Exhibiting: It’s Not Rocket Science-episode 007

TER006NotRocketScience

I’m you’re host, Gary Neidert. Welcome to today’s episode, Exhibiting: It’s not rocket science.

The Exhibitor Report Podcast is your source for insights, tips and ideas on how to increase revenue by marketing your business in live events. Events like home and garden show, boat shows, rv shows, outdoor events and much more.

Here’s what we’ll cover today:

  • Engage Attendees
  • The Three Second Rule
  • Follow Up!
  • Bonus info

3 Foundational Rules of Marketing at Live Events

Engage Attendees

Greet everyone that walks by your booth

      • Ask a question while handing attendee a show flyer
        • What brings you to the show?
        • When was the last time you remodeled your kitchen?
        • When was the last time your remodeled your bathroom?
        • When was the last time you were outside and wished you had an outdoor kitchen?
        • When was the last time you looked at your fogged windows and said we need to replace them?

Ask an open ended question

        • don’t ask yes/no questions
          • Why? Because it’s always easier to to say no

The Three Second Rule

    • People have short attention spans
    • Tell in quick sound bites:
      • What you do.
      • Why the prospect should stop and talk with you.
        • appeal to wiifm-what’s in it for me
        • appeal to what it does for them in emotional terms
          • create pictures in their mind with emotions
      • Who you are
        • company name
        • phone
        • website

Follow Up!

    • Lack of follow up is one of the biggest failures of all exhibitors in trade shows or consumer shows.
    • Collect names of every person that comes in your booth.
    • Send a thank you postcard to them.
      • have  postcards preprinted in the booth.
        • at end of day or in between prospects, address the card
        • mail that night
    • If they want you to call them at a certain time, call them.
    • If you wait to call, your competition will.
        • At that point it’s like you handed them thousands of dollars
    • You invested money to get the lead, make good use of it.
    • Keep all leads in a data base and mail to them at least 4 times a year.

Bonus information

Last week I attended exhibiting workshop hosted by Naomi Butler with Bridal Shows, Inc. She brought up a great action point: go back through past leads and contact again even as far back as 10 years.

The next episode

Effective lead generation in a live event.

GaryN