Showstopper ModelsIf you regularly attend trade shows to spread the word about your services while also making some sales, you need to find an effective means of measuring ROI of your presence there.
Trade shows are not cheap to attend, particularly if you factor in all the external expenses of transport, travel, hotel stays, and any other incidentals that arise. To make your trade show events an effective method of self-promotion, you need to calculate ROI so that you can use those figures to figure out how you can improve it or to decide if attending trade shows is even worth it.
Let’s go over some general strategies to make your trade show a successful event and improve its ROI.
1. Plan Your Trade Show Event Well in Advance
Planning for a trade show should not be an ad-hoc thing done a few weeks prior to the event. Instead, start preparing for every last detail of your trade show presentation at least six months in advance. Plan your costs, organize your logistics, and arrange for all of your expenses as early as possible. These will include transportation, staffing, hotel reservations, and any other possible incidentals.
By planning as many of those things as possible, you can take the time to move more deliberately and arrange the best costs for your trade show kiosk. This will automatically create a better ROI simply by saving you money on expenses.
2. Set Very Clear Marketing Strategies
Research your trade show audience in advance, as well as the kind of competition you can expect at the event. Use these to create specific strategies for your marketing. Some goals you can set:
- Increases in leads (aim for a number)
- Increases in sales (aim for a percentage)
- Increases in following to your web media and social media
- Increases in subscribers via email or social pages
Having set marketing goals, as well as access to information that can better allow you to plan your marketing campaign, you can now focus on creating the right marketing and advertising plan for your trade show while also creating conversion metrics that let you track your progress. This will give you a more “scientific” view of exactly how effective your trade show marketing is and where it can be improved.
3. Capture Passerby Attention
Your trade show kiosk will have five to 15 seconds to capture enough attention from passersby to get them to stick around and take further interest. You need to create a means of doing this that is better than those of your competition. You have to stand out and absolutely avoid blending into the crowds and noise of everyone else’s kiosks.
Do this by creating an interactive sales post that shows something out of the ordinary or immediately and visibly presents information that grabs the attention of your target audience. This might consist of entrancing visual decorations, videos that display your company’s sales message in a funny or entertaining way, or giveaways of something useful to everyone. You should also have plenty of free content visibly on display for those who pass by—content that offers useful information to potential buyers.
4. Create a Call to Action
Once your target audience is paying attention to your kiosk, you absolutely need to have an immediate call to action that they can respond to as quickly as possible. People might be delighted by what you have to offer and might think that it’s something they’d like to buy into. But if you let them go without an immediate commitment, they’ll easily lose focus on what they liked and possibly forget about it.
Offer them immediate opt-in bonuses such as discounts for signing into a buying contract or a paid post trade show consultation. Alternatively, you could tell them that if they lock in their purchases with you right then and there, you’ll offer them extra support, services, or products.
5. Follow Up On All Your Leads
No matter what you do, some of your potentially interested audience simply won’t be keen on buying on-site. That doesn’t mean the sale is lost. You should capture contact information from as many of your visitors as possible and use it to repeat special offers and promote lead nurturing campaigns in the days immediately following the trade show. Don’t be pushy in your sales, but don’t hesitate to keep what you’re offering in your buyers’ minds and give them reasons to follow through with purchase later on.
You could offer special discounts or bonuses if your leads follow through with a buy within a certain time frame. You could also give them access to more free promotional material that explains what your business is about and how it could help your leads. This might work even better if you offer a free trial or sample. Whatever you do avoid creating bad impressions of your business amongst leads, so don’t be pushy about your sales and try to stay with permission marketing tactics.