SEVEN STEPS TO ACHIEVING AN ROI FROM TRADE SHOWS

make your trade show strategy work

Trade Show marketing is a tough nut to crack.  CEOs usually know when they must attend trade shows, but don’t know how to get the maximum return on investment. 

By LSI Contributor Eric Keiles

 Months before the show is actually the perfect time to start thinking about the overall trade show strategy.  The key to any show is to ensure that the expense to participate in the show is overshadowed by the revenue generated.

 Step #1 Set Objectives:

It is critical to set clear goals before the show—preferably quantitative goals.

• Here are some examples of quantitative pre-show goals, which would help measure the return on a trade show investment:
• speak with 200 prospects  and collect data for  CRM record
• Make appointments to visit 25 of these prospects within one month of the show
• Close 12 deals of at least $3,000 each 
• Produce a minimum show-generated  revenue of $36,000

  Step #2 Establish expense perameters:

Now that expectations have been set for participation in the show, the next step is to keep expenses in line. If you had a gross profit margin of 50%, you’d know that $36,000 in revenue will produce $18,000 in gross profit. Therefore, you should limit the total cash outlay for the show to $5,000.  That way, you will enhance the probability of producing  a gross profit of $13,000 if the targets in step one are met. 

 Step #3: Develop a show budget:

Use your $5,000 budget to develop a show plan.  For example:

• pre-show mailings ($950),
• travel and accommodations ($2,000),
• embroidered trade show shirts for the staff of three ($400),
• in-booth promotional products ($500),
• show specific brochures and handouts ($900)
•  the cost of the grand prize of the booth drawing ($250). 

Note: Give away one of your products or services – not items like a plasma TV.  You’re not trying to attract people who want a TV.

 Step #4 Establish a Theme:

The theme is used to tie the trade show program together to help customers recall your key messages.  For example: You want to introduce a new service that includes faster turnaround time.  The printed brochure explains the details of the new service and the $250 giveaway is for a free trial of the new “express” service.  Your theme should communicate the fast nature of the new services.  To highlight that, you might graphically present an Express Train and the feeling of speed associated with it.  The graphics in the booth would match that theme as would pre- and post-show communications.   Remember to include related copy along with the train graphic that speaks to the benefits of the new service from the customer’s perspective.  Customer testimonials provide necessary proof points to validate marketing messages. 

 Step #5  Work the  show:

It’s important to look professional and act as a closely knit high performance team You must ensure that messages in your show booth are designed to educate potential clients as to how the new service/product can minimize their pain.

• Each morning the team should huddle before the show to review the message and practice delivering the script. The team should also review goals set before the show.  If it’s a three-day show and the goal is to capture contact information of 200 prospects, that equates to 67 people per day.  Break it down to just eight per hour.  Now it’s manageable for a team of three to talk with eight people in one hour! 
• Keep the staff interested by reviewing progress at the end of each day.  To keep everyone focused and energized during the show, set up fun contests with silly prizes for those who achieve the best results.  During the show, don’t just hand out give aways to everybody that comes by—rather engage in a conversation to qualify them as a prospect for your service.

 Step #6  show follow up:

This might be the most important factor in trade show success.  This step is where most people drop the ball—packing up the stack of leads and forgetting about them.  You should have a well coordinated sales and marketing follow-up that contacts  every prospect talked to during the show.  Some ideas of a successful post-show follow-up might include a package of information sent by mail, a phone call b a salesperson, and/or an email follow-up.  Make sure that all contacts from the show are added to your CRM database. Winners make regular contact over the next 12 months. 

 Step 7 Results analysis:

While sales follow up is going on, the marketing team should review performance against objectives:

• Did you spend more or less than we expected? 
• Did you achieve all or some of the stated objectives? 
• What could we have done differently? 
• What did we learn? 
• What was our overall return on investment? 

 Conclusion:

By implementing a systematic approach to trade show marketing, each experience produces a clear understanding on how participation impacted the business from a revenue perspective.