Tradeshow Preparation

First step:  Pick the right show where our target customer is going to be.  We compare demographic data for show attendees to our business marketing strategy.

Second step:  Fine-tune our message to stop traffic.  In a crowded exhibit hall we need a traffic stopping message that attracts qualified leads and encourages them to engage with our booth staff.

Third step:  Plan a lead capture and sales systems.  Getting the target customer to the message is not the goal, encouraging the qualified lead to take action is.  However, once they do take action, you must have a plan for tracking and processing the leads—maximizing sales.

Forth step:  Follow-up with the lead.  90% of leads captured at tradeshows go un-called.  Do not rely on technology, use a personal approach, call them.

Website Preparation

First step:  Pick the right keywords used by your target customer to find solutions you offer.

Second step:  Craft your website message to put the target customer’s need first.  Answer their question,  provide the details for how your service works and how your business works with customers.

Third step:  Plan a lead capture and sales systems.  Service based businesses should not try to sell online, they should move the qualified lead to the next step—a phone call or personal visit.  Web capture forms help especially when coupled with a downloadable report or action document.

Forth step:  Follow-up with the lead.  Do not let web forms go unanswered.

Want to learn more?  Call us to schedule a free consultation or complete the web form below to have us contact you.

On June 28, 2012, 7:15-8:30am, Ed Bejarana will be the featured presenter at the BRIDGES Clackamas Business Networking meeting at the Monarch Hotel and Conference Center.  The topic of the June 28^th presentation is “How to Use Pinterest to Help Attract New Customers”.

In addition to the free Pinterest training, Ed will donate a custom built website for one random attendee, but with one caveat—there needs to be 40 people in attendance.

Ed Bejarana, one of the founders of the BRIDGES Networking organization, said, “I felt compelled to give back to the organization that has helped my business grow so quickly.  The key to a successful business networking group is shared recruiting to the group.  Offering a free website gives the members of BRIDGES a good tool to attract new people to check out BRIDGES.”

BRIDGES stands for “Building Relationships Involving Development, Growth, Expansion and Support”.  The club was started more than three and a half years ago by a group of local businessmen and women to help fill an obvious void in the market place.. that being a group that was based purely on growing long-lasting relationships.

Ed was a professor in the Engineering Technologies Department at Cabrillo College from 1996 to 2002.    At Cabrillo, Ed taught classes in AutoCAD, Mechanical Drafting, 3D Animation and Business Computing Solution (including web design and search engine optimization).

Over the last 16 years Ed has taught hundreds of classes and seminars on topics including music, singing, web development, search engine optimization, WordPress, public speaking, and business computing / security.

Ed  owns and operates Zenith Exhibits, Inc.  Zenith Exhibits designs tradeshow displays, builds custom business websites and provides sales training and marketing consulting.  Ed can be reached via telephone at (503) 328-9525 or via email at ed@zenithexhibits.com.

Xpressions skins are tension fabric. When designing an Xpressions 1×1 skin, draw an imaginary X from corner to corner. Starting at the center you have zero distortion but as you move further toward the corners where the skin attaches to the hub, you will experience greater image distortion. Utilize this effect within your design and take full advantage of the unique design tool!

2. Contrast is for your display / Copy is for your brochure

Leave your copy to your brochure or iPad apps… Layer con-trasting skins with none to five words maximum and your display will surely turn some heads. Remember, your booth space is not a library. Catch the attention of the exhibit visitors so that properly trained sales staff can engage the audience face-to-face.

3. Work the entire display – not just the individual skins

This is the most common mistake we see designers make on Xpressions:  designing nine or ten individual skins as independent layouts. The most successful layouts are ones that utilize the two planes of the frame and visualize the many skins as if they are one. These style displays explore the dimensionality of the Xpressions system. All the skins work together to create a single back wall in contrast to a bunch of separate layouts that are more akin to the old Velcro graphic on fabric pop-ups.

4. Lighting

Design your display to catch light and or incorporate lights as the only color on all white skins. Lights also make any printed Xpressions graphics appear brighter and more saturated.  Don’t rely on the lights of your environment – add them in your design process when you can.

5. Incorporate Graphic Change-Out

For multiple days of an exhibit, it’s a hot trend to create alternate skins and change them out each day of the show!  Catch the eye of someone that you missed yesterday, add a new message each day of the show, create A and B marketing messages and review then implement new messages based on the results at your next show. New skins are easy for you or your client to change and add possibilities not easily available on other systems.

6. Communication

Always indicate your intention when working with any tension fabric graphic product. Xpressions is no different. If no distortion is the required effect on the final product, please let us know this ahead of time. Your Xpressions PreFlight experts are trained to help suggest alternatives within your layout that will minimize expectations.

