trade show marketing strategy

Uncategorized

Trade Show Marketing Challenge #1: Prospects Don’t Wear Name Tags

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If you are in a fix for marketing the things for exhibition you should hire us. MEET is one stop solution as it one of the best trade show marketing company In our previous blog post, Trade Show Strategy: Winning the Race Before it Begins, we talked about the incredible value that can be derived from investing time and resources in preparing for an event. This involves making sure you understand your target prospects and developing an annual strategy to ensure a steady customer pipeline that meets your capacity and growth goals. Identifying the need for a pre-event strategy is the first step to maximizing your trade show ROI. At MEET, we’ve identified 8 keys to improving your ROI at trade shows, based on 40+ years of exposure to the most common challenges faced by exhibitors. Understanding how to address these challenges will exponentially multiply your trade show results, ensuring that each event is the best use of your time and resources. In our blog post series, we’ll explore each of these challenges and dive deeper into how to avoid common pitfalls. Challenge #1: Thinking that Everyone is a Prospect. If Apple’s recent release of anti-distraction software tells us anything, it’s that our society has serious FOMO—fear of missing out. This mentality is similar to scarcity mentality in that it drives our desire for more interactions, more engagement, even of lower quality. Translate this to trade show marketing, and we see that scarcity mentality ultimately drives exhibitors to aim for as many prospects as possible out of fear that one might be missed. As referenced in our previous blog post however, lack of specificity in identifying high quality prospects will likely result in a worthless or smaller catch. When you picture a trade show, you might imagine a sea of people. The challenge for us as exhibitors, sponsors, hospitality hosts or even speakers, is that our prospects aren’t labeled. At first glance, we can’t differentiate between the catfish and the tuna. Whether there a 100, 1,000, 10,000 or even 100,00 participants at the trade show, none of them have a sign on their back that says “Pick me! Pick me! I’m your Prospect!” Unfortunately that sort of device hasn’t been created yet. So, we need to devise a way for our prospects to self-identify and make it easy for them to opt-in. Overcoming Challenge #1: Thinking that Everyone is a Prospect requires focusing your trade show marketing plan on a narrow buyer persona. To even qualify, your buyer must have a need, adequate resources, and a sense of urgency such that your solution is precisely what they are looking for. In order to build a buyer persona around these attributes, you’ll need to develop a profile that clearly identifies the individual and organization you’ll be targeting, as well as their unique needs, challenges and primary objectives in terms of what they’re looking to accomplish. In depth buyer personas will not only help you distinguish between high and low quality prospects in the sea of trade show attendees, it will help to inform your marketing strategy for appealing to these individuals. Additionally, as we’ll explore in upcoming blog posts, it will help you select which events to attend, avoiding what we refer to as the Lazy Susan approach, or taking advantage of whatever is offered in front of you.  The first step to fully leveraging a pre-event strategy is overcoming scarcity mentality. In doing this you will reduce your focus on quantity. Instead pursue quality and you will improve your trade show ROI and ensure the most efficient use of your time on the floor. The next step will be to align your call-to-action to your buyer personas, facilitating prospect self-identification. 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.

