Article Written By Mike Thimmesch.
While trade shows have been around for hundreds of years, what worked back then, or even back not-so-long-ago, doesn’t necessarily work now.
Fortunately, your peers have been busy experimenting with every aspect of their trade shows, and have found many new ways to improve their exhibit marketing. Then, they shared their secrets with us, in the newly published, second version of our very popular white paper, What’s Working in Exhibiting.
From the new report, here are 8 trending tactics exhibitors are doing more that you can use to drive improvements in your program:
- Selecting Shows: More exhibitors are focusing on smaller, regional shows, exhibiting at their own events, and going international.
- Booth Staffing: Exhibitors are going beyond salespeople for booth staffing, expanding their use of senior management, marketing, engineering, and customer service employees.
- Lead Management: Greater use of technology to take leads, including using the show’s lead retrieval app on hand-held digital devices, and entering leads directly into the exhibitor’s own CRM via the internet.
- Exhibit Design: Exhibits are simpler with more emphasis on branding and greater integration of technology for greater impact and interactivity, and a continued shift towards lighter weight and more flexible exhibits.
- Promotions: While most exhibitors still favour giveaways, more are offering education, in-booth experts, or focusing on attracting a narrow, high-value audience.
- Technology and Social Media: No surprise – there is an increasing use of technology to interact with and present to attendees, and use of social media before, during and after the show to boost attendance.
- Budgeting: While exhibitors grew their budgets 9% on average in 2014, those that trim their budgets focus on selecting shows, lighter weight displays, and savings on booth staff costs.
- Measurement: Exhibitors have a much greater emphasis on measuring and reporting results on leads, stronger relationships, awareness, sales, ROI, and meetings held.
This is just a sample of the key insights and information that is available in the new What’s Working in Exhibiting White Paper. Request your free hard copy.
About the Author: Mike Thimmesch is Skyline Exhibits’ former Director of Customer Engagement, with over 25 years of Marketing and Trade Show Display Marketing experience.
