April 2003 TradeShow Marketing Proven techniques for attracting and retaining trade show visitors Planning your success Substitute quality of visitors for number of visitors and watch costs drop and profits go through the roof! Dear Dave: Once again, your cart acted like a MAG- NET attracting the right visitors to our booth and keeping them there long enough to establish or renew relationships. Clients are already asking if you re going to be there again next year! Please sign us up for next year s show! M.R. Microsoft Chances are, you ve already gotten the word. Money is tight and budgets everywhere are being re-examined. In this climate, your marketing dollars must work overtime before, during, and after trade shows to ensure you receive full value for your trade-show investment. Steps to success There are four steps involved in profitable trade show participation: 1. Identify your most valuable clients and prospects. 2. Create a magnet to attract and retain visitors at your booth or exhibit. 3. Promote your draw in advance. 4. Follow-up after the event. Remember: trade show exhibits can be too successful! This occurs when your exhibit attracts so much unqualified traffic visitors with little likelihood of buying from you that your staff doesn t have time to spend with your most valuable visitors. Your most valuable visitors tyically fall into one of two categories: Qualified prospects, those who have previously expressed an interest in your products or services. Past customers and clients those who have previously purchased from you. Action step: Identify the 100, 500, or 1,000 clients and prospects you most want to spend time with. Create a separate database containing their names and contact information. You can spend literally millions of dollars on a trade-show presence that attracts casual visitors to your exhibit or you can spend less on a campaign focused on those most likely to buy from you. Step 1. Identify the right visitors Success comes from identifying qualified booth visitors before the trade show. Step 2. Create a visitor magnet Ask yourself: Why should trade show attendees visit your booth? Consider your trade show exhibit from your prospect s point of view. What do trade show visitors really want? Although visitors obviously attend trade shows to learn about the latest products
Trade Show Marketing April 2003 Trade show visitors are looking for an oasis where they can relax and regroup David Salzman Espresso Dave Hot and cold beverage service 888-221-9029 1500A Lafayette Road Suite 164 Portsmouth, NH 03801 Dave@espressodaves.com www.espressodaves.com and services, once there, they are likely to become quickly fatigued by the crowds and the constant stimulus bombardment. As a result, your prospects and clients are looking for an oasis where they can at least temporarily relax and regroup. That s why Espresso Dave s beverage service has become an essential part of so many corporate trade show programs. Our hot and cold beverage service provides a magnet that attracts and retains trade show visitors. We provide a welcome quality alternative to the long lines, high costs, and marginal beverage quality available in most venues. Espresso Dave attracts your most valuable visitors to your booth and keeps them around long enough to take in your message. We create time for your staff to build and strengthen relationships in even the most challenging environments. Action step. Call 888-221-9029 (toll-free) to find out how easy it is to use hot or cold beverages to attract and retain trade show visitors. Step 3. Promote your magnet Promote your magnet to your most valuable clients and prospects starting well in advance of the trade show. Using your database, use E-mail, letters, and postcards to invite your most valuable clients and prospects to your booth to learn about your latest products and services while enjoying a relaxing hot or cold beverage. The more you promote the availability of a quality alternative to over-heated everyday coffee and expensive syrupy soft drinks, the more your prospects and clients will look forward to spending time at your booth. Be sure you include direction to your exhibit with each invitation. Create an attendance-building campaign a series of invitations. A single E-mail, letter, or postcard is not enough. Attendance will grow as you repeat your invitations. Action step. Create a series of four to six communications promoting the location of your booth and the hot or cold beverages you will be offering. (We can help just give us a call!) Step 4. Follow-up What happens after the trade show is as important as what happens at the show. Always track those who visit your trade show booth and enjoy your hospitality. Follow-up using E-mail, letters, or telephone calls. This after-sale reinforcement will pay big dividends in both sales and visitors to your booth in future years. Recommendation. Track those who enjoyed your hospitality and follow-up by E-mail, phone, or thank you cards. For more information Call Espresso Dave toll free at 888-221- 9029 for more ideas and a free introductory consultation. Call today! Our goal is to help make events of all types special! Client list available upon request
May2003 TradeShow Marketing Proven techniques for attracting and retaining trade show visitors Attracting qualified trade show traffic Low-cost ways to attract qualified visitors We ve never had 900 people visit our booth and attend a presentation! American Chemical Maximize your investment in a premium beverage service by being selective in those you attract and promote. Ideally, you don t want to serve just anyone. Here are some ideas to make sure that your hospitality will be appreciated by those most likely to buy from you. Postcards Postcards can be considered billboards you can send through the mail. Postcard power comes from the fact they don t have to be opened to be effective. A casual glance can drive home your message especially a simple one like: Take an Espresso Dave break at the show! Mail a series of postcards. (We can provide you with artwork and ideas.) Space your mailings over several weeks: send them: Six weeks before the show. Two weeks before the show. The week before the show. Use First Class postage to make sure your messages arrives on time. Place a map showing the location of your booth on the back of the postcard, along with a description of the beverages you will be serving. Consider asking visitors to bring the card as a qualification for their free beverage. The address on the back of the postcard helps break the ice by introducing the visitor to your sales staff. E-mail Send a series of e-mails, with printable coupons attached, to prospects and customers. Be sure you include a subject line emphasizing that the e-mail contains an invitation for hospitality. Again, a series of e-mails works much better than just one. The emails should become increasingly detailed, but all should describe why the recipient will want to visit your booth, what they ll enjoy when they do, and how to find you. Newsletter and web site Promote your hospitality in your newsletters and on your web site before the show. Use printable coupons on your web site or insert coupons in your newsletter
