Trade Show Marketing - Part 2

Trade shows can be a large investment for a company. Once you have added in all the costs of the space, the booth, the promotional material, and the staff, you need to ensure you receive a strong Marketing ROI (return on investment). Trade Show Marketing Part 1 dealt with determining the right shows to be in, and how to attract your ideal clients into your booth.

In Part 2 we are looking at capturing contact information and following up with leads after the show.

Capturing Contact Information

You should have multiple ways to capture leads at your booth. By far the most common tool used is the draw. While the draw will provide lots of leads, they may not be the most qualified. Plenty of people simply love to win and go booth to booth entering absolutely every draw!

If you do want these leads and decide to have a draw remember that the better the prize, the more entries you will receive. Also, make sure that the entry form asks for just the basic contact info you need (i.e. email and phone number). The more complex the form, the less likely it will be filled out in its entirety.

At the other end of the spectrum from draw leads is the person who has come to your booth and is HIGHLY interested in your product or service. Somehow you need to capture these leads separately and tag them in importance to ensure that you follow up with them quickly. To encourage them to leave their details, think of a special show promotion you can offer if they schedule a meeting today.

For those in between leads or ones that may visit the booth when your reps are all busy, have a sign up sheet for your monthly promotions, a free report, or monthly ezine. People that usually sign up for these are luke warm to hot and can add up in a hurry. Remember to train the people that man your booth on all the ways to capture leads, and encourage them to rank each lead with the appropriate level of interest.

Following up after the Show

Congratulations, your booth has been a success and now you have hundreds of new leads! Now what? Sadly I have heard so many people confess this is the area where they have dropped the ball. A pre-planned automated communication system developed before the show can make follow up a snap!

One of my favourite tools to use for this is an autoresponder like aWeber. With a cost of only $20 per month this magical tool will automatically communicate with your leads, until you or your sales reps get a chance to contact them personally. Here's how it works.

Prior to a show, you can develop a series of emails to go out to your leads. The first one may simply thank them for showing up at your booth and let them know that you will be in contact with them shortly with more information. It can even invite them to call you (this helps identify any HOT leads that might have been missed). The second email may include more information or it may even give leads some appointment times to choose from to meet or receive a visit, estimate, etc from a representative. The third one might say that by now they should have received a call from a representative and if not, to please contact you as you may not have the correct number. You can build as many of these emails as you like. You can then schedule the autoresponder to send the first email out 1 day after a lead's contact details are entered in, the second a week later, the third 2 weeks later, etc.

You can also build different follow up systems for HOT leads, lukewarm leads and cold leads

When you are at the event, keep a laptop handy and enter contact names as they come in, scan business cards with a card scanner or pay someone to enter them the very next day.

If you don't have emails, consider hiring a phone specialist to phone them right after the event.

Remember, the longer you leave the lead without communicating with them the less qualified they become! So make sure to develop a follow up system!

Trade shows can be a make or break strategy for a business. I know some businesses that have absolutely thrived on them and others it would never work for. To determine if it's right for your company, crunch your numbers (as discussed in Part One) and look at what your key competitors are doing. Like any strategy, consistency is the key. Your first show will no doubt have lumps and bumps. Learn from it, revise your approach and give it another try. Trade show specialists will tell you that you need to be in the same show a minimum of 3 times to REALLY start seeing the results. Knock em dead!


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About the Author

Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success - a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget minded small businesses and professional services. She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success. Cidnee is also a sought after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

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by Cidnee Stephen of Strategies for Success http://www.strategiesforsuccess.ca