7 Trade Show Success Secrets

This year’s CES Trade Show seemed to reinforce the stereotype that trade shows often have a love/hate relationship with Marketing Managers, CMOs, CEOs and Sales Managers. The elements always seem to take longer than expected to come together, the employees working the booth would rather be at the pool and expectations vs. results can be a stressful scenario for even the most weathered trade show veteran. One of the biggest challenges is that these events often require a huge amount of prep work. In addition, the show’s success hinges on the success of just a few days. Here are 7 tips to try to get the most from your 2011 experience.

1. Plan Ahead – The most stress usually comes from feeling time crunched, especially considering this show takes place just after the long holiday break. We suggest you start planning your actual presence beginning in July, and then firming up all last minute details no later than September 30th.

2. Know Your Target – Have a clear understanding of who the target is. It’s natural to want a lot of traffic at your booth. However, if these people are just tire kickers and not true prospects, they can sap the the time and resources that are better spent focusing on your core target. Is your CES goal finding a distribution partner? Ensure that your presence caters to what they would be looking for in a product – which is usually high sales with strong profits. Think of ways that your space can tell that story.

3. Brand Your Space – As with the above tip, it’s imperative that your booth convey the professionalism of your product. If your booth looks thrown together or your presentation materials look sloppy, what does that tell a potential target about your product? Trade Shows can be one of the best ways to tell your story in person and your booth should reflect your brand wherever possible.

4. Create Interactive Opportunities – Nothing looks more uninviting than some stale candy and a couple of sales guys sitting in chairs. At CES there are multiple ways to create interactivity elements with consumers and prospects, including themed games (e.g. pocket radar had a baseball pitching contest that incorporated the product), register-to-wins (tried and true, but a great way to build a database), photo-ops (showcase, booth models, autograph signings can all create great interactive opportunities). We suggest never doing just a free give-away; always get something (such as contact info) in return.

5. Reduce Clutter – A cluttered booth area screams unprofessionalism. Most of the booths that presented their products in the best light did so with clean, uncluttered environments. Your show space does not need something crammed into every nook and cranny. Doing so can make the area uninviting, be distracting and ultimately may lead to reduced sales opportunities

6. Walk the Floor – Walking the floor to get ideas from others is often one of the most underutilized opportunities to better your show presence. If you see a great booth environment or service being offered, don’t be afraid to stop, ask questions and take notes.

7. Use a Show Project Management Service – A Show Project Management Service (one of the services offered by Connectivity) can usually save clients time, money and significantly reduce stress. By using a competitive bid process with our vendors, as well as leveraging multiple clients with these vendors, our clients get the benefit that “group spend” can deliver. In addition, with on-site management prior to and throughout the show, clients can focus on their companies and products, as opposed to the stress of booth and show logistics. Many SPMS fees are actually built into the process with savings passed directly to the clients.

Hopefully these tips will bring you additional success at CES in 2011!