Marketing Sherpa just published a great case study.
This one looks at a challenge many large companies face and most do nothing about. But the company in the case study, Business Objects, did.
I’m happy about this for 2 reasons: 1) Business Objects is based in Vancouver, where I live (although they were recently acquired by SAP, and 2) the company clearly proved that direct response marketing deserves a seat (if not the Vice-President’s chair) at the main table.
Here’s why …
On two occasions now, the president’s of two large companies have attacked me.
No silly, not by physical force. But they were genuinely concerned.
Turn on the TV, check the front few pages of any newspaper, listen to the radio and no doubt you’ll be bombarded with a chess match of mentally developed and not-so-understandably respected folks yelling at each other “recession-this” and “no-recession-that’”.
“A financial crisis here” says one lady, while the other ‘just-as-wise’ smiles her best smile, looks you in the eye and tells you “there is no financial crisis, this is a time of opportunity.” And just then, ten other well-greased analysts, and a couple of bow-tie clad economists declare there is no opportunity. Everyone must cust back and cushioned their rear-ends in preparation for the big loss.
What’s happening really isn’t anything new in my view. Sure, parts of this dramatic play “have never been seen before”. But the economy, since the beginning of time, as had its ups and downs, its sidesteps, trips, hops, jumps and falls…
Let’s pick up where we left off. In the last two weeks I talked about the process of getting attendees to visit your booth at the tradeshow. So now that they are there, what do you do?
Well, you don’t just say hello and show them your product. Of course, there is nothing wrong with showing your products to anyone that comes to your booth, but what you really should do is qualify each person.
You don’t want to spend 20 minutes showing someone your product only to find out they have no intention whatsoever of buying it or writing/talking about it (if they are press).
My suggestion here is for times when there are many people around your booth. If there is no rush, not many people around, sure - take your time and talk away…you never know who that person may tell…even if they don’t plan to buy, someone they know may.
But you need to have your priorities in place.
Back to qualifying attendees. You can do this by finding out, “which company are you with?”, “have you ever seen this kind of product”, “do you have experience with this product?” ….or simply ask if they are looking for the kind of solution your product provides.
This will give you a good indication if you’re talking with a potential “prime buyer.”
And then, if they are, you can make the move to get their contact information. Before we talk about that there is one extremely important topic we must cover….
…preparing for the dialog with potential buyers before you even arrive at the tradeshow.
It’s a mystery why most companies don’t do this (actually, not really, people are just lazy). Gather your team around a table and make a list of all the questions your potential buyers (those that would be most interested in your product…the ones you had in mind when you developed the product) could possibly ask you.
Things like the cost, the materials, how does this part function, can I use it with this other product, so on and so forth. This might take 30 or 40 mins to write down, but it will be time well spent. Then take another 20 mins or so to answer all of those questions. What you’re doing here is ensuring that all of your staff’s answers are aligned and that you’re prepared for any possible question that comes to you.
This is important because often times you’ll lose potential customers because you can’t justify for them why they should make this purchase or you don’t have the information they need to make up their mind that “this is the right choice.”
Again, it is time well spent.
You can also build in much of this information into your print materials that promote and support the advantages of what you are offering.
What kind of print materials are most effective for trade show marketing? A 1-page, double-sided outline of your product with a few photos and list of what it can do…often times a comparison chart of other similar products in the industry works well too.
What should this not be? Forget the 10-page brochure. Leave that for when the potential client requests additional information. Most trade show attendees have their bags filled with papers and promotions…and they don’t appreciate receiving heavy packages. Fact is, they can (or should be able to) get all that information and more from your website.
So keep your materials short and sweet. The key to these materials, as always, is the copywriting. It should be laser targeted to you prime prospect and clearly tell them why they should care.
A headline, benefits, proof, testimonials and don’t forget to make them an offer….use a call to action that emotionally forces them to want to contact you again for a free report or demonstration.
In the hole please….
That’s where it can go. Many executives think it’s too cheesy…but it still works. To make collecting people’s information easier offer a draw for a prize - you can even have them fill in a simple survey…and then you can sort through to find the real prospects later. Thing is, you give away an iPod or something that most people would like…but it also attracts attention to your booth and makes it easy for you to get the contact information of attendees.
