All too often people writing about trade show exhibits & displays (myself included) tend to focus on getting more people to your booths. After all, this is a pretty sure method of generating more leads.
If your sales team is sitting around playing Angry Birds and yelling at the marketing department to send more customers their way, a great give-away and sharp-looking trade show display is a reliable strategy to attract attendees and give your sales team loads of new leads to chase down.
However, there’s certainly an argument to be made for “quality over quantity.” Perhaps instead of flinging open your doors and welcoming anyone to enjoy your booth, the idea should be to focus on bringing in more promising leads.
Then if some additional people from off the street happen to sign up too, well, that’s a bonus. Why might a company go this route, and how might they go about it? Let’s look…
Possible Benefits to Exclusivity at Your Trade Show Display
So, let’s say that rather than twiddling their thumbs, your sales team is instead complaining about how few of your leads pan out. Their conversion rate stinks and they think its marketing’s fault. The sales team is putting unsustainable numbers of hours chasing down relatively few sales, and they’ve now got management pressuring you to focus on finding higher quality leads.
There are a number of different ways you could play this, while still putting together an effective trade show display. After all, being a little more exclusive and focusing on pre-qualified leads offers plenty of advantages:
- Increases engagement among those selected
- Instantly creates a community of fans with something to talk about
- Garners extra word-of-mouth from those complaining about not being let in
- Lends an air of mystery to your exposition booth
- Allows you to precision-target your promotional materials
- Offers far more control over proceedings in your booth
- Gives opportunities for demos and trials, before being made public.
Plus, of course, some companies and industries just tend to gravitate towards an exclusive market. Although if you’re in one of them, you probably already know it.
So, there’s something to be said for the idea. Plus, nothing says your entire expo displays have to be locked down – smaller VIP events can spice up a long trade show! (You are responsible for checking all local regulations regarding what can go on in them.)
Please do your trade show schmoozing responsibly! Click To Tweet
First: Know Your Expo Booth Visitors Well
If you’re thinking about going this route, there is one all-important aspect to remember: It is even more vitally important you understand your market base and who, exactly, your sales team wants to see in its lead databases.
This is going to likely mean meetings and some hashing over whatever customer research you have lying around. It’s also a perfect time to look at creating (or revising) a set of buyer personas. These semi-fictionalized accounts of your ideal customers, based on research data, often can give you invaluable insights into the wants and needs of your customers.
One of the keys to going exclusive is for your targets to feel like you understand them. If you fail to convey that understanding, the experiment will likely not go well.
Bringing A Touch Of The Exclusive To Your Trade Show Display
Here are a few of our favorite techniques, a mix of