7. Use the Tools At Hand

Always consult Visproducts for Xpressions templates. VisProducts.com has Xpressions graphic templates for your use… details like “All Xpressions products require 1.5” of bleed overall and more to make designing for Xpressions a Snap!”

8. Think 3-D with the fabric

When else can you take a flat image and twist it or thread it to the display? Probably never – so, let your imagination wander and twist and thread those skins from the front to the back or back to the front all over the Xpressions frame. Plan to design your skins so the tension fabric will pull the image, and visualize the final product in its full distorted, twisted, threaded, exciting glory! Remember to proof your display as a 3D render as a whole. A flat image will not effectively communicate your design to the client; always opt for a render of your display.

9. Design in modules

Combine frames to create exciting environments: two 1×3′s, one 2×3 and a 4×3, create 20′ inline spaces with three 2×3′s and a 1×3…. it’s easy for your client to set up. They look so good standing together and multiple units create a value of flexibility that is hard to duplicate with other systems.

10. Break all the rules!

Remember to forget everything you’ve been told and create something that will surprise and delight the viewer!

I share industry secrets on how to combat the bad guys while attracting the good customers.

This presentation will focus on the business site of search engine optimization and website development.  Understanding the different web site options available and the typical costs associated with them.  Lastly we will explore different marketing strategies and the idea of Personality Based Marketing and things to consider when choosing a website developer.

Presentation Outline

• Why do small business need a website?
• What type of business don’t need a website?
• What type of website should you build?
• How do search engine list your website?
• How do you convert visitors to customers?
• What to look for in a website designer?

Presentation Time:

The format of my presentation is flexible and can range in time from 15 minutes to 45 minutes.

Presentation Size:

This presentation is ideal for groups of 15 to 60.

Presentation Cost:

Website Tips for Small Business Presentation is FREE for business associations, not-for profit organizations and education institutions.

You know the power of word-of-mouth marketing, but not all of us know how to stimulate the referral process. This  presentation will give you a practical, easy to use, step-by-step process for getting the ball rolling.

At the end of this presentation, participants will be given a five page worksheet they can use to market their business.  Participants will also be given the opportunity to download electric files (at no cost) they can edit and adapt for their business.

Presentation Outline:

1. Building a systematic marketing approach
2. Understanding the reasons why we refer business
3. Using education as the introduction
4. Commit yourself to serving them
5. Using a simple tool to grow your business

Presentation Time:

The format of my presentation is flexible and can range in time from 15 minutes to 45 minutes.

Presentation Size:

This presentation is ideal for groups of 15 to 60.

Presentation Cost:

The Intro in Reverse presentation is FREE.

Schedule a Presentation for Your Group

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This presentation is based on the best selling author John Jantsch’s book titled Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide

It is on everyone’s lips. It is included in everyone’s seminar and educational track; it is in every RFP; it is asked for by management, board members and by shareholders. It’s ROI.

If Return On Investment is the hottest topic since the Internet, why does a survey recently conducted by Showtime Enterprises, Inc. of marketing leaders across several industries find that although 80% were accountable for million dollar programs, the majority of them had no formal system for measuring the return on their most significant marketing investments?

The answer is so simple it is frightening: Budget!

In the three-dimensional marketing industry we create budgets for trade show booth space and budgets for the exhibit structure, for the pre -show communications piece, the on-site promotions, the venue, the travel and entertainment, and so on. When was the last time we saw a budget allocation for ROI?

News flash… the measurement of ROI costs money. The systems, metrics and analysis all costs money. It is too late in the game to think about “what is my ROI going to be” once the budgets and tactical plans are completed and approved.

Since ROI is different for many organizations and many different industries, let’s start by defining ROI, and then review the key steps to measuring and realizing it. ROI can mean several things: Return on Investment, Return on Information or even Recall of Initiative.

Return on Investment

The easiest way to show return on investment would be to track all contacts from a given event, through the sales process, to actual conversion. Reality dictates, however, that this isn’t always an easy task as there are many influences touching the prospect along the path to conversion. Some examples of key touch points, depending on the product, include retail experiences, web, direct mail, or a direct sales force – not to mention in some cases simple word of mouth around the water cooler.

Secondly, the sales cycle of some products or services often takes months or even years to complete. We may be showing return years later for investments made in the past — or worse, after we have been downsized out of budget or even a job.

Return on Information

Since trade shows and events are the only form of marketing communications that facilitates a face-to-face, free exchange of information to flow from company to customer and more importantly from customer to company, the information collected there is critical in developing a relationship sales approach. How we use this learned information as an organization will provide the return.

