Are you guilty of any of these? Don’t feel bad. We’re only human, but if we know ahead of time what things to know, what to avoid and how to prepare, we can have a much better and more successful tradeshow exhibiting experience.
The simple act of being aware of what’s going on can transform an average exhibiting experience into a successful one. Here’s a quick video on what you things you might want to be more aware of next time you’re exhibiting.
In the midst of a pandemic, what’s a nationwide staffing entity to do? In this week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee, we find out how one agency is doing it, anyway. Jane Gentry, CEO of Fusion, spoke with me about how they’re addressing the myriad issues surrounding staffing events and retail outlets both physically and virtually.
Plus, she shares some great tips toward the end about how to make more sales and maintain great relationships. Take a look/listen:
Find Fusion online here.
This week’s ONE GOOD THING: Twitter.
Subscribe to TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee on Apple Podcasts here.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Tradeshow Marketing here, where the vlog version of the podcast appears weekly.
With tradeshow marketing on the sidelines, now is as good a time as any to brush up on your tradeshow marketing skill and knowledge. And here’s a great place to find a whole lot of tradeshow marketing tips – all in one place, and all worth their weight in gold. Check out this short under-three-minute video:
Find all of these tips at TradeshowBuy.com!
Another in a continuing series of short videos, under three minutes, that takes a look at an aspect of tradeshow marketing. This time, it’s a look at the variety of skills a good tradeshow marketing manager should have.
Custom tradeshow flooring can do wonders for branding and helping you stand out. Check out this short video:
Chris Voss is the host of several podcasts, all of which are found on the Chris Voss Show Podcast Network. He reached out to me last week to ask me to appear with him on his show. Here’s how it went:
Thanks to Chris for inviting me! Great fun, no doubt. Check out his more than 600 podcast episodes on the link above.
Natural Products Expo West was postponed and/or cancelled a couple of days before floor doors were to open. I happened to be sitting on the airplane headed to LA for the show when I got the news.
This week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee podcast/vlog is more or less a travelogue of the 6 days I spent in LA and surrounding area, along with a few comments about Natural Products Expo West. I worked with clients to make sure they had return shipping handled and connected with several old friends and relatives.
Take a look/listen:
Show Notes: I mentioned a handful of folks that I encountered during the week.
Jay Gilbert interview
Paul Jackson interview
Drew at Radio.com – Entercom Radio, including JACK-FM.
Roger Steffens, author, speaker, Bob Marley historian, reggae collector (Wikipedia page)
Roger’s Instagram page: The Family Acid.
This week’s ONE GOOD THING: having a little free time on the road.
Hiett Ives is a four-decade veteran of the tradeshow industry. He publishes a weekly newsletter on language that is short and fun to read. Hiett also helps companies gather more leads at tradeshows with his company Show Dynamics.
Check out our conversation on this week’s TradeshowGuy Monday Morning Coffee:
Check out Hiett’s company, Show Dynamics, here.
This week’s ONE GOOD THING: The release of “I’ll See You Again in 25 Years” by Completely Grocery and The Sauce Unlimited.
Back in the dark ages of technology and social media, say 2008 or so, I read many prognosticators who predicted that tradeshows would disappear. Or become shells of themselves, simply because everyone was going digital. I remember seeing online ‘virtual tradeshows’ where you could navigate from booth to booth and see what companies were hawking.
Except that virtual tradeshows never really got going so much. And the real thing is doing just fine, thank you very much.
Why? My hunch is that it’s because people are face-to-face. In real time. In real life. Instead of interacting online over Skype or virtual tradeshows.
Don’t get me wrong: there is a time and place for interacting online, for social media, for Skype or Zoom.
But tradeshows are here to stay and they’re growing.
A recent (July 2019) post from Marketing Charts indicates that tradeshows have not only proven to be effective across all stages of the buyer’s journey, the channel has a projected annual compound growth rate of 4.3% through 2023.
The article shares other key points, including that tradeshows are the second largest and fastest-growing source of B2B growth. The B2B tradeshow market is expected to be a $15.7 Billion market in 2019, moving up to $18.5 Billion by 2023.
Yes, tradeshows as a method of marketing are critical to a company’s success. The money spent on tradeshows often will take up as much as a third of a company’s marketing spend.
There are lot of reasons that companies are successful at tradeshow marketing (as well as many reasons they’re not successful!), but to my mind it all comes down to the face-to-face aspect.
It’s Real Life, not digital.