Exhibitor Tips, Return on Investment

Trade Show Strategy: Winning the Race Before it Begins

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Your event should alwasys leave an impact to the audience. MEET ROI are one of the experienced trade show strategy planner to help you with all your needs. The late Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm is a member of a very elite group—he is one of six athletes ever to win four consecutive individual gold medals in Olympic history. This in addition to eight world championships has often left aspiring Olympians and sailing aficionados to ask: what made Elvstrøm so successful? Early in his career, Elvstrøm discovered that the key to winning races was not simply performing well on race day. The key was to develop a strategy. By discovering a technique to more efficiently use his body weight, innovating features of his sailing equipment, and training—relentlessly—Elvstrøm proved that 90% of winning the race took place before it even began. In other words, preparing for the race was more important than sailing it. At MEET, we believe the Elvstrøm ethos applies perfectly to trade shows. Forty plus years of event experience has taught us that 90% of the success that comes out of trade shows happens as a result of the work that is done before the event ever takes place. Defining success at a trade show To understand trade show success, let’s begin by considering why companies attend trade shows at all. Most marketing dollars are spent with the hopes of someday getting face-to-face with target prospects. When optimized, trade shows deliver the most efficient approach to this objective by providing the venue and the audience for these transactions. However, identifying quality prospects in volume can be difficult. In the absence of proper preparation, exhibitors are at risk of squandering valuable time and resources and ultimately coming home with a stack of business cards that have no significance for their business. Exhibitors should have one goal when attending a trade show: to identify and engage high-quality prospects. Achieving success requires strategy, and strategy requires preparation. Step 1: Developing your Trade Show Strategy Plan The first step to developing your trade show strategy plan is to understand your prospect. We’ve found that many companies expand the concept of a prospect in hopes of capturing more leads. In reality, quality prospects make up a very narrow segment of the market. Just as a wider net does not necessarily catch better fish, broadening the definition of a prospect does not necessarily deliver better leads. Prospects of today have three key qualities: a bona fide, self-realized need; the resources to satisfy that need; and a sense of urgency—they need a solution today! Without each these three qualities, a lead does not qualify as a prospect. Remember this in 3-words: Need Money Now Therefore, the first step to developing your trade show strategy plan should be to invest time in profiling your target prospect and aligning your strategies, materials and calls to action to this individual. Knowing your target prospects and possessing the right tools to reach them will not only maximize the value of each trade show experience, it will be the cornerstone of your annual trade show strategy. Why develop an annual trade show strategy? Annual trade show strategies create a steady stream of quality prospects throughout the year, eliminating the lulls and spikes that make growth challenging. There’s a careful balance between wanting to grow and over-investing in creating leads that you can’t follow up on. Thinking from an annual perspective will ensure a steady stream of high-quality prospects while maximizing your investment in each event. All this takes planning—time invested before you ever hit the trade show floor. For more information about what it takes to develop a trade show strategy and common challenges to achieving trade show success, check out our monthly webinar series. At MEET, we believe that trade show strategy planning is not for an elite group of exhibitors. When investing time and resources in a trade show, every company should take the necessary steps to maximize their results. Because why not go for gold. 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.

Workshops and Webinars

LOCALIZING COMMUNICATION: Connect with and Enroll Trade Show Participants

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LOCALIZING COMMUNICATION: Connect with and Enroll Trade Show Participants A conversation with Fernanda Ave, Partner and the Intercultural Communication Specialist at Mirrai International Join us for this June 26, 2018 webinar. More info and register here. It doesn’t matter what you say, it’s what the listener hears that counts. Many companies have made the mistake of assuming that the marketing that has been successful in their current markets will be successful in their next. Communicating effectively is not easy when you’re in your home market. Communication becomes considerably more difficult when you enter new markets. Understanding the nuance of local customers and communication in each market that you operate is critical to sales and retention success. A localization strategy is a unique market approach a company takes to address purchasing habits, customer behaviors and overall cultural differences in each country it does business. When a business enters a new foreign market, it can be challenging to give buyers in that country a customer experience that feels familiar and comfortable to them. Creating country-by-country localization strategies ensures customers abroad benefit from the same quality experience they would expect from a local business. In this workshop, we’ll particularly focus on the challenges and best practices in localizing communication for trade shows and in-person events. Join us an learn the latest tips to localize your communication. Workshop Outline Setting the table Common challenges Best practices and strategies for successfully localizing you communication Your questions Our webinars and services are geared toward helping B2B growth companies gain fast traction in new markets and develop reliable streams of high-quality prospects. Feel free to share this invitation with others. Space is limited. Sign up today!!   ABOUT Fernanda Ave (fernandarca@mirrai.ca) is a Partner and the Intercultural Communication Specialist at Mirrai International, a Vancouver based consulting company focusing in connecting businesses between Canada and Latin America.  Originally from Brazil, Fernanda lived in the USA and Italy before moving to Vancouver. Mirrai International (mirrai.ca) is a consulting company that helps businesses be successful in an international market. We help our clients in all the steps of their new venture, including market research, marketing strategies, branding and helping them to connect with potential clients and suppliers. Mirrai also organizes business missions to stimulate the exchange of ideas, networking and discovering new technologies. Bill Kenney (bill@meetroi.com) is the founder and client advocate for MEET. Bill has more than 30-years of experience in trade shows and in-person marketing as a participant, exhibitor, organizer, host, and consultant. He is a frequent and sought after speaker on many market entry and client acquisition topics. 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.