For example: The marketing group creates materials and sales presentations that are designed to convince a group of doctors of the efficacy of particular drug. We then uncover at the tradeshow that most doctors visiting the exhibit understand the drug’s efficacy but have concerns about its safety profile. With that key information, we can adjust our marketing and sales initiatives in real- time to deliver a more effective message, one the doctors need to hear in order to recommend or prescribe the drug.

Recall of Initiative

Brand recall is becoming an increasingly desired result as trade shows and events become a bigger part of overall marketing awareness campaigns and branding efforts of companies. When considering brand awareness measurement, a marketer needs to break through the clutter and touch the trade show attendee in a unique way.

Products are tangible. Services may seem intangible. However, experiences are memorable. It is these brand experiences that can move an attendee from a position of brand awareness to a position of brand enthusiasm. In the case of a leading footwear manufacturer for the golf industry, the company’s goal was to have the audience actually experience the all- weather performance of their product line by eliciting multiple senses in the experience. This was intended to emotionally engage the attendee. The emotion in this instance is that the product line will enhance playing performance. It’s the emotional concept that regardless of the weather or seasonal conditions, the player can still enjoy the game.

Four Steps to Planning ROI

Regardless of how you define ROI, there are basic steps to follow when developing a comprehensive ROI plan:

1. Clearly state you goals and objectives for participating in the trade show or event. No “pie in the sky” dreams are allowed here — only truly measurable and obtainable goals. Rather than declaring a generic desire to create awareness, it is better to set a goal of moving the level of awareness by 20% in a definable crowd. Similarly, it’s not enough to just want more sales. The goal needs to be defined in realistic terms including not only how much, but from whom. That will make the difference between under-performing and making your numbers.
2. Now that you know what you are going to measure, you need to create a set of tactics that can measure for the affect or desired result. Typical examples of such tactics include tracking surveys and data capture.
3. Create a tactical plan in support of the goals and objectives you stated from the outset, and be sure to include the ROI tactics.
4. Develop a budget for the execution of the planned tactics. There is no magic number or guidepost for this. It can range from a couple of thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands. The amount depends on what you are measuring and how you go about it. But the tactics should drive spending not the other way around.Your spending guideline should be based on what kind return you’re looking for. If you want to measure Return On Investment, for example, then you need to consider the cost to you and how much you need to recoup to break even. Ask yourself if your goals are attainable given the budget you have to work in. Don’t set sales goals attainable with a $5 million budget when you’re only spending $200,000.

Whether you work from an annual or event specific budget, you must include the line item to support a well-planned ROI plan. Remember, measuring ROI does not ensure the success of a marketing program. Remember, ROI does not ensure the success of a marketing program, only the confirmation that one exists.

Many marketers assume that everyone who visits their exhibit will be ready to buy and waltz right in and plunk down cash or PO. But it depends on what you’re selling and to whom you’re selling. To illustrate this, here is an example of an Internet integration software-tool and services company that helped organizations weave together their computer systems using a combination of Internet services, some middleware tools (software) and the legacy systems (what the customer had been using to serve their data processing needs). They spent almost $22,000 on exhibiting and another $9,000 in travel and manpower (a huge amount for a startup) at an event that was a pretty typical e-business or integration event. Attendance was not heavy, but the people who were at the show were very qualified.

His booth signage, literature and even his conversations with prospects focused on things like “we can do this, this, and this. We are the only company that can do that. We don’t have any real competitors. We have over a million lines of proprietary code. We’re committed to the channel and directly supporting our clients. Our VCs have funded such and such companies.” Blah, blah, blah.

The indisputable lack of results proved that his exhibit strategy and tactics were horrible. Like many business owners, he concluded that exhibiting at an event does not and would not work for a company like his. But remember, there are 2 parts to every trade show exhibit. There’s the event itself and there’s what you actually say at the event and included in that is how you say it. In this case, it wasn’t the event that was bad…it was his strategy and messaging. He had assumed that the next step in the buying process for the people who attended this event was for the prospect to request or at least accept a meeting. The combination of seeing their technology at the event and then participating in a capabilities meeting would lead to an RFP. Sounds reasonable, right? What would you expect people to do after they saw a great new integration tool? Immediately request that the firm come on in and take a look at how they could help solve the companies IT problems. Of course not.

The problem was, they were missing a step. Instead of assuming that everyone at the show was just waiting to hear about his solution so they could finally find a place to empty their IT budget, he should have assumed that nobody had ever heard of his company, didn’t understand what they did and were skeptical that they would even be in business in a few years. What they really needed a very low-risk way to find out more about it before they would ever invest the time to have him come in and have a serious discussion or check it out further.

