Matt Selbie of Oberon3 in Portland, Oregon is a recent Oregon transplant. The company’s business-enhancement product The Opiniator is less than a year old. After finding my blog, Matt reached out to introduce himself (great networking) and after a conversation or two I thought I should get him on the blog with a podcast. What is the Opiniator? How can you use it in your business? What can you do with it at tradeshows? Matt addresses all of these questions and more…including the origin of that decidedly non-Oregonian accent.
(the following was previously published in the Salem Statesman-Journal):
The tradeshow is a unique marketing beast with a lot of tentacles and unless you control them they’ll end up controlling you.
But trade show marketing can be one of the most effective uses of your marketing dollar – IF you know what you’re doing. A recent report by Forrester Research showed the top 3 tactics marketers rely on were email at 87%, Public Relations at 77% and trade show marketing at 74%.
To begin with, when you exhibit at a trade show (not a consumer show, but a show specific to your industry), the audience consists largely of decision-makers who have PAID to attend. So they want to see what’s new, exciting or improved.
Second, trade show marketing is unique in that it’s one of the few places you can engage with a prospect one-on-one and find out what’s really important to them.
And third (I love this one!) a trade show is great for spying on the competition to see what’s new and upcoming with them.
Exhibiting at a tradeshow is more than just renting or buying a booth, setting it up and handing out brochures. The tradeshow environment is like nothing else; prospects should be qualified or disqualified quickly with a few pointed questions.
But it does work: less than three months after launching a new 10’ x 20’ custom booth at the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, Portland’s gDiapers (now former) National Sales Director Mike Internicola said, “Our business has doubled since Expo.”
Mountain Rose Herbs at Expo West
Mountain Rose Herbs of Eugene has seen double-digit growth for the past several years. Operations Manager Shawn Donnille says it’s due to ‘brilliant marketing’ and the fact that they are hitting several markets that can use their product. Trade show marketing has been a major piece of their marketing strategy for years.
Interactivity is a big draw. By bringing people into your booth you have an opportunity to engage them one-on-one. Usually a few questions are sufficient to qualify or disqualify them as potential customers.
Your entire staff should onboard see the entire trade show marketing picture, from the company’s show objectives to the pre- and post-show efforts to the nuts and bolts of what questions you’re going to ask visitors to qualify them. Once they see that, it’s easier for them to understand their role and buy into the company’s show objectives.
When exhibiting at a tradeshow, you’re there to make sales, brand your business, brand your product, schmooze with industry partners, scout out competitors and okay, do a little partying (perhaps).
Are you using the time to do some specific research by using surveys? No? Too bad, it’s a great way to uncover useful information that you may not find elsewhere at ten times the price.
Since you’re already there at the tradeshow, you might as well take advantage of the opportunity. Here are seven ways you can use surveys at tradeshows to bring home more than just some sales and the memory of a great after-hours party.
1. Product comparison: put your product up against a top competitor, much like the old cola wars taste-tests. Take the labels off of your brand and a competitor’s (if you dare), and put them up against each other side by side. If the results come back in your favor, issue a press release, tweet it out.
2. Quickie 2 or 3-question survey: easy to put together and easy for your visitors to take 15 seconds to answer. You can hold a clipboard and pencil, and ask visitors if they can spare just 15 seconds to answer three questions. Be specific and don’t go past that time. Ask the questions, and then finish with a “Would you like to learn more about our product?” and if they say yes, direct them to an associate. If they say no, thank them for their valuable time and release ’em back to the wild.
3. More in-depth survey: offer this only to people that have indicated a willingness to learn more about your products or services. If they seem like good prospects, ask if they mind if you can take just three minutes with them. The survey should be handed to them either in the form of a piece of paper on a clipboard or a laptop. Either way, invite them to leave their name and contact information at the end so you can follow up with the more interested folks.
