Lean Exhibiting

Which is worse, being unethical or stupid? And on another note -- an important message for MAGIC.

(Yes, it's been quite a awhile since I posted to Lean Exhibiting. I've been posting my Ramblings on my other blog, TwoHat Marketing. Marketing is marketing, whether you focus on everyday stuff, or a trade show. Check it out.)

Google Alerts is a terrific research tool for keeping abreast of what the e-world is doing and saying about a particular topic. I use it to monitor what's being said about marketing, strategy. and the trade show industry. It's easy and free. You enter a search phrase and Alerts does the rest. In addition to searching through news outlets, press releases, videos, and group discussions, it also monitors the blogosphere.

Most of the time, the information has no use to me. Occasionally I get some good nuggets. Too often I receive links to both bad and just plain unethical advice. Let me give you an example of each I've seen in the last week alone.

First, bad advice:

The Fishbowl -- A Great Trade Show Traffic-Builder!

"Take a fishbowl to a trade show to catch more leads than ever before!

What's the catch?  The Giveaway!

One proven way to attract distracted attendees at a trade show who are zooming by your booth is to run a "Win a Free (Hot Item Here!)" contest.

It's simple. Just make a big poster telling people they can win a new Plasma TV, Set of Golf Clubs -- whatever you think is the best bait -- and all they have to do to have a chance to win is drop their business card off...in the fishbowl.

Depending on your prize budget and the size of the show, you can get hundreds of potential now leads that otherwise would have passed you by.

You often need to get approval from the trade show management, so be sure to ask in advance.

So give it try at your next show.  You could reel in some real big fish!"

This was written by a Director of Marketing of an industry publication who apparently doesn't know the difference between a qualified lead and a business card thrown in a fishbowl. This simply perpetuates the old myth of confusing Busyness with Effectiveness. I often tell audiences about the exhibitor who said to me, "I gave out 5,000 brochures, I must have had a successful show!"

The second example is just plain unethical advice:

Sales Technique: Be a Trade Show Attendee not a Booth Owner

"You can find your very best prospects at trade shows if you know how to take advantage of the opportunity. Rather than spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars renting a space at the event you can reap the benefits without having to rent a booth. The problem with renting a booth is that you are trapped in your booth unable to roam the event and mingle with the other vendors. As you begin to investigate trade shows you'll find that most are annual events making it easy for you to plan a year in advance. This gives you you plenty of time to plan your sales strategy for using this sales coaching tip. In most cases the event will be held at a hotel or a convention center connected to a hotel. That's great for you because you can rent a meeting room during the event and use a pre-event direct mail campaign to invite prospects to visit you and get a special valuable gift. You could even host a private cocktail hour at the end of the day just for your best prospects.

You can walk the trade show making sure you meet as many potential prospects as possible, and then always have something of value to offer them to make a connection. Whatever your plan, make sure you have your entire marketing and sales strategy mapped out for the event far enough in advance to have everything prepared for the big event. That way you can get the most value from this sales technique in terms of real leads with real potential..."

If this type of advice from an "expert" doesn't piss you off, you just don't care that much about the industry. Yet I see articles like this all the time from Alerts.

For those of you reading this who don't understand why this is unethical, let me put it to you this way. Imagine putting on a private event in your city where you pay for all the advertising; you pay for the promotional materials; you sign the room block agreements with the local hotels; you arrange the transportation; you arrange the educational sessions; you take all the financial risk; and you create all the buzz. Then some low-life comes along who pays no money for the privilege of being around your event; arranges for a suite off-site; sends invitations to people to leave your event; walks your event inviting people to leave your event; and rides your coattails. In the industry that's called suitcasing and it is UNETHICAL.

The reason I'm ranting about this is nobody else is watching the Internet, particularly the blogosphere, and trying to stop this stuff. Why doesn't the IAEEEEE (I can never remember how many E's it's supposed to have) or TSEA (are they still around?) have a watchdog or advocate who's fighting this stuff (especially the unethical crap). And, okay, I admit I'm being unnecessarily mean to IAEE and TSEA, but frankly, this stuff is putting me in a bad mood.

...and speaking of Bad Advice

...in yet another Google Alert I came across the following posting on Dobizo.com's blog:

Magic Trade Show is Considering Shortening Show Cycle to Three Days

"I wonder if this will lower the price on booths and admission so exhibitors can get more bang for their buck? If not than I really see nothing to get excited about.