At a later trade event, the company changed their strategy. They focused on getting a speaking slot at the conference, investing in advance marketing to the events attendee list as well as targeted local mailings. They took the least expensive booth available but augmented that with a free workshop that focused on helping people identify integration opportunities, solutions, pitfalls and procedures. They made a whitepaper out of the workshop workbook and offered that free in all of their marketing, as a follow-up for the people who signed up at their booth and even convinced show management to offer it on their web site.

The results? First of all, they gained immediate credibility (and promoted it) because they were speaking at the event. They were able to separate their firm from all of the rest of the companies because they were offering the training on how to solve integration problems. They used the advance promotion, the speaking engagement and the workshop all to promote their booth as well as the free whitepaper. Even with a smaller booth, walk-in traffic more than tripled, but as significantly, they took 178 additional requests for the whitepaper from people who didn’t attend the event. Once they get someone on the list, then they had the ability to market to them as many times as they wanted. (In my next article, I’ll show you how to institute a system for following up on your leads—one that isn’t dependent on someone having the time to do it or having to remember.)

The point is this: sometimes it’s appropriate to try to generate hard sales contacts or even sales from your exhibit. In a lot of cases though, it’s smarter to try to generate leads off of an exhibit. You just need to make sure that you know exactly what you’re trying to accomplish before you start and then have a plan in place to achieve it. The company with the integration solution thought that people would come into the booth simply because they were there (plus had a great solution) and that they would want to take the next step when they heard about the solution they offered. They were wrong. There was actually an in-between step or two for many prospects…getting some further documentation, doing a bit of due-diligence–before they would even be put on the list to consider.

So think about your exhibits. What are you trying to accomplish? Do you need to add another step or do you need a whole new strategy? How can you get more people to raise their hand and at least say they’re interested in what you are offering? Can you offer something to lower the risk or to give information? Take a page from kids (and some of the nation’s top CEOs) keep asking yourself or your team “what,” “why” and “how”—till you can’t anymore. It’s a sure way to insure a winning event plan.

The idea of guaranteed shipping is an industry myth. Regardless of how diligent a carrier is, freight gets lost, mislaid, damaged, and stolen. Shipment tracking has improved with GPS technology, but not to the point where it’s 100 percent reliable.

The best you can do is to find a trade show shipping company you can trust, and then stick with it. Become a smart customer, know what questions to ask, then ask them every time.

Label Everything
I still remember getting to a show in Boston and finding roughly half of the items I had meticulously stacked on a pallet missing.

What happened? The carrier ran out of room on the trailer, and in order to fit everything on the truck, the driver broke down a couple of my pallets and tucked all of my boxes on top of the large crates in the shipment. Since I hadn’t labeled every single box on my pallet, all my little boxes got mixed up with another shipment.

Because I hadn’t marked my pallets, “Do not break down,” or “Do not depalletize,” the carrier told me I didn’t have a leg to stand on. I now label and number every box on every pallet, just to be safe, and I label the pallet itself with “Do Not Depalletize!”

You Don’t Always Get What You Pay For
Just because you make a request or get a quote for certain services, that doesn’t guarantee you’ll get them. The following three examples show how vigilant you have to be.

Flying Trucks. If the carrier can move your freight on what it calls an “expedited truck” and get it to your destination in the timeframe you specified, it may never see the tarmac nor hear the roar of jet engines. But don’t expect any great cost savings. You may still be charged as if it had been on the big silver bird in the sky.

Exclusive Use. You requested a quote on the use of a whole trailer for your exhibit. Carriers call this “exclusive use” or TL, which stands for “truck load.”  Some unscrupulous carriers will sell you exclusive use, but they figure they can cram another exhibitor’s freight onto your trailer and make a little extra profit, and maybe you’ll never find out. Find yourself another carrier and ask more questions next time.

Musical Trucks. Just because a carrier doesn’t have a truck available in your area when you need it doesn’t mean it’s going to turn away your business. They’ll subcontract your load to another carrier who may or may not be as reliable, have equipment that’s in good shape, or have drivers trained in moving exhibit properties.

Dim. Wt. Is Not an Insult
It’s important to understand the way each type of carrier (air freight, van line, or common carrier) charges you for your shipment, so you can make sure the charges are correct.

In addition, your shipment may also be subject to separate charges called “accessorial charges,” which may include any of the following:

• Specials (specific pick-up times) on pick-up and delivery
• Waiting time
• Special equipment, such as lift-gate trucks and pallet jacks
• Inside pickup (if driver doesn’t pick up at a loading dock)
• Residential pickup
• Remote pickup or delivery
• A second driver
• Storage

Ask your carrier what formula it uses to calculate your chargeable weight and for what additional services you will be charged.