3. “Live” visual feature or product comparison: set up a graphic and interactive exhibit that asks visitors to make a choice between various possible features or products you may be offering in the near future. Tell them that this research is part of the evaluation process your company is doing. Whether you’re showing 2 or 5 or 9 choices, make the graphics easy to understand and the choices easy to make (hopefully!). Have baskets or jars set up so that visitors can drop something (tennis balls, marbles, etc.) into a jar that echoes their sentiment. Over time each jar will slowly fill up with the choices. By doing this you are giving a visual accounting of how the ‘voting’ or surveying is going.
4. Brand effectiveness: depending on your company and brand, you may want to survey your visitors on how they perceive your brand in comparison to your competitors. While this may take a little more thought to set up, the survey can yield some very worthwhile results in how you are perceived in the marketplace.
5. Measure effectiveness of pre-event marketing: if you do extensive pre-event marketing within your industry in trade magazines or other media, you can survey the effectiveness. If you do a lot of social media promotion you can also judge its effectiveness. Set up a survey that asks visitors IF they heard of you, WHERE they heard of you and if the MESSAGE they saw inspired them to visit your booth (or if they just stumbled across it…).
6. Get input for future events: take some time to ask visitors what impacted them the most at the show. The feedback can be used to help craft your booth, marketing, graphics and promotional slant for the following year’s show.
7. Get feedback on a new product: if you have a product that’s been on the market a short time, the survey can be used to get feedback on how that product is perceived, used or consumed by visitors.
Take a few moments and ask yourself ‘what can I learn from all of those thousands of tradeshow visitors that will help the company?’ Then come up with a great way to elicit that information via a survey. Feel free to share any ideas you may have in the comment section!
Most clients I work with on new booth projects are on the verge of moving out of their comfort zone. Why? Because they’re moving from simple pop-up type exhibits to full custom designed and fabricated booths, or at least some elements.
That means they’re stepping into dealing with a larger plan that involves shipping, storage, drayage, show labor and more. It’s not as easy as shipping a small booth case with a few graphics. Now you’re dealing with common carrier shipping lines, larger storage spaces, and coordinating a set-up staff that you may have little communication with or control over.
Don’t worry, it’s a common feeling! And from my vantage point, all the folks I work with are more than happy to have made the change, no matter how uncomfortable it may have been. They have a nicer, larger booth that proudly shows off their brand. Clients rave about the new booth and everyone goes home happier.
Even though the corporation is moving from small to large in their tradeshow presence, it’s the actual people that do it. Is there anyone in the company that’s experienced that move before? Much like a young sports team moving into the playoffs for the first time, having a few veterans around who have ‘been there, done that’ will help to ease the transition.
As in any endeavor, moving out of your comfort zone takes courage, thoughtfulness, planning and finally action. The more information you are able to detail before making the move, the less hassle you’ll run into along the way.
So you’ve taken on the challenge: you’re moving up and dealing with all that stuff – show labor, crate shipping, drayage, etc. The simple fact that you are taking on the challenge as a company and human beings is significant: it takes you through the process. Now having been through the process once or twice, what used to be beyond your comfort zone becomes the new norm – the new comfort zone again.
Which means you’ll look to moving up even further in the not-too-distant future, right?
Are you enthusiastic about preserving Earth? If you want to highlight this commitment as part of your business pitch, be aware that cynicism lurks in the minds of many customers.
To show that you’re not just pretending to jump on today’s green wagon, incorporate as many as possible of these factors into your marketing copy, suggested in the new book Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green by Shel Horowitz and Jay Conrad Levinson.
1. Hard facts (what you’ve done), not commitments (what you say you’ll do).
2. Substantiation for your claims – for example, back up the statement that your operations are carbon-neutral.
3. Third-party green certifications, with links that show what they mean.
4. Non-promotional material that helps readers understand the issues on which you’re taking action.
5. Advice for readers on how they too can follow suit.
6. Transparency and truthfulness. Don’t attempt to hide elements that go against your overall stance.
Your reward: The trust of those who share your convictions, respect from those who haven’t yet seen the light, and joyfulness in your conscience.
