Event Marketing 101: 4 More Things You Need to Do : Best Practices in B2B Demand Generation

by Jason Stewart

Has event marketing been on your mind, but with the expense of live events -- not to mention the time involved, travel commitments and questionable ROI -- has it been a hard sell? Then take a look at this post from Janine Popick at the Vertical Response blog, How to Work a Trade Show. Janine says:

"Recently I visited a marketing trade show here in the Bay Area. I always get excited to learn about new marketing technologies that help businesses grow so off the exhibit floor I went. What I found was kind of lame. It seemed like none of the companies exhibiting knew how to market their company and none of the people working at these booths knew the first thing about working a trade show. It's more than wearing a company shirt."

Wow, she really nailed it. I attended the (unnamed) show she is referring to and I need to say...it was one of the saddest exhibit floors I have ever seen. I went to one booth that had hundreds of "branded" stuffed toys all stacked up and on display. Having kids, I asked for one. The booth folks said "sure!" and handed me one...and then went back to talking with each other without asking me for anything in return. I was shocked. And I still don't know what that company does.

Booth after booth I stood and looked at the displays and collateral, more often than not trying to decipher the corporate gobbledygook to figure out what these companies actually did. Should I try to learn more? Can they help me? Booth after booth the personnel working it saw me -- and didn't approach me.

It was really sort of sad, as I couldn't help but imagine the subsequent conference debrief with sales and marketing management, where the booth staff complains about the poor results of the show -- when the reality was they just didn't want to be there so they didn't do their jobs properly.

I'm sorry if I sound harsh, but I have been to three events this quarter (two of them local, one of the perks of working in San Francisco) and time after time I found myself standing outside the booth looking in at the staff waiting for me to make the first move. They weren't talking to other prospects, they weren't running demos -- they were quite literally staring back at me waiting to see what I was going to do. Sad.

More often than not, I couldn't figure out what a company did so I moved on to the next booth.

So, with that in mind, Janine came up with 5 great recommendations on how to work a trade show. I've written four more:

Only send people who want to be there. If someone doesn't want to be there, it will show in their performance. Trade shows are too expensive to man the booth with people who are not going to do the job properly.
Don't ever assume your collateral clearly explains what you do. You're too close to it, and more often than not the "official" description that had to be approved by a committee of ten people is just generic enough that it doesn't actually say what your customers use your products to do. Don't leave it to chance, approach every last person who looks confused and make sure they leave understanding exactly what you do. They might not need you now, but when they do they will remember you.
Live in the present. Take turns being 100% dedicated to the show if you have to with the other people in the booth. This means no email, no cell phone, nothing but personally connecting with as many people as you possibly can. That is why you are there. If you cannot give the show 100% than you don't belong on the floor. It is too expensive an investment to screw around with this.
Understand the schedule. Breaks, meals, and cocktail receptions are when people cruise the floor. Make sure you are always fully staffed during these periods.

I can't help but wonder how much money has been wasted on trade shows by companies treating booth duty as a chore. If you man the booth with people who are afraid to approach prospects with a pre-loaded question, or who are afraid to scan a badge or ask for a business card, then you will never achieve a positive ROI on what can be the single biggest investment your marketing department makes this year. If you don't treat the trade show floor with respect, you will not get what you want out of the event.

Comments

Great tips! We work encourage exhibitors to take short training sessions. Failing to work the booth correctly is like trying to make a milkshake without plugging in the blender! You can't simply make the purchase and expect it to work for you without the right energy!

Posted by: Nancy Reimann | June 16, 2009 at 07:45 AM