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Greetings and welcome to the February issue,
This month we get some great advice from readers on promotions and on getting organized to head off show floor difficulties before they hit. The tips on promotion provoke thought and challenge us to add creativity to the way we approach getting the right people into our booth.
We also bring you exciting news about a new service facility now open for the Orlando show venues.
Read on and enjoy,
Bill Dierberger – Vice President of Sales & Marketing
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| Targeted Promotions That Hit the Mark |
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The driving force behind at-show promotions and booth giveaways is to attract more of the people and companies that you need to connect with to make your show a success. The ideal giveaway imparts gratitude for the time the guest spends in your space and gets your branding a small boost after the show. If you’re lucky, your contact information goes back to the prospect’s office. How can you do better? Here are two promotional ideas that challenge the conventional wisdom of promotions.
Target your booth guest with direct mail. Always buy the organization's pre-attendee list. Sort the list to choose several hundred Top Picks from your sales prospect data base. Use a simple postcard campaign to the general pre-attendee list (less the Top Picks). Send the Top Picks a nice 3D package via USPS Priority or FedEx UPS, etc.
In the 3D package, use a custom direct mail piece that is personalized to your Top Picks and includes a suitable small giveaway linked to your message, recipient, etc. Tie the direct mail piece giveaway to another nicer giveaway they can pick up at the booth just for showing up. Follow-up with a phone call and email, if possible, to remind them they've already won something.
When the Top Pick is scanned, run thru your usual qualification routine and hand off to sales. We've averaged 30% return on these campaigns. Offering a giveaway to the general attendee audience just wastes your time and money and crowds your front desk with souvenir hunters.
Bill Funderburk - Director of Marketing - Emageon
What can you do to improve your impact and relevance? Providing a thoughtful match between the interests and informational needs of your client/prospect target individuals proves to be a powerful start. The following tip looks at how you can focus on the right answers at the right time for your program.
When you are looking for a show giveaway, spend the time to find something truly relevant to your business and your customers; perhaps a book by an expert in the field. Skip the trinkets and offer information – educational materials such as white papers and access to webinars. Just be sure they are really educational, and not just a sales pitch in disguise.
Establish credibility by giving something of value that is relevant to the relationship you’re trying to build. Make it useful. A lot of people argue this point. People like FUN stuff, they say. Well, sure. But toys are picked up by people like me, to bring home to our kids, so we don’t have to shop at the airport …and then buried in the toy box. Instead, choose something your prospects will want to keep at their workplace, and keep for a long time.
An even better idea is to find something that truly helps them do their job. One of our best promotions for a scientific client base was a slide-rule type calculator that helped engineers develop system specifications. They used them. They called to ask me for more, for their new hires. (The still do, even with all the on-line calculators that abound these days.) Our company looked smart and helpful – the people to go to for good, useful stuff.
Lisa Schaertl, President, Tech Savvy Marketing
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| Organize to Handle Trouble Before It Arrives |
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Here are two tips that will help to reduce the odds of chaos taking over your next event.
We have three booths that we send out, quite often all at the same time. We always ship our literature and samples with the booth. Each time a booth comes back from the show it is set up and checked, and immediately re-stocked with literature and samples. This way, we never have to scurry around on shipping day trying to pull things together. Each booth has a check off sheet taped to the outside of the case that indicates it has been check and is ready to go.
Nancy Smith, Nord-Lock Inc.
We have multiple trade show booths and set ups. We use Joboxes® (heavy-duty, secure storage boxes) and cover them and use them as part of the display set up. That way, we know where they are and can store supplies without looking sloppy. We have also keyed the locks to ALL of our boxes with the same lock. This way, each member of our entire sales staff has a key to access all the boxes we have at any show anywhere in the country. If someone forgets it, someone else there is sure to have a key that fits all of the locks.
Bev Murphy, Master Magnetics
We hope you have found something useful from these readers’ tips. Watch for your chance to contribute to the collection of Trade Show Tips in the coming months.
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Skyline Opens Regional Service Center in Orlando: Makes Renting Easy
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Located just minutes from the Orlando Convention Center, the new service center offers exhibitors a large selection of rental exhibits, on-site large format graphic production,  and a full range of turnkey services. With the addition of Orlando to Skyline’s similar Las Vegas Service Center, Skyline now will be able to service 40 percent of U.S. trade shows from just minutes away from the local convention center.
To learn more, click here.
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What The Exhibiting World Is Turning To…
Get this new White Paper and better understand the market forces that are causing exhibitors to re-evaluate their exhibit properties. This timely information can also help you to demonstrate and explain exhibiting trends to your company management.
Click here to get your copy of the new White Paper,
The Trend to Custom Modular Exhibits. |
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Get Skyline's Trade Show Marketing Idea Kit
 Updated for 2007 with new ideas and timely topics! Here's a great collection of ideas to power your trade show marketing program to the top – in this 86-page reference book.
Yours at no cost, just request your copy today. |
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Adapt to Industry Changes:
White Papers On Exhibition Trends For
4 Key Vertical Markets
To help exhibitors better understand the market forces and significant trends affecting their trade show program, Skyline commissioned Tradeshow Week to write 4 White Papers that cover 4 key industries:
Manufacturing & Industrial
Medical & Healthcare
Information Technology
Professional & Business Services
These 16-page White Papers provide insight for each industry on the primary challenges facing these exhibitors and the key themes for success in their changing trade show environment.
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Skyline Exhibits
3355 Discovery Rd.
St. Paul, MN 55121
Phone: 800-328-2725
www.skyline.com
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