Fred Stollmack, president of Weatherproof Garment Co is pressing MAGIC International to decrease the number of days in the Las Vegas apparel trade show from 4 to 3 and if they keep at it MAGIC just might make that change, being that they’re already considering it.

Vice president of MAGIC Christopher McCabe says there will be questioning in the form of feedback from multiple vendors and manufacturers before any concrete decision is made, because pleasing the majority is the solution."

Aaaack! Don't do it, Chris! Don't listen to them!

Look, those of us in the trade show industry know and understand there will ALWAYS be a last day of a show (wait a minute, now I sound stupid). And that last day will ALWAYS have a lot less traffic than previous days. It doesn't matter how many days you have, there's always a last day.

Very few events get over this, but cutting the number of days isn't the answer. In fact, cutting a major event, like MAGIC, to three days could be the move that kills the show altogether. I once consulted for a national event that was four days. Exhibitors demanded the show drop to three, which they did despite my protests. A couple of years later, exhibitors said the last day was still bad and they cut it to two. Guess what? That event doesn't exist anymore. I also consulted for a European trade fair that was seven days. When I asked why, they responded, "because we want a six day event."

An interesting sidebar to this discussion... in focus groups at several different events, attendees have told me they don't come to the last day BECAUSE TOP MANAGEMENT FOR EXHIBITORS ISN'T THERE EITHER.

Exhibitors don't like the last day because attendees aren't there...attendees aren't there because the exhibitor personnel they want to talk with aren't there...a vicious circle.

But cutting MAGIC from four days to three because the majority of exhibitors want to is a huge mistake, IMHO. Exhibitors ALWAYS want the show shorter. The problem is, exhibitors don't always understand the ramifications of such a move.

Selling Shows vs. Non-Selling Shows

I've been to a couple of events in the last two weeks and heard several similar comments at both.

"This isn't a selling show anymore."
"We're just not writing orders at this show anymore."
"Since it's not a selling show anymore, we're just focusing on image."

Let's settle this argument once and for all. There is no such thing as a "selling show," there's no such thing as an "image show," and there's no such thing as a "marketing show."

Those are blanket statements that assume (and we all know what "ass-u-me" means") every exhibitor is the same. They're not. Far from it.

At the same event, you can have a myriad of clear, measurable, and relevant objectives. For some exhibitors it could be an order-writing show. For some it could be a pure get-them-on-the-conveyor-belt, marketing show. For some it could be for research or meeting with financial analysts. For others it could be an important new product introduction (think iPhone).

I believe the purpose of business is to create and maintain long-term customer relationships. The important thing is to look at an event as a singular, unique way of following that purpose:

Do you have high market penetration already and satisfied customers? Well, satisfied customers leave all the time. Use your industry's event to showcase why their decision to buy from you was the best decision by blowing the competition away.

Are you new to a market, or still have a lot of growth ahead? Use the show to generate high quality leads for meetings after.

Do you have a product line that's conducive to writing orders. The, by all means go for it. But if your targets don't agree with your assessment, then maybe you need to be flexible in your objective.

Is the upcoming show a selling show, or a marketing show, or a brand-building show?

The answer is YES.

The Purpose of Your Exhibit

What's the #1 purpose of your exhibit? It's to get the right people to

If the right people don't stop, nothing else happens.

Big, Fat, Ugly, Sacred Cows of Trade Show Marketing #1

What is it with trade show participants? Why does someone who has exhibited at ONE trade show, or has designed a couple of ten-foot exhibits feel that he/she now is an EXPERT at trade show marketing?

Here's my beef. Marketing, in and of itself, is a complicated combination of art and science. It is really hard to do good, let alone great, marketing. Heck, some of the best minds in the business have a hard enough time just defining marketing and its role in customer creation and maintenance. Seth Godin posted this in his blog this week:

Notable

I got a note from a friend about a co-worker that brilliantly summed up the chasm facing marketers today:

I believe she is good at the standard but limited in considering the notable.

Frankly, it's hard to be notable. Marketing's scope is so broad, most experts specialize in a subcategory - ex: direct marketing, on-line marketing, marketing with AdSense, trade advertising, telemarketing, postcard marketing, PR, and yes, blog marketing. Every one of these is a viable tool when used correctly.

Trade show marketing, on the other hand, is more complicated (not to say any marketing subcategory is easy!). The truth is, if you do trade show marketing correctly, you will most likely use several different subcategories in your plan. You might use personal letters. You might use postcards, voicemail, and faxes (a great tool BTW). You might use podcasting or newsletters.

