marketingIf attending a trade show (in the sense of having a booth there to show off your products, not just looking at other companies’ products - is there an appropriate verb to distinguish?), what schedule should one plan? I’ve found plenty on Google about how to make your booth attractive, but little on the practicalities of things like how long it takes to set one up.
Suppose the show opens at 10 o’clock, should you plan on spending the previous day setting up your booth, or getting there that morning at the crack of dawn to spend a few hours doing it?
The best trade show primer I’ve ever come across on the web was written by Steve Blank.
He leads the first of two articles with a disclaimer, raising that a lot of it no longer applies to today’s businesses. But I frankly disagree with him on that. The piece is jam-packed with nuggets of good advice that almost all ring as true today as they did when he originally wrote the memo.
Teaser:
To: Marketing Department
From: Steve
Subject: Going to Trade Shows Like it Matters
Setting Clear Trade Show Objectives
There’s no use going to a show if you don’t know why. Answers like, “because our competitors are there,” or “because it’s on our calendar,” or even “because I think we should,” don’t cut it. (Remember your department has a mission.) There’s a plethora of reasons why a company would want to exhibit at a show:
- write sales orders
- generate leads for future sales
- research the competition
- spot trends
- generate awareness and visibility within the industry
- build our mailing list with quality names
- find better or cheaper suppliers
- build rapport with current customers
- get press
- generate excitement around a new product introduction
- get additional partners
- recruit staff
The problem with this list is that every company can find at least five things they like on it. For a small company this is like throwing your tradeshow money on the floor. A company must pick the one or two top goals or nothing useful will happen. The number one reason a small company is going to a tradeshow is to generate awareness. As the company gets larger and a large professional sales organization kicks in, its second priority is to generate qualified leads. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t tertiary goals, but they are just that – not the top one or two.
Before you go to a trade show sales and marketing need to agree to measurable goals. Everything you do before, during, and after the show should be evaluated in terms of whether it contributes toward reaching these goals. While marketing can decide they are going to the show to generate awareness, marketing can’t decide they are going to a show to generate leads – unless the VP of Sales says that they believe those leads will be valuable and sales has a plan to follow up on those leads.
If sales doesn’t think the show is worth going to for the leads, and marketing isn’t going to generate awareness, remind me – why are you going to this show?
Full article:
As to your specific question:
Suppose the show opens at 10 o’clock, should you plan on spending the previous day setting up your booth, or getting there that morning at the crack of dawn to spend a few hours doing it?
You should be been taking preparation steps long before the show starts, and it’s best practice to set up your booth the previous day if you’re able to (it’s not always possible, since the venue might be hosting an event the previous day).
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