Earlier this year, Echelon Design sponsored a report that was tabulated by Exhibitor Media Group which outlined the current trends of social media in trade show and event marketing. In June, we released a white paper that highlighted a number of industry expert opinions on these ideas. Today, we’re releasing our first infographic, which is an interesting blend of these findings.

This guide is designed for anyone who is new to social media or looking to apply social media to their trade show or event marketing strategy. It provides an quick and interesting look at some of the most widely used tools and their application and effectiveness in today’s event world. Please enjoy and share your comments with us!

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Social Media in the New Event World Infographic

Ok, you are prepared for the show and have addressed everything discussed in Trade Show Success Strategies ~ Pre-Show.  Opening day is just a few hours away and the question to ask is how do you make the most of your time on the floor?  How can we help insure that a desired ROI is obtainable?

It starts with YOU!

•80% of what a prospect remembers about a company is based on staff behavior and attitude
•YOU are one of the primary reasons why people will visit the booth
•64% of prospect’s impression is formed within 4 seconds
•YOU only get one shot at a first impression

Trade shows are unique sales environments in which everyone must be on top of their game.

•They are very expensive
•There are many distractions, anything from the neighbors circus act to the other neighbors “booth babes” can take your mind off the task at hand
•There is intense competition, you are surrounded by exhibitors trying to pull attendees away and into their booth..  Some of those are even your competitiors
•80% lookers vs. 20% real buyers
•You have limited time with prospects; 5-7 minutes
•They also provide a unique opportunity to beat the competition

How do you succeed in this unique environment?  Follow a 6 step process:

Step #1:  Attract & Approach

•Most attendees will not stop unless you approach them
•Use body language, appear approachable
•Attendees will not wait for you

Here are some interesting numbers for you.  6% of attendees will leave in 10 seconds, 11% leave in 30 seconds, 41% leave within the first minute if not approached.

Step #2: Qualify

•Know your audience
•Get the prospect to talk
•Respectfully dismiss unqualified prospects

Step #3 Present

•Rehears your presentation prior to the show
•Bond with the prospect and peak his or her interest in your companywill typically tune out
•Get to the point quickly, if you dont connect within the first 90 seconds the prospect

Step #4 Agree & Release

•Summarize your conversation
•Reconfirm prospects information
•Agree on specific next steps (followup call or meeting)
•Release and engage next prospect

Step #5 Document

•Capture good data (quality rather than quantity is the rule)
•Record key information, capture something personal about the prospect
•This may sound elementary but write clearly, accuracy is key

Step #6 Follow-up

I will dedicate the third part of this three part series to the “Follow-up” as I feel that this is all too often the weakest link in the process.

This is a process that will, without a doubt, put you on track for success in a trade show environment.  Remember that to begin new relationships, you must first engage and create a positive impression.   Being mindful of the fact that people need to trust you before they do business with you, be approachable, and listening more than you talk will help you do exactly that.

It is pretty easy to walk the show floor and spot the exhibitors that “just show up” and it is more common than you may think.  I was in Orlando for the HDI show last month and had a chance to catch lunch just before my departing flight.  The guy sitting next to me was obviously a sales guy, you know the look, that had been a staffer for an exhibitor at another show that was in town.  Mistakenly, I struck a conversation with him, I asked “how was the show for you guys”, “I hate trade shows” he responded, “really, why?”, “I think they are pointless and I dont like begging people to buy my product” he says.  Luckily it was time to catch my flight right after that comment.  Do you think this guy should have been representing his company at the show?

Exhibiting at a trade show can be an invaluable experience.  However, if you and your team are not prepared, your ROI will reflect that.  To get the most from exhibiting, you should have a realistic budget, goals, prepared staff, collateral in place, and set appointments.

Review and Implement a Realistic Budget
Setting a realistic budget is vital to the success of your show.  Common things to take into consideration are exhibit space, exhibit materials, show services, pre-show promotion and staff expense/time.  It’s almost impossible to realize positive ROI when you don’t know how much you’re spending – and what you’re spending it on!  I will be using a $70,000 overall budget for illustrative purposes below.

Set Goals

One of the best place to begin planning for the show is by identifying your trade show goals and strategies. Simply put, this is the way that you will position your company, products, and or services at the actual tradeshow. What are you trying to accomplish? What specific outcomes are you trying to achieve? What resources are you willing to commit to the actual event?  Your goals might look like this:

Goals:
- 500 Qualification Conversations
- 25 Commercial Leads
- 25 Enterprise Leads
- Cost Per Lead= $1,400 ($70,000 ÷ 50)

Staff Preparation

First step ~ be sure you are sending the correct staff members, dont send “that guy” I met in the airport.  Preparing your staff for the show can involve creating scripts for them, role-playing, and answering any questions they might have. Your trade show checklist should establish certain expectations regarding their collection of sales or leads. It should also remind you to assign specific responsibilities to your employees as early as 4 months before the event. Then, schedule weekly or biweekly training sessions to help them develop skills to engage visitors and qualify leads at the show.  Put together a presentation to bring the staffers up to speed with your goals and strategies, a good exercise is to show them exactly what it will cost for your company to simply have a presence at the show.  That might look something like this:

Overall budget= $70K
12 hours of show time
$5,833 per hour
$97.22 per minute
$1.62 per second

Collateral

This includes brochures, fact sheets, stands and posters for your booth. For trade shows, it’s a good idea to have these on a CD or USB drive and also include images or videos so you can give them to travel sellers to take away. You will need enough collateral for the show as well as for follow-up meetings and mailings.
Appointments

Be well prepared by taking the time to pre-schedule appointments, this will truly help you maximize your efforts.  Take it a step further and try to set these appointments with decision makers!

With these objectives in mind, you should feel good about what is to come from the show.  “But you dont have to take my word for it” – Burton ~ Reading Rainbow

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, what would you add?

Echelon Design is proud to announce today, the introduction of Tradeshow Insight 2.0, an industry resource for exhibitors, attendees and event planners. While Tradeshow Insight has been providing intuitive information for over a year, the 2.0 version provides a number of new features worthy of mention.

• A Standalone URL – Because Tradeshow Insight provides a resource and community to all individuals involved with event marketing, we felt that a unique home and independent branding are well deserved for this content.
• Comment/Feeckback Capabilities – New to the 2.0 version is the ability for users to comment on postings and collaborate with the author.
• iPhone Compatibility – In an increasingly mobile environment, we’ve developed an iPhone version of Tradeshow Insight to allow enhanced viewing and full commenting functions.
• Social Media Integration – We’ve bundled a variety of social media functions into Tradeshow Insight. Check our postings from our Twitter page, view live photography from our Flickr module and share postings to the most popular networks on the web, including Facebook, Digg, Delicious, LinkedIn, Google and more.
• Archived Accessibility – With built in search functions, categories, archive history, tagging and relative post suggestions, finding the information you need has never been easier.

We’re interested in hearing from you as to how you would like a website like this function. What topics are you interested in? What can you share from your recent tradeshow experiences? Take a look around and come back to share your comments!