Tradeshow staff training is often seen as the ‘missing gap’ between coming away from a tradeshow with an assortment of grungy leads and a stack of well-defined leads.
But experience has shown that most companies spent little to no money actually training their staff to do the right things at a show to accomplish those goal-gathering leads.
So I thought it might be a good thing to jot down a list of five – just five, that’s all – things that you should teach your tradeshow staff before the next show.
1. Teach your staff which products and services will be highlighted at the show. If you have a larger booth, note on a floor map where the products/services will be handled or discussed with the visitors, along with who the subject matter experts might be for those items. In this way your staff can handle inquires and direct the visitor to the right area or find the right answer to those questions.
2. Teach your staff to quickly and efficiently qualify and disqualify visitors. If the visitor is NOT a prospect, the sooner your staff member disengages with them and moves on to the next visitor, the more efficient they’ll be at gathering leads. This means asking the right questions, noting the answers, and asking correct follow-up questions that determine the level of interest and who and how to follow up with that visitors.
3. Teach your staff how to properly process a lead. If you have a lead form, have them practice filling it out. If you are using a badge scanner at the show, practice on it before the show starts. If there are specific questions that need to be asked, have them rehearse the questions.
4. Inform your staff the overall objective(s), goals and reasons for being at the show. If they understand the ‘30,000 foot view’ of why the company is at this show, they’ll have a better grasp of why those goals are important.
5. Let your staff know how important they are to the success of the tradeshow. Explain why they were chosen to represent the company, that they are the ‘front lines’ and the face of the company. Anything they do will reflect on visitors’ impressions of the company. Little things go a long way. Small things like smiles and politeness standard for many companies…but when you remind your staff how important those things really are (and how noticeable if you forget), it’s more likely they’ll remember to wear a smile and be polite all the time.
Is there anything you teach your staff that is missing in this list?
When I connected with author Mike O’Neil a few weeks back he asked me to connect with him on LinkedIn. I soon learned that he does this with everybody.
“All right,” said Mike, “before you accept the inviation, go to your home page on LinkedIn. Now, click on ‘Contacts’ and then ‘Network Statistics.’ Look at what you’ve got in your connections list.”
I did. It looked like this:
“Now, go ahead and accept my invitation. Then wait a few moments and refresh your page.”
So I did. It looked like this:
Given that Mike has 27,000+ connections on LinkedIn, it was easy to see why my network statistics took a huge jump. Shortly after, I connected with Lori Ruff, Mike’s co-author on ‘Rock The World with Your Online Presence,’ a book dedicated solely to, uh, pimping out your LinkedIn profile.
Later that day I added a connection to Lori Ruff, co-author of the ‘Rock the World’ book:
I mean, really jazzing it up so that you can be FOUND and recognized for what you do and what you’re best at.
So now that I’ve read the book and am starting to implement a few of the ideas for the profile, I am seeing the network grow and seeing more people finding me. I get responses and e-mails to responses on questions posted at discussions, for instance.
In a sense, the book is too good. It has so much usable ideas in it geared directly toward improving your LinkedIn profile that it can be overwhelming. That was my first sense while reading the book. My second sense is that the amount of things I can do and people I can connect with just by making a knockout LinkedIn profile is amazing.
When you read the book, use it. Go over your profile with a fine-tooth comb and make the adjustments and revisions in your profile that Mike and Lori suggest. See what happens. My guess is you’ll start to see how LinkedIn can powerfully impact your online networking, whether for new business leads, job leads, or other networking connections.
Now that the first quarter of 2010 is officially in the books, I was curious how the viewership on this blog went. And since I can sometimes be a stats geek, I thought I’d post a few numbers.
With Google Analytics and a WordPress stats plug-in, I can access just about anything I want. But all I want to share is an insight (not a big one) that if a post link gets re-tweeted a few times, it’ll end up in my ‘top views.’
