Archive for September 2009

One light if by land…Two if by Tradeshow?

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

Listening to our leaders we can conclude the recession is over.  I’m guessing that news came as a surprise to you and your business, but is now the right time to start exhibiting again?  Considering I am a trade show marketing consultant, my answer will surprise you!

signal-lights

While trade-shows are one of the very best ways to capture more leads, if your consumer is not spending, then neither should you.  If your sales are starting to trend up, then YES, by all means get of to the shows and capture new business before your competition does.  However, lets examine a few different ways to generate new business.

Social media can be a powerful lead generator, but it does require a large chunk of upfront time—getting your profiles built and your name inserted into the discussion.  The most powerful part of social media is the price, most all sites are FREE.

Add a business blog to your company website.  Business Blogging is a top of mind marketing strategy.  Later, when you do start exhibiting again, your blog can serve as a communication medium between you and the show attendees—giving your company brand name more exposure.

Don’t forget the tried and true methods!  Take an existing customer out to lunch.  Stay inquisitive in the eyes of your customer.  Seek ways to continuously help them grow their business.

Send out holiday cards.  Christmas is obvious, but what about Arbor Day?  Your customer receives cards every Thanksgiving and Christmas so your card may not be standing out enough.  Send a card for Labor Day, Memorial Day, Boxing Day, or any holiday that will help make you stand out as a friend.  Remember, people do business with people they know and like.

Good Luck and please remember Zenith Exhibits is your affordable marketing solution provider for both tradeshow and internet marketing.

Ed Bejarana

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Categories : News

Daily Tradeshow Tips: Exhibiting on a Small Budget – Tip #5

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

No matter how small your marketing budget, your business can afford to have a successful presence at trade shows without incurring big expenses.

Purchase used trade show displays rather than springing for new ones. Many pre-owned booths and exhibits are in excellent condition and can be bought for less than half the cost of a brand new one. If you decide to buy previously owned exhibit components, be open-minded and keep your display needs in mind. Visualize how each used exhibit might perform for you.

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Categories : News

Daily Tradeshow Tips: Exhibiting on a Small Budget – Tip #4

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

No matter how small your marketing budget, your business can afford to have a successful presence at trade shows without incurring big expenses.

Make over your current displays instead of buying new ones. Creating a new exhibit by giving your existing trade show booth displays a fresh face costs a fraction of the price of purchasing all new booth components. Consider each element of your booth separately, and brainstorm ways to update it without completely replacing it.

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Categories : Tips & Tricks

No matter how small your marketing budget, your business can afford to have a successful presence at trade shows without incurring big expenses.

Share a trade show booth and expenses with a related but non-competing business in your niche. This cost-cutting solution works especially well for one-person businesses. Besides saving money, additional benefits to a booth-sharing arrangement include access to each other’s customers in the same market niche, and the convenience of having a knowledgeable person manning the booth when you need to take a break.

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Categories : Tips & Tricks

Using Social Media with Trade Show Exhibiting

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Twitter is the perfect communication tool for trade show exhibiting because:

  1. Messages are short.
  2. Communication can happen on your cell phone

The above statement is obvious, but the first, and best question is; HOW do you use Twitter in conjunction with your trade show exhibit?

In a recent article published by Tom Humbarger, “Best Practices for Corporate Twittering” on SocialMediaToday.com–he outlines how to tweet from a corporate stand point.  We need only expand a little in the tweeting details and back channel support to take this strategy to the trade show floor.

The are three distinct tweet times for your trade show exhibiting, pre-show, during show and post-show messaging.

Pre-show Tweets

Show focus on what show are you exhibiting in, what changes (if any) you’ve made to your booth, info on the staff you are sending to the show and some of the reasons you choose to exhibit at that particular show.

In essence, the goal of pre-show tweeting is to build a personal connection between you and the trade show attendee.  Since people attend trade shows for a particular reason, building a connection that is personal yet leaves the reader inquisitive–wanting more info–will help create a lasting memory.

During show Tweets

Write tweets from the perspective of the staff exhibitor in the booth.  What are you seeing, hearing and doing.  If you held back some info on your exhibit, now is the time to share.  If you have something special in your booth, tweet the world.

Show attendees will more than likely NOT be reading their tweets on their phone too much.  Our goal is to build more search engine connections to your business name and the trade show you are exhibiting in.  This linking strategy will pay off during the post-show tweet and search process.

Post-Show Tweets

What were the most memorable moments at the show?  Do not spend this time just talking about you, your company and/or products/services.  Connect with those readers who were also at the show by highlighting something special that happened at the show that ONLY show attendees would know.

The goal is to connect the your twitter profiles with your industry rumor mill.  People search Google for post show information.  Make sure your tweets show up by being the post-show reporter.

None of the above works without a company blog site that also contains more information about your show experience.  Using your twitter account and business blog site can help you make more brand/name impressions on your target audience and will increase your show ROI.

Ed Bejarana
Zenith Exhibits, Inc.

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Categories : Tips & Tricks

No matter how small your marketing budget, your business can afford to have a successful presence at trade shows without incurring big expenses.

Rent a temporary space at a wholesale gift mart or showroom. You can plunge into wholesale shows inexpensively and without being present by renting a temporary space in a wholesale gift mart or showroom. For a monthly fee, you can display your products there for direct sales to retail shop owners. This is a good way not only to break into wholesaling on a small budget, but also to test new products.

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Categories : Tips & Tricks