But in addition to doing all that, you also design your booth, ship everything, set up travel & hotel, register for show badges, hire labor, move-in/move-out, produce a cocktail party,  compile a database of prospects... and on and on. When done correctly, trade shows are hard work! Believe you me, learning how to do trade shows effectively and profitably doesn't happen overnight.

The point of my rant has to do with all the same-old bad "how-to-do-its" getting posted and printed from these so-called "experts." Unfortunately, many of these tips have been bandied about for so long, they've become accepted as standard. I think it's time somebody started shooting down these big, fat, ugly sacred cows of the trade show world. And I guess that somebody would be me.

So let's talk about one sacred cow as it was posted in a recent article. I won't identify the author because I don't want this to turn into name-calling or anything personal. I could pick out any number of articles with the same message. I'm just shooting cows. The particular cow I'm aiming at today is:

Give freebies. Give people a reason to come by your booth. Most businesses give away pens, magnets, key chains, and other small items decorated with the company logo and phone number. Go a step further—bring food (even if your business isn’t food-related), give gift certificates and coupons, hold raffles for a valuable product or service you offer, give demonstrations, or bring a PowerPoint presentation.

Give freebies. Give away pens, magnets, etc.. Bring food. Give gift certificates.

These are what's known as "traffic builders." That's all they are - traffic builders. Now if you define success as "lots and lots of bodies in my booth," then by all means give away stuff that packs 'em in.

But is it Marketing and is it notable? My definition of marketing is delivering the exact right product to the exact right target market using the exact right media at the exact right time.

Using traffic builders, as espoused by so many industry "experts," is very different from attracting the exact right targets to my booth. Using freebies and food will most certainly bring in traffic, but equating "traffic in my booth" with "prospects" is simply wrong. The term for all that traffic is "suspects," not prospects. We suspect there might be prospects in that pile of traffic.

And there's the rub. It can be argued that prospects are somewhere in that pile. But so what? How do we cull them out? Do we have enough staffers in our booth to talk with every single person attracted by the freebies and food... have a long enough discussion to determine if they're qualified or not... reject those who aren't... and only spend quality time with quality prospects? Do we have the ability to scan hundreds of suspects and then follow-up after the show and THEN cull out the prospects? Most exhibitors (and I do mean MOST) have neither the time nor manpower.

I, for one, am only interested in attracting the exact right target market to my booth from the beginning. Giveaways and food attract everybody - other exhibitors, non-qualified attendees, spouses, students, union workers, bus drivers, temps on break... anybody who can fog a mirror. I am not interested in everybody. I am only interested in the exact right targets coming into my booth.

This means my booth design, layout, signage, graphics, pre-show communications, advertising, and promotions are designed to only talk to those who fit the profile of my exact right target market. By focusing on these people my booth isn't packed with traffic (synonym for "everybody"). This then gives my staffers the ability to have more quality conversations instead of spending valuable time giving away stuff.

Yes, my way is harder. Giving away stuff and attracting lots of traffic gives the appearance of success, and it's also a lot easier. That's why it's the standard. But if you want the biggest bang for your trade show marketing dollar, you don't take the easy way out. And don't you want to be notable?

(Oh, BTW, you might also notice that an awful lot of those articles encouraging freebies and food are written by people who SELL freebies and food.)

Notable

I got a note from a friend about a co-worker that brilliantly summed up the chasm facing marketers today:

I believe she is good at the standard but limited in considering the notable.

The Right & Wrong Ways to Approach CES

Today's Seattle Times features an article about the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show opening today in Las Vegas. It also prominently features comments from yours truly about CES and how exhibitors should approach it.

If you're not familiar with CES, there are several ways to view it. It's gargantuan. 2700 exhibiting companies. 140,000+ attendees. Over 1.2 million net square feet. Be sure to wear your Nike's.

It's a techie's dream. The newest and coolest consumer electronics - camcorders, flat screen TVs, wireless, cellphones, you name it. 

And it's an exhibitor's nirvana or hell, depending on your perspective. Getting the attention and time of your best targets is the dilemma of every exhibitor.

Ben Romano interviewed me for the story. He also features four other local companies - Microsoft, Microvision, Lagotek, and AudioControl. Each company has a unique approach to the show.

Microsoft has a massive presence with a 16,000 nsf booth and 150 demo stations staffed by 450 eager(?) people. I think they'll finally get noticed.

Microvision is pulling a trade show industry No-No by doing what's called "outboarding" the event. This is when a company sets up shop in a nearby hotel suite and doesn't buy space in the exhibit hall. Essentially they're riding the coattails of all the other companies and CES who have invested enormous amounts of money attracting buyers to Vegas. As you can guess, I'm not a fan of such actions.