Surprise! The Hidden Fees
To keep surprises to a minimum, always ask for a detailed breakdown of potential fees you may incur when you get your budgetary quote.

Here are some common hidden fees:

• Labor
• Moving pads and tape to blanket-wrap your exhibit
• Aborted pick-ups if the freight wasn’t ready when the truck arrived
• An extra pick-up at your company warehouse after the original loading at your exhibit house
• Waiting time at the advance warehouse or marshaling yard
• Insurance and fuel surcharges

Even if you ask about hidden costs up front, your final bill may not match the quote you received. Ask your exhibit house to copy you on any orders it places on your behalf. And never be afraid to ask why your quote doesn’t match your bill.

In the end, your best safeguard against shipping disasters is to choose a carrier wisely, then ask a barrage of questions and review all paperwork closely every time to avoid surprises. If you have a bad experience with a carrier, vote with your feet and your wallet and find a company that can meet your service needs and expectations. You don’t want to “myth” the next show because of a carrier who dropped the ball — or your freight.

1. Ship early, but don’t ship to the warehouse

With most shows, it costs significantly less in drayage to ship your freight directly to the show site vs. to the general contractor’s warehouse. How can you take advantage of those savings and still avoid the expense that goes along with show-site freight delivery (especially when shipping in bad-weather months)?

Try this trick: Ship early, and tell your carrier you want your freight held in the show city and delivered on the first direct-ship date. Many carriers (especially those that handle a lot of freight) will hold your truckload shipments for a minimal charge. You get the benefit of headache-free shipping and the savings of direct drayage rates.

2. Let your carpet travel on its own

Want to start installing your booth at the first possible hour without paying the higher costs of shipping your display to the warehouse? It’s easy. Ship your carpet and pad to the contractor’s warehouse, and ship your exhibit directly to the show site. Since warehouse freight typically is brought in first, your I&D company can lay your electrical, pad and carpet while your direct freight is being brought into the hall. The drayage rate savings from shipping your display direct will more than cover the extra freight charges you pay to ship the carpet and pad separately.

3. Send your exhibit’s lead carpenter to supervise setup

When your display house’s account executive offers to accompany your booth on the road, say, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Then instruct them to send your lead carpenter instead. For out-of-town installations, you’re better off having the carpenter supervise installation and breakdown. Who’s best to handle display-based problems? Clearly, the carpenter who prepped the display before it went on the road. Take advantage of that person’s knowledge and experience in getting your booth up right – and fast – and save those daily account executive charges.

4. Make a map for the electricians

Don’t wait for the electricians to come to your space to start your electrical work. Ship your I&D company your electrical (and other utilities) plans, and have them send a carpenter to mark the floor and supervise electrical installation. By installing your utilities early, you will avoid paying for labor to wait around to get started or work overtime to finish. When you and your display arrive, your space will be ready for carpet and pad, and you’ll be off to a great start.

5. Inspect your booth at the close of the show

Rather than waiting for the display to return to your exhibit house to do a refurb inspection, take a walk-through at the close of the show with your lead carpenter. If you make a list of the needed repairs before your display goes back into the crates, you’ll save on inspection charges. Before your next show, you and your lead carpenter will know just what needs to be done.

Remember, the fundamentals still hold true: Planning and foresight will ease the confusion of trade shows and ensure that you come in on budget.

1. What do you want to say about the product?

Keep it to two or three key message points. Know who your target market is. What products do they need to have in place to use your product?

2. What are the benefits to the users?

Too often, exhibitors focus on features. Features aren’t necessarily important to the person buying your product. They want to know the benefits they will derive if they buy. Is it going to save them dollars or time? Is it going to help them work more efficiently? Demonstrate the benefits to support other messages you’re presenting at the show or your message instead of hoping/waiting somebody will ask. If you’ve demonstrated this product before, think about the two most often asked questions, and make them a regular part of your message.

4. How long is your demo?

Don’t exceed 10 minutes – particularly where there are long product purchase lead times. Don’t do a full-blown demonstration; save that for one-on-one sales visits. The goal is to provide enough benefit information to pique attendees’ interest so they want to see more after the show.

5. Are you connecting with the crowd?

As you present, maintain eye contact with the crowd. If using a computer, use a swing-out keyboard and stand to the side. Watch their nonverbal communication. Are they engaged or losing interest?

6. Are you making the most of your premiums?

Use a giveaway that has a link to the product or service. Make sure the company name and phone number is on it. Use the giveaway as a reward for taking the time to watch the demo.