Trade Show engagement is critical for marketers

Is your trade show participation reaping a gold mine of qualified leads or only a dumping ground for contact information from people who wanted the giveaway you used as enticement to get their business cards?

Trade Shows are a major component of the B2B marketing mix. In a recent report by Forrester Research, the top 3 tactics marketers rely on were email(87%), PR(77%) and trade shows(74%).  This result is interesting when you consider that two of those are traditional, although PR is shifting more to online strategies.

And, trade show spending is slated to increase. B2B marketers told Forrester Research that they spend 13% of their budget on attending or hosting a booth at large trade shows—more than they spend on any other marketing tactic. Industry research also shows that over 80% of companies who participate in trade shows are struggling to prove a quantifiable ROI from their efforts.

In fact, Forrester cautions, “B2B marketers who fail to build interactive campaigns that preview show-specific offers, invite attendees to on-site executive briefings, and continue booth conversations via email should look to spend their money elsewhere.”

What marketing has with trade shows, is the opportunity to glean tremendous insights to potential customers. Online interactions are one thing, face time is priceless. When’s the last time you approached a trade show with a strategy that reaches beyond the usual goals of collecting contact information and showing your product to as many people as you can pull into the booth?

Think about these event-industry statistics from the Red Bank 2007 Trend report for a minute:

• 82% of attendees have the power to recommend or make the purchase decision
• 55% of attendees plan to buy within the next year

Since you’re spending an average of $159 on every person you pull into your booth, you need a planned approach for engagement. Maximizing the 1-to-1 interactions you have with these attendees can deliver some great outcomes. The first is a more qualified lead, the second is insights for tuning your personas and marketing programs.

But, to do this, you need to have a strategy for how to get this information and create the level of engagement that drives a dramatic lift in lead-to-opportunity conversions.

How many times have you heard salespeople say that marketing isn’t effective because they just don’t understand the customer? Well, if you’re attending and participating in trade shows, the opportunity for you to get closer to buyers and discover what’s valuable to them is standing right in front of you.

If you’re searching for a way to return from these shows with results that impact your marketing effectiveness, I’d like to introduce you to Joyce McKee and her new venture, Let’s Talk Trade Shows. Her training methods can get you up close and personal with event attendees and help you create a repeatable event process that makes trade show participation a lucrative choice.

Joyce has over 25 years of experience in the exhibition industry and her clients include Microsoft, Apple and Xerox. She’s released her latest report, The Secret to Achieving Brilliant Returns at Your Next Event, along with 5 bonuses and a 30-day trial membership in the Let’s Talk Trade Shows Training community. This online resource includes videos, webinars, podcasts, an ROI tool, and other training information that will help you get the results you want from event participation. Go check it out.