate your competitive advantage, and test your value proposition with potential customers. Particularly for early-stage companies, the ability to engage in rapid-fire testing of different offers will deliver valuable insight into the needs and desires of your target market. In fact, doing this right will evolve your customer communication and engagement that would not otherwise be possible. 5 Common Challenges Even for companies with a strong commitment to exhibiting at trade shows, determining the best trade show selection process may be challenging. Here are the five challenges we see most often. FOMO Companies tend to stick to the shows they have done in the past for fear of missing out (FOMO). We notice many companies getting stuck in a pattern with particular shows even though they may not deliver the best ROI. Avoiding the herd mentality is not easy. 2. Failure to Update Many companies fail to refresh their view of available events in the marketplace. Events may not necessarily be repeated each cycle; likewise new events enter the market all the time. It is important to know which events are emerging as some may offer special features to attract your ideal prospect. A full review and good evaluation metric is key. 3. Lack of Focus Whether it’s due to a fear of missing out or poorly defined buyer personas, some companies tend to apply an overly broad focus to their event selection process, which in turn delivers mixed results and wasted resources. 4. Persona Creep Companies work hard to map their buyer personas (semi-fictional representations of their ideal customers). However, despite their best intentions, when it comes time to apply these personas to particular events, we notice that the persona tends to broaden. We call this persona creep. It takes discipline to honor those personas even if it means fewer prospects. 5. Go Big vs. Specific Many companies fall prey to a misguided attraction to large events where they will meet high volumes of potential prospects. The challenge is that many large events tend to be more general. That means a lower ratio of prospects to attendees when compared to specific, smaller events that attract higher numbers of ideal prospects. It’s important to analyze the ratio # of prospects/$ spent, plus take into account the dilution factor—your prospect may never even find your well-curated offer on a very crowded floor. Big is not always bad, but you have to assess this ratio when making an evaluation of the opportunity. Identifying your best trade show selection process requires time and resources. Choosing events that truly deliver ROI make it worth every penny. About MEET (meetroi.com) helps B2B growth companies and pavilion hosts effectively leverage at 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 at MEET today for a free trade show participation assessment bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.