Exhibitor Tips, Pavilions, Return on Investment, Workshops and Webinars

2018 MEET Webinar Schedule

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note: hyperlink takes you to the registration or recording January 24 TIRED OF WASTING TIME AND MONEY ON TRADE SHOWS? How to Accelerate Sales February 15 February 20 PAVILION PITFALLS: Move from Greek Tragedy to Business Recruiting HERO! EVERYONE IS NOT A PROSPECT: How to Focus & Win at Trade Shows March 26 FIND AND SELECT THE BEST TRADE SHOWS FOR PARTICIPATION AND EXHIBITING April 27 BOOTH BAIT: Are You Attracting Flies or Prospects? May 15 May 30 Scale Now: Entering the U.S. Market through Trade Shows and In-Person Events 5 Reasons Why Your Salespeople Should Never Be in Your Booth and What to Do About It June 26 Localizing Communication: Connect with and Enroll Trade Show Participants July 26 Preparing Your Team: Setting Everyone Up for Success at Trade Shows and In-Person Events August 22 Leveraging the Entire Trade Show: Uncovering and Exploiting All Components and Added Value September 19 Nail the Follow-Up: Close More Sales October 23 Walking the Trade Show Floor: How to Get Value When You Can’t Exhibit November 19 Making a Kick-Ass Exhibit: Everything You Need to Know About Developing a Great Booth December 18 Benchmarks, Goals, Metrics, and ROI: Everything You Need to Know About Measuring Trade Show Results MEET helps growth companies effectively exhibit at trade shows. Contact Bill Kenney for a complimentary consultation at bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Exhibitor Tips, Return on Investment, Uncategorized, Workshops and Webinars

Webinar: Tired of Wasting Time and Money on Trade Shows?

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Tired of Wasting Time and Money on Trade Shows? 8 Keys to Improving Your Exhibiting ROI Wednesday, January 24, 2018 Noon – 1:00 PM EST (U.S. East Coast Time) REGISTER Are you frustrated by poor trade show performance? If so, you won’t want to miss this webinar where we’ll reveal the 8 keys to improving the return on your trade show investment. Everyday business and sales executives complain about their poor ROI from trade shows. Utilized well, trade shows are one of the most efficient ways to fill the sales pipeline with quality prospects. Unlike many forms of marketing that are “passive,” success in trade shows requires “active” engagement and participation. Join us for this webinar where we’ll discuss high-impact trade show strategies such as: Show and mode selection The attraction of volumes of quality prospects Effective team utilization Follow-up and conversion Most important though, we want to answer your questions so please make sure that you come with a few. MEET helps growth companies effectively exhibit at trade shows. Contact Bill Kenney for a complimentary consultation at bill@meetroi.com or +1 (860) 573-4821.

Pavilions, Workshops and Webinars

Pavilion Pitfalls: Watch the Video

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Pavilion Pitfalls Move from Greek Tragedy to Business Recruiting HERO!   The intent of this workshop is to help economic development executives and business recruiting professionals to develop much better production from their trade show participation and pavilions.   When it comes to effectively hosting trade show pavilions we hear many challenges from economic development and business recruiting executives, including finding and selecting the best events, attracting and enrolling a steady stream of the best prospective ventures to recruit to their marketplace, and activating and optimizing how their client companies leverage the pavilion exhibiting opportunity.   Workshop Outline Purpose and goals Common challenges Solutions for your success Measuring results and adjusting Your questions

Pavilions, Workshops and Webinars

Pavilion Pitfalls: Webinar Sign-up

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Pavilion Pitfalls Move from Greek Tragedy to Business Recruiting HERO!   The intent of this workshop is to help economic development executives and business recruiting professionals to develop much better production from their trade show participation and pavilions.   When it comes to effectively hosting trade show pavilions we hear many challenges from economic development and business recruiting executives, including finding and selecting the best events, attracting and enrolling a steady stream of the best prospective ventures to recruit to their marketplace, and activating and optimizing how their client companies leverage the pavilion exhibiting opportunity.   Workshop Outline Purpose and goals Common challenges Solutions for your success Measuring results and adjusting Your questions   Feel free to share this invitation with others. Space is limited. Sign up today!!   About MEET Most marketing dollars are spent with the hope of someday getting face-to-face with the target prospect. Trade shows deliver the most efficient way to this objective yet pavilion hosts squander this opportunity. MEET helps economic development agencies that host trade show pavilions improve business recruiting, drive return on investment, and activate pavilion client business exhibitors. MEET changes outcomes by engaging and enrolling quality prospects cost effectively. We develop and execute trade show strategy, provide staffing, secure speaking opportunities, support sales and measure results. Our only goals are to maximize your event participation return on investment and positively impact job creation in your region.

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