For starters, the two most re-tweeted posts came in as the most viewed (as you might expect):
23 Pre-Show Marketing Promotions, Tactics and Ideas and Twittering at #ExpoWest. They were each viewed around 100 times in the past three months. Maybe not much if you’re Google, but for a li’l ol’ niche-oriented B2B blog, I’m pretty happy with those numbers (the three listing above the two most-viewed posts are pages, not posts).
In the past seven days, two other highly re-tweeted posts have been moving up the viewership list:
27 Un-Boring Things to do At Your Next Tradeshow and How to Find the Right Tradeshow for Your Company. Both were posted this week and thanks to the Twitterverse re-tweeting them a number of times, the readership climbed quickly. I suspect the ‘list’ approach for the ’27’ post had a lot to do with getting the re-tweets; that the the subject of ‘un-boring’…both of which serve to create interest and draw listeners, both done by design.
If you’re a blogger, you should be using these tools to drive traffic. After all, if you write a post, you want people to read it, don’t you?
One thing I do is use HootSuite.com so that I can schedule tweets ahead of time; this gives me a chance to post the link 6 – 8 times. Each time it picks up another tweeter who re-tweets it, sending more readers to the post.
I think there is a limit to scheduling tweets though, and I’m not sure where to draw the line. I’ve seen people post links and have them scheduled to go out hourly for several days. Yeah, spammy, I know. But with what I feel is a good post I would like to maximize readership. And the great thing about Twitter is that your community will tell you what’s good – what hits their buttons – and what is not.
One more item: back in February I did an online webinar on ‘Using Social Media to Close More Biz at Tradeshows’ and used nothing but social media and e-mail to drive traffic to the sign-up page. When all was said and done I had a lot of support from the tradeshow community (see screenshot of a handful of re-tweets below), and over the nearly three weeks leading up to the webinar it was interesting to see the numbers:
880 click-throughs to the sign-up page
125 sign-ups for the free webinar
58 attendees
Given that my budget was literally zero – just an investment of time and the ability to use the social media tools – I was more than pleased with the outcome.
If I wanted to use traditional media to drive traffic (direct mail, postcards, radio, print, etc.) it would have been a huge undertaking and would have taken months to get everthing set up and implemented. And it would have cost thousands of dollars. With social media all it took was a YouTube and Twitter account, a Facebook page and the ability to create video promos and write posts about it….and the time to make it happen.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m sold on social media for its cost-effectiveness and ability to spread useful information to a lot of interested people quickly. And get them to take action.
If you’re new to tradeshow marketing, how do you find a tradeshow that’s appropriate for your company? After all, you don’t want to invest a wheelbarrow full of cash and find out that your target market doesn’t come to the show.
Not that you’d do that…but you’d be surprised what decisions are made in the world of business based on hearsay or minimal information.
Best bet is to ask a lot of questions.
Start with your clients. Find out what shows they attend. Then go online and check your competitors. Most businesses these days have an ‘event’ section in their website which usually lists the tradeshows they exhibit at. Also check also with manufacturers and distributors in your industry.
Next, search online. One good resource I have always steered people to is tsnn.com (‘The Ultimate Event Resource). You can search shows by state, country, industry and date. Go to the show’s website and review the information with an eye to determining if this is a show that your target market is likely to attend.
The next thing to ask yourself is: ‘what is my objective for this show?’ Your goal of launching a product may indicate a different show than your goal of creating a great media buzz for your company. Determine your
Once you’ve compiled a list, target the top 2 – 3 shows and make plans to visit them as an attendee in the coming year. By attending before you invest in exhibiting, you’ll get a good feel for which show(s) make the most sense for you. Besides, attending a show as a guest is a lot cheaper way to find out if it’s the right show than to show up with a booth, your staff and thousands of dollars of product – and wonder why your target market isn’t there.
Bored at the tradeshow? Here’s a list of things to do that will lively up your experience!
I remember in my early days in radio a record promoter once told me that she loved my enthusiasm and willingness to drive 50 miles to see an unknown band that she was promoting. “So many of the other music directors I talk to are getting jaded…”
Whether you’re an exhibit or an attendee and you’ve been doing it for a long time, you might ask yourself: Am I Getting JADED?