Lagotek gets the advantage of actually being inside the Microsoft booth as a partner, so I expect they'll do well.

The kudos goes to AudioControl. Recognizing they don't have the clout of a Microsoft, their plan for CES is pragmatic and realistic:

Scott Horman, brand communications manager with AudioControl of Mountlake Terrace, said the small crew going from his company will try to avoid the distractions of Vegas.

"We're not the partiers," he said. "We're not going to go out all the night before and show up the next morning expecting to be at our best. We're there to work."

AudioControl, which makes home and car audio equipment, designed its 20- by 30-foot booth not to attract the CES masses but to best display its products to a select group of high-quality audio dealers.

Ahead of the show, the company contacted about 120 dealers and invited them into the booth, Horman said.

I say good for you and your team, Scott. You understand this is work and you understand you can't talk to everybody. By designing the booth to attract only their target market and focusing preshow efforts on a manageable 120 people, I'll bet they have a great show.

Brand Awareness vs Brand Insistence

What is with this broken record, "We're here to build awareness," crap I keep hearing from exhibitors (usually the big ones) at trade shows?

I personally think this is a copout, as it's simply saying, "We have no idea how to connect the dots between our trade show participation and real, meaningful results."

Build awareness? What does that get you? I've personally never heard of any company cashing a check on awareness. Are you aware of American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Southwest Airlines? Bet you are. Do you fly them all? Bet you don't. What about Ford, GM, Chrysler, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, and Rolls-Royce? Bet you've heard of all of them, too. Examples abound.

There's a huge difference between brand awareness and brand insistence. Brand awareness only means they know about you. Brand insistence means they will consciously choose you when the need arises. I have a mantra, "The PURPOSE of marketing is to be on the mind of the prospect when the prospect is ready to buy." When that lightning bolt comes down from the sky, hits your prospect on the head, and they realize they need something, do they think of you first? Do they think of you second? Do they think of you at all? Brand awareness means you might be on the list. Brand insistence means you're the ONLY one on the list.

Creating awareness at a trade show is actually pretty easy. Build a huge exhibit! Make it loud! Have lots of flashing lights! Give away 20,000 logoed tee shirts! Serve food!  I guarantee your booth will be crowded and after the show you can say, "We built awareness!" And six months later, when I ask what results you got from the show, you can say again, "We built awareness!"

Customers just need to get things done. When people find themselves needing to get a job done, they essentially hire a product or a service to do that job for them. If you've convinced them ahead of time your products/services will do that job, they'll buy from you. That's brand insistence.

A trade show is a marketing tool, pure and simple. Connecting the dots between exhibiting and results is not rocket science. How can you use an upcoming event to attract the exact right targeted prospects into your booth and convince them that you can do a specific job for them?

If you do that, then when that lightning bolt strikes, they'll insist on your brand. The dots will connect themselves.

The Size of the Show Matters Less Than the Value

If I were to guarantee you a 20% return on any money you invest with me, how much would you give me?

The answer is -- ALL OF IT. You'd give me all your money. You'd probably even go borrow money, because you'd still end up making money. Would you give me some time, maybe a few months, to get that return? Yes, of course you would.

My point is simple and it goes against the grain of probably 99% of exhibitors' expectations from trade shows: This is how you should look at any marketing tool you use, especially trade shows.

If you invest $10,000 exhibiting at a trade show, how much would be a good return? 20% 50% 100% 1000%? Let's say you expect a 100% return on your $10,000 investment. Does it matter whether you get that $20,000 from one new customer or $200 each from 100 new customers? The answer is NO, it does not matter. Would you wait a few months to get a 100% return on any money invested? YES, of course you would.

A trade show is a marketing tool, pure and simple. I could care less if the aisles are packed with anybody who can fog a mirror. As long as I understand there is a potential value of $20,000 by exhibiting at that show, then I'm there. As long as I recognize this is an investment that will provide a more than decent return in a more than decent time frame, then I'm there.

The next time you exhibit, stop sounding like the typical broken record, "How many warm bodies will be filling the aisles?" Instead, ask yourself what would be a fair and decent return on your investment of time and money? Then develop an exhibit marketing strategy that will help you achieve that.

And if you could achieve that goal with a handful of new customers or maybe only ONE new customer, you'd be happy with that, right? Yes, of course you would.

