There is a lot trade show advice that can be either really obvious or not very helpful. Every once in a while you come across an idea that is both obvious and really helpful. And that is what this trade show marketing tip from Tom Adams is.
We all know about the pens and the buttons, the key chains and the posters. The theory is: let’s give away something with our logo on it and it will be good for brand equity. And then there are the contests: enter to win a free iPod. Yes, giveaways have certain brand value, but Tom’s advice is that if you want to snag contact information, give away something that you’d normally sell. That ensures that only your targeted audience will show interest. A month of free service or parts or even a full-fledged product as a give away means that it will be worthless to a casual passerby but hugely valuable to your target audience. It’s a good theory, but anyone put it to practice?
Does anyone remember the infrared beaming on Palm Pilots? Does anyone remember Palm Pilots? It was actually pretty cool. You could beam your info to a fellow Palm user avoiding the exchange of business cards which you would then have to enter into your Palm Pilot. It was fast an efficient and then totally disappeared when mobile devices became integrated to the internet.
The problem is that it’s still really hard to keep track of the people that you meet at trade shows. Whether you’re an attendee or an exhibitor. Yes, you can technically look up everyone you meet on LinkedIn and then connect with them, but that’s time consuming at big events and not practical approach to buying or selling. The irony is that we’re all more linked together than ever with social media applications like LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. BusyEvent may have an answer: Read the full story
The Rogers Company has announced a new service that begins to answer many of the Trade Show ROI questions that companies have. Are we seeing value from this show? The answer, it seems, may be in what you’re doing with the leads you are getting from the show. From the press release:
The Rogers Company, a designer and builder of trade show exhibits and other branded environments, announces Return On Exhibiting, a new approach to lead management to substantially increase sales resulting from trade shows. This new offering comes from a partnership between Rogers and Richard Erschik, founder and CEO of Leads to Sales, Inc. (www.leadstosales.com) and RICHARDERSCHIK.com (www.richarderschik.com). Erschik and the Rogers team are working closely together to unite booth exhibit design and fabrication with lead management and post-show follow-up. The result is a one-stop shop for better trade show ROI.
You can read the rest of the press release here: Link
Sukki Jahnke from The Rogers Company interviews Chris Hopkins about exhibiting at AHIMA. He gives some quick strategies on their approach to face-to-face marketing. So is tradeshow exhibiting really just about brand positioning and ’showing your face.” Not so, according to Hopkins, AHIMA provides some very real relationship building opportunities and some on-floor sales.
Look for more From the Show Floor interviews from Sukki coming soon.
Part of the fun of any live event is creating situations that interact casually with people passing by. This can be something as simple as a friendly smile or complex as video technology that viewers can interact with. Read the full story
So while we’re not sure entirely how this works, it’s darned cool. It’s the closest thing to fully interactive holograms bridging the gap between the online world and the cyber realm.
The applications seem endless. There’s definitely a “Wow!” factor here but after the dust settle, it seems like there could be some very practical applications at trade shows as well as in sales.
LED technology has been with us a long time. But the use of it to create brilliant effects far surpasses those scrolling red and black signs we’ve all seen. Creating brilliant effects that catch the eye and are ever changing. Read the full story