I’m going to have to end here. Sorry folks, but stay tuned. Next week I’m going to cover the most neglected yet exponentially important final step of tradeshow marketing.
See you next Monday.
To your success,
Michael
I received quite a bit of interest about my last two posts - Joe B. wants to know more about what “effective tradeshow marketing is?”
So Joe, here we go….
Last week I said I wouldn’t touch on the actions you should go through before the tradeshow. But let me digress and bridge that gap for a moment.
The worst thing you can do as a tradeshow or event exhibitor is to settle for a small listing on your website about your exhibition and booth number and leave it at that. Show up, set up, and hope all goes well is a dangerous set of ingredients. 9 times out of 10 that recipe is going to give you some terrible tasting results.
The major reason most companies attend tradeshows is to increase their sales. I mean, you can put a blanket on the ‘increase sales’ phrase with whatever language you want, like “demonstrate our new product” or “make contacts” or “create awareness” - fact is, you’re doing all of that to make a sale.
Now, if you’re going to make a sale, you need to know who you are going to sell to. And what you have that they so badly want or need that they’ll spend their time taking out their credits card to buy it from you. But you always identify who your prime targets are before going to a trade show, right? And the product or service you’ll offer them has been crafted with laser precision to give them what they want, right?
Good, I’m glad to hear that.
So you have a list of prospects, maybe not the exact companies, but you know what kind of company you want to target. Great. The next step is to get a list of those ‘ideal clients’ and start the dialog with them.
Operator…connect me
How can you find these companies, you ask? You can go through the yellow pages and call them. You can buy a list from a list broker and send direct mail to them. There’s also placing an ad in a publication those prime buyers are most likely to read. And of course, their is the various ways to do all of this on the internet.
Remember, these initial communications don’t need to say everything. You definitely don’t want to start this dialog trying to hard sell your offering. This is just to get things going….
Next, send out that initial communication months in advance. Why? Because some ideal clients may not even be planning to attend that trade show. But after you personally invite them to your booth…to see something amazing you have to offer…they may decide that attending the show is worthwhile.
Your next communication can be a month or two before the show, and then another week or two before the show. What you’re doing here is creating and keeping the anticipation, awareness and desire of your target market to meet with you. You’ll be on their ‘to-see’ list during the show.
Here they come baby, here they come
They will come. That’s what this is meant to do - and it works. If each communication is done properly and if what you’re offering fills a need or want of your target market…they will come. Not only will they show up at your booth, they’ll be primed with interest to talk with you, to see what you’ve got, and you’ll be ready.
I wanted to write more about this but I gotta run. Check back next week and we’ll be covering more about tradeshow marketing, like:
Come on by next week.
To your success,
Michael
Last week we looked at the big take away from CES.
This week we’re going to dive into a quick snapshot of what works and what doesn’t in trade show marketing.
Since I just came back from the CES, we’re going to use this as our case study.
Looking at the results, I can tell you, many if not most companies’ trade show marketing stinks - it’s terrible.
Here’s why….
Let’s leave the marketing steps you should take before the trade show even begins for another day. I want to show you some examples from the show.
The reason to have a booth at a trade show is to:
1. Get attention
2. Create awareness
3. Start a meaningful dialog
Then, with that all taken care of there is the all-important:
4. Follow-up stage 1
5. Follow-up stage 2 and so on
So I’m walking around the show and see this. Companies need to think of their booth designs as advertisements…not as space to play with color use as art. Generic words like these say nothing. They don’t get attention, and even if someone happened to take 5 seconds for a glance at the text, they get nothing from it.
The copy here provides no reason for people to be interested.
Folks, use this space wisely. Text should be large enough to get attention, but just as important, it needs to communicate directly to your ideal prospect with a fact, news, or benefit that will make them stop and rush over to your booth.
This company could have said something like this “Save Money Delivering Your Products: We deliver more than 13,000 products a day to global markets”
After they’ve read your copy and feel compelled to come over to you and find out more, than you can start a meaningful dialog with them.
Point: Maximize your booth space to not just look ‘professional’ but also to sell attendees on a reason why they should get more information from you.
We’ll pick up from here next week…and I’ll elaborate more how to complete the trade show experience to get real measurable results and increase profits.
To your success,
Michael