Next time you’re at a tradeshow, take this list with you. Maybe by doing a few of these things it’ll help break you out of a rut (okay…some of these will take a little more preparation and execution before the show…but use ’em as inspirational thought-starters if nothing else).
Before leaving your office spend some time on Twitter compiling a list of people at the show that are Tweeters. Make a list of who they are and what booth they’re at. Stop by the booth and tell them you found ‘em on Twitter.
Draw attention to yourself and your company. If appropriate, wear a goofy hat, a pair of Mickey Mouse ears, Homer Simpson slippers. Anything unusual is a conversation starter.
Pick up literature from as many booths as possible. Read it that night in your hotel. Make notes about questions you’d like to ask. Go back to the booth and ask.
Take a Flip video camera and ask visitors to explain why they stopped by your booth. Or take it around the floor on your break and get a few comments from other exhibitors about the show and what their experience is at the show.
Take a camera. Take lots of photos. If you see a cool booth, ask permission for a photo first. If you connect with someone via Facebook or Twitter, be sure to take their photo and post it online.
Bring chocolates and instead of putting them in a bowl at your booth, hand them out as you go from booth to booth to other exhibitors. Tape your business card onto the chocolates.
Buy a half-dozen thumb drives and put your company information – brochures, current press releases, catalogs, website, etc. – on it and have it ready to hand out to a few well-qualified media contacts or potential clients.
Sit down with a professional radio person (!), have them interview you about your company. Create an audio CD with a nice label and title such as “All You Ever Wanted to Know About XYZ Company” or “The Inner Secrets of the XYZ Company Widget” and make a couple of dozen copies. Put a label on them that says “limited edition” and make sure that you qualify anyone you give them to.
If you typically don’t go to seminars, pick at least two and go to them. If you typically attend seminars, find one with an unusual title that you might not attend and go to it.
Make a note immediately on any business card you collect from a person (not a card you just picked up from a table). Write down a pertinent part of the conversation, a future follow-up or an item that will make you remember them. By the time you get back to your hotel, you’ll have forgotten what they even look like.
Are you typically a bit shy? Break that habit. Talk to people in buffet lines, restaurants, elevators. Come up with a few questions you can ask to break the ice. Have fun: these people don’t know you’re shy!
If you typically spend the day working the booth and greeting visitors, arrange your schedule so you get at least an hour or two to walk the show floor and schmooze with other exhibitors, especially those that might be potential partners and those that you would consider competitors.
Talk to a show organizer and ask her how this show compares to previous years…or find some other topic of conversation.
Bring three times as many business cards as you think you might need.
Go to the city’s visitor center and see what kinds of fun things you can do in your off-hours.
See how many booths you can walk by before a booth staffer invites you in.
Look up old friends in the event city using Facebook or Twitter and connect with them.
Smile at everyone. Even if they aren’t smiling at you.
Have a contest with fellow staffers to see if you can get visitors to say the magic word of the day. Those of us old enough might even remember this came from Groucho Marx’s ‘You Bet Your Life.’
Take notes about how much food costs. Hot dog and coke – $14!? Compare notes with fellow staffers. Boo and hiss the high prices.
Ask other exhibitors what they paid for drayage and shipping. Compare notes.
See if you can set up your booth before your neighbor.
Go a whole day without eating restaurant food by taking food snacks such as energy bars, fruit, trail mix, etc.
Bring a small white board. Write a Haiku poem about your company or product on it. Invite your visitors to add their Haiku.
Practice Extreme Customer Service. As if you were a Disney employee.
If the speaker at your seminar or breakout session is boring, create a game where you write down every word he says that begins with the letter M. Or T. Or draw a cartoon of the speaker. Post it on Twitter.
Ask other visitors what they do for fun. Take notes and incorporate their ideas into yours.
What ideas do you have to break those long days into more fun? Share!
