Making an Exhibition of Yourself
Trade show season is getting underway. This can mean a big investment for exhibitors in terms of time, effort and money. Having spent several years managing trade show stands, I've seen the good, the bad and the downright ugly - stands that work and stands that fall flat on their proverbial faces. Whether you're raising a simple pop-up behind a table in your local shopping centre, or a two-storey island exhibit at the NEC, there are some basic rules you can’t afford to forget.
Objectives: Decide in advance what you're there for. Is it to get as many names as possible for your contact campaigns? Is it to identify new prospects - if so, how many? Is it to meet and entertain customers you don't often see? Is it to get publicity for a new product launch? Or is it because you know your competitors will be there and you can’t afford to be absent? Whatever your objective, it will drive everything, from what position you choose and what size your stand is, to how you allocate your budget, what you do on the stand, who you get to staff your stand, what hand-outs, gifts or hospitality you offer, what sponsoring opportunities or promotions you participate in… The list is endless, and without deciding in advance what you want to achieve, these decisions will be random at best.
'Kerb appeal': Having determined your objectives, your stand needs to be designed to have 'kerb appeal'. Think about how a casual passer-by in a crowded aisle will see your stand. Will it be easy to see who you are (obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people get this wrong), and what line of business you're in? Will it be easy to distinguish company representatives from visitors? If you’re demonstrating, will there be space to do this effectively whilst making eye contact with your prospect? Will your stand be welcoming and inviting? Will you want people to have ready access to brochures? Will there be a gimmick, competition, or presentation to which you want to draw attention?
Manpower: The best way to get value from your stand is to staff it with a well-briefed and motivated team. Think about whether there should be a dress code or team shirt too, as this can often make it much easier to identify company representatives. Make sure everybody understands the objectives and any particular messages you want to communicate. Set goals or targets for stand representatives, and be prepared to motivate them with small rewards or incentives. Have enough people there that they can take frequent breaks to sit down away from the stand to have a coffee, handle phone messages or meet a client. But don't have too many - that intimidating line of sales representatives waiting to pounce will scare people away. And one very important point - make sure you have sufficient, secure 'backstage' cupboard space to store raincoats, briefcases and laptops. It will help keep your stand looking tidy and professional and avoid costly losses.
Practicalities: Stands don't happen by magic - there's an army of people handling builds and teardowns. But don't rely on other people! Arrive at your stand 5 minutes before the show opens, only to find there isn't enough carpet, or the electricity hasn't been laid, and it's too late to fix it. Be prepared to 'stage manage' the build and teardown, to ensure your stand is serviceable on the day, and re-usable for the next show. By way of a cautionary tale, I remember supervising a stand tear-down one year where it became apparent that a single stand was left untouched as all the others were coming down around it - the tear-down team had failed to arrive. A flat and empty hall soon surrounded this rather substantial and no doubt very expensive island - and that was just before the bulldozer was moved in to demolish it to make way for the next day's show.
Follow-Up: So, you've collected hundreds of business cards, or completed dozens of enquiry forms. That's great! But what are you going to do with them? Part of your forward planning should be to design a lead handling process, which should at the very least involve sending a 'thank you for visiting our stand' letter or email and perhaps making a follow-up telephone call. Here's an exercise - if lead generation is your prime objective, take the cost of your stand, plus the cost of staffing it, plus the cost of your giveaways and hand-outs, and divide it by the number of leads you collected. That's the value of each of those leads to you. Now decide if you want to squander that money by leaving that box of leads in the back of your car for 4 weeks, or strike whilst the iron is hot.
In these days of tight budgets and diminishing returns, it's dangerous to make costly marketing mistakes. But with a little forward planning and a clear idea of what you want to get out of your stand presence, your trade show budget can be money well spent.
14th Mar 2010