Trade Show Marketing May 2003 Trade show attendees appreciate an oasis where they can relax and regroup David Salzman Espresso Dave Hot and cold beverage service 888-221-9029 1500A Lafayette Road Suite 164 Portsmouth, NH 03801 Dave@espressodaves.com www.espressodaves.com On your web site, include or printable coupons as well as a map and directions to your exhibit. Letters and calls Encourage your sales staff to send personalized invitations to their individual mailing lists. Provide them with sample letters and e-mail copy and encourage them to check-in by phone with key clients shortly before the show. Marketing partners Ask your marketing partners to promote your exhibit hospitality in materials they either mail to their customers before the show or distribute at the event itself. Show advertising Add invitations and coupons to any advertising you run in the trade show program or daily newsletters. Consider promoting your booth hospitality on hotel room door hangers or in information packages that convention services often distribute to the hotel rooms of trade show attendees. Exhibit coupons Use coupons to qualify those who enjoy your hospitality. When individuals approach without a coupon, politely, ask if they would be willing to listen to a two-mninute presentation in exchange for your hospitality.when they say yes as most will ntroduce them to one of your staff by name. To encourage qualified visitors to return to your booth the next day, give them a next day coupon. Give your staff stamps or stickers they can place on the back of business cards they give to select, high-potential visitors. This virtually guarantees the selected visitors will return to your exhibit the next where your staff can renew the relationship they began the day before. With comfort already established, your staff can say: Good to see you again! and resume where they left off. Tracking and follow-up Coupons and tickets provide an easy way to track response. Coding your coupons permits you to identify the source of your visitors. Knowing who visited your exhibit permits your staff to follow-up with them after the show. And, next year, you can send personalized e-mail to those who visited your exhibit the previous year. Consistency Success builds upon success. Each time you deliver a pleasant experience, you re building equity in your future presence at the trade show. Soon, instead of searching for visitors, visitors will be searching for you! For more information Ask Espresso Dave questions about building qualified visitors. I ve been helping firms both large and small use hot and cold beverages as a magnet for qualified trade-show visitors for years. Client list available upon request
June 2003 TradeShow Marketing Proven techniques for attracting and retaining trade show visitors Managing your trade show hospitality Leveraging profits with coupons, special flavors, and follow-up You ll be here next year, right? American Chemical By David Salzman, Espresso Dave Even if you don t have a prime location or a million dollar exhibit presence, premium coffees can attract visitors to your booth and encourage them to stay longer. But to succeed you have to orchestrate your hospitality. Just handing out coffee isn t enough. You ll enjoy far more success if you support your hospitality before, during, and after the show. Planning Start by asking, Are you primarily interested in attracting prospects or reinforcing existing customer relationships? Your answer will determine how you present and promote your hospitality. To attract prospects, focus on developing traffic at the show. To reinforce existing relationships, promote your hospitality before the show. Coupons Base your hospitality on coupons. Coupons permit you to monitor who enjoys your hospitality and make it possible to track and follow-up your hospitality. You can mail coupons,, send them as printable e-mail attachments, or hand them out at the show. You can even create special coupons, or special stickers for booth personnel to put on the back of their business cards entitling serious visitors to enjoy another cup of coffee at your booth the next day. Attracting casual traffic Start by stationing booth personnel at the corners of your exhibit. Encourage them to ask passers-by if they would like an espresso or cappucino. If they say, yes, ask them if they would be willing to take a survey or listen to a two-minute presentation in exchange for the coffee. If they again respond favorably, continue the presentation or direct them to a registration desk where they can meet someone who will give them their coffee coupon after a brief presentation. Your staff will be pleasantly surprised by how many participants say, yes. You staff will quickly become comfortable
Trade Show Marketing June 2003 One of the comments we frequently hear is, I always look forward to visiting your booth! David Salzman Espresso Dave Hot and cold beverage service 888-221-9029 1500A Lafayette Road Suite 164 Portsmouth, NH 03801 Dave@espressodaves.com www.espressodaves.com striking up conversations with strangers. If your booth features a theater with a film or live demonstration, you can either give them their coffee coupon now and invite them to stick around for the performance or distribute beverage coupons at the end of the performance. If you are not using coupons, place a fish bowl in the beverage area and invite guests to enter a business card in a raffle. Reinforcing client relationships Send current clients letters and e-mails containing coded coupons. Color code the coupons to communicate the client s importance, buying power, or area of interest to booth personnel. Coded coupons work especially well when the client s usual sales representative is temporarily unavailable. Branding your hospitality Brand your cups with your logo and booth number or location. People carrying a cup of espresso are often stopped and asked, Where did you get that? Every cup you dispense becomes a walking advertisement for your booth! Cafe Whenever possible, add tables and chairs. These encourages visitors to remain at your booth longer exposing them to your message and creating a busy booth. Crowds attract crowds! Signature drinks Consider offering special flavors perhaps named after your firm or the theme of your exhibit. These create curiosity plus give your staff and visitors something to talk about. Invite visitors to vote on the flavor. Promote a special, premium thank you flavor to best customers. This builds curiosity and gives you a chance to ask their opinion after the event. Follow-up Always thank those who enjoyed your hospitality for visiting your booth. Remind them of the benefits offered by the products and services and let them know you look forward to seeing them next time. You might even consider enclosing a coupon good for a premium beverage at the next event where you ll be exhibiting! Consistency Espresso Dave s presence becomes more successful each time you repeat it. Attendees get in the habit of beginning their trade experience with their favorite beverage or a special flavor. Your booth becomes a reward for the hazards of travel. One of the comments we frequently hear is, I always look forward to visiting your booth! For more information Call Espresso Dave toll free at 888-221- 9029 for more ideas and a free introductory consultation. Call today! We add excitement to all types of events. Client list available upon request