Another Exhibitor Who Did It Right

Bob Erdmann is a publishing consultant who handles the foreign rights to most of my books. Each year he has a stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair and he is an exhibitor who does it right. Here is his report following the recent fair:

"Although some have lamented that attendance at the Fair was down, aisles were empty and told other tales of woe, from our vantage point we were completely swamped each day, each hour.  We didn’t have time to complain because we were busy with our prescheduled appointments meeting with foreign publishers and agents in our booth every minute of each day.  We never have to rely on “walk up” traffic so attendance numbers aren’t really issue to us. If attendance was down we certainly offset that alleged problem with our pre-planning efforts.  Prior to the Fair we asked that the foreign publishers and agents with whom we had appointments “do their homework” before our meetings.  They did and came prepared to discuss specific titles with us.  We met with publishers and agents from The Netherlands, Taiwan, Spain, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Romania, India, Israel, Japan, Slovenia, China, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, Turkey, Thailand, Brazil, England, Belarus, Estonia, Denmark, Slovakia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Ukraine, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, France, Singapore, Serbia, and others."

What can we learn from Bob's experience?

• Crowded aisles were irrelevant. As with many events where exhibitors rate the value of a show by bodies in the aisle, Bob knew there would be more than enough good prospects. This is true with a lot of today's events.
• Bob took 100% responsibility for his results by setting up appointments ahead of time. As he says, "We never had to rely on 'walk up' traffic."
• He asked the publishers to 'do their homework' before meeting! How amazing is that? And very, very smart.

And finally, the biggest lesson is -- despite what the "trade shows are dead" naysayers think, exhibitions are alive and well.

I'm Still Waiting

Back in July, I attended the annual National Speakers Association annual convention in Orlando. Can you imagine? 2000 professional speakers and no listeners.

They do have a small trade show (less than 100 exhibitors) -- printers, presentation software and hardware, photographers, and others.

A couple of weeks before the convention I received a preshow mailer from one company promoting long-term care insurance. This was something I was interested in, so I made sure to stop by their booth.

I expressed strong interest in getting this insurance as an additional way to help protect my family from incurring a suffocating financial burden should I require long-term care. They were delighted to talk and after providing me with a computerized proposal, I asked them to follow-up immediately after the convention.

OK, so let's look at what we have here:

• I'm clearly a qualified prospect
• I asked for the information
• I have the ability to pay for this
• I expressed an urgency to my interest
• I asked they follow-up right away

The convention ended on July 25 (10 weeks ago today).

I'm still waiting for them to follow-up.

Keep Expectations Realistic

I'm always amazed at how so many exhibitors today are stuck in the past. Twenty years ago they may have used trade shows as strictly selling opportunities. They'd go to the big annual industry event with a pile of order forms and spend every show hour writing business.

Today they go to the same trade shows and have the exact same expectations. But when they don't get the same big orders they used to, they loudly complain. The problem with that expectation is it isn't realistic anymore because of two huge paradigm shifts.

Shift #1 -- The Explosion of Sales & Marketing Tools
Twenty years ago our marketing tools pretty much consisted of the telephone, the Post Office, and direct sales. Fax machines were just getting started as hot, new tools. Marc Andreeson was still in high school -- seven years away from producing the Mosaic browser for the  World Wide Web. Email? What's that? And cell phones were still bigger and heavier than bricks.

Trade shows were the best game in town -- the Efficient Marketplace. They were the best and most cost-efficient place for an whole industry to get together, introduce new products, and write orders! Those were the good old days. Today we're swimming in sales and marketing tools. Care to make a list?

Shift #2 -- The Shift of Information Power
Twenty years ago, customers didn't have access to information like they do today. They had to rely on the manufacturers for sharing information. Trade shows allowed them the one true competitive comparison opportunity. But because trade shows were temporary, they had to make decisions on the spot. Today they can research, compare, and analyze products and services on a daily basis. They don't have the sense of urgency to make a buying decision like they used to.

None of this means trade shows are bad marketing tools. Far from it. All it means is they are now a different tool. Buyers still come to trade shows to see what's new, for the competitive comparison opportunity, and to hang with the gang. The difference is now they're looking to Collect information, not make an immediate buying decision. They're looking to study the People in your company to decide whether they want to do business with you. And they're looking to see if your company gives a crap about them, too.

The purpose of business is to create and maintain long-term customer relationships. Whether the attendee buys from you today, or next week, or next month, or next year is not relevant. What's relevant is whether you used the trade show to get them on the relationship-building conveyor belt so they would eventually buy from you next week, or next month, or next year.

That's what your expectations should be.