INTRODUCTION
I’m in a hole because at some point I found a shovel and started digging. Maybe I should trade my shovel for ladders and start climbing.
—Craig D. Lounsbrough, M.Div., LPC
Have you ever invested a significant amount of budget in a trade show, spent three days on your feet and not spoken to anyone of interest before thinking there must be a better way? Maybe you keep doing what you’ve always done because your company accepts it’s ‘just the way it is with trade shows’? Or maybe you’re a business owner who really wants to get out and speak to your customers but is secretly terrified?
Congratulations! Just by picking up a copy of this book you’re already on the first rung of the proverbial ladder to generating more profitable leads and better returns from your trade show investment. You’re probably wondering how that’s possible when you haven’t even read a page yet? In our combined experience of 20 years’ working on trade shows and events we’d say success is about 70% attitude, enthusiasm and a desire to learn and 30% what you actually do. Despite the digital evolution, face-to-face events remain a crucial element of the marketing mix with 99% of marketers from overperforming organisations believing that events provide visitors with a valuable opportunity to form in-person connections in an increasingly digital world (Bizzabo, 2018). But trade shows are often hard work – emotionally, physically and mentally. Not everyone has the necessary desire or disposition to deliver them brilliantly and that’s not something any book can help with! Coupled with the perception that trade shows never deliver a measurable return, they are often easy targets for criticism and budget cuts from senior teams wowed by the latest social media platform. However just by picking up this book you’ve demonstrated the mindset for learning some new skills and taking some inspiration that will enable all your future trade show campaigns to act as the engine for your organisation’s sales pipeline.
Often when we meet with clients for the first time there’s a range of causes driving their trade show anxiety, from a lack of confidence and skill, to a lack of time and resource. They’re always surprised when we tell them that they’re not alone and that so many fellow exhibitors feel those same fears. There seems to be a culture in the industry that ‘everyone can do trade shows’, as though it’s as easy as jumping out of bed in the morning. To a certain degree, it is easy to book last minute, turn up with a couple of mis-shaped pop-up banners, spend the day chatting with fellow exhibitors or on your laptop and then moan about the lack of business generated. However, to plan, implement and evaluate a trade show brilliantly, that engages with visitors and adds real value to your business through building profitable relationships for the future – now that takes skill, experience and dedication. But by picking up this book, we know you’ll rise to the challenge!
There are so many sectors, variables, life stages, structures and budgets in business that it would be impossible to provide one blueprint for brilliant execution – one size most definitely does not fit all in this case. Equally, there aren’t very many straight yes and no answers either, it’s all about how a trade show fits in to your story and meets your customer’s needs. However, in the following chapters we hope you find an easy-to-follow framework that walks you through the key elements of delivering a brilliant trade show campaign, from the initial enquiry about which show to attend, to calculating a final number of what your investment returned (yes that’s possible, don’t believe the hype about trade shows being unmeasurable). We’ll be sharing some of the knowledge, tips, advice and examples we’ve collected over the years (good and bad) to help inspire your own trade show journey. If you’re a seasoned exhibitor you may perceive some of the advice as simplistic or patronising but often when we’re running workshops it’s the simple things that people already know they want reminding of – we’re trying to provide something for everyone so if there are bits you know, skip ahead to a bit that’s new for you! Every trade show is different, as is every exhibitor and you’ll need to give some thought to the content of each section on your own business circumstances. But there are plenty of ideas to help you understand how you convert your trade show investment into a winning proposition.
We’ve used some icons along the way that should help you steer your way around the content:
How to get the best of this book?
Ideally, we’d suggest reading the book in its entirety before starting on your planning to help you best understand how all the elements fit together as a jigsaw. We’ve broken it up into bite-sized chunks that should allow you to tackle and digest each building block as we navigate the whole process. In Part 1 we’ll look at why trade shows are still relevant in the digital age and deciding whether trade shows are even the right tactic for your business in its current position.
The bulk of the book comes in Part II, which we’ve broken up into three further sections – Planning, Implementation and Evaluation (P.I.E.) where we will delve into the intricate details of executing your trade show campaign brilliantly; we have broken these down into sections, listed in the table of contents, to help you navigate through them easily. As mentioned, it’s worth reading all three sections in their entirety before starting your journey, as there will be things you’ll need to be thinking about in the planning stage to measure the right things for your evaluation! However, we know that might not be feasible so if you’re pushed for time, we’ve made the contents table as simple as possible, so you can jump in and out of the specific areas where you feel you need the most help. In the Planning section we’ll pick up on elements including researching the right show, budgeting, logistics, stand design and pre-show marketing to ensure that you’re in the best possible shape to engage effectively with visitors. Moving into Implementation we look at the different roles required on a stand, typical characteristics of your squad and how to manage them as well as how to open conversations, filter visitors and identify the ones who have high potential for your business. After the show we look at Evaluation which includes how to follow up effectively (almost 90% of exhibitors don’t) and how to calculate success including how to measure the business your investment has returned.
Finally, in Part III, as you build your confidence and skill, we go beyond the trade show floor and discuss exhibiting internationally and using the media to promote your message to really drive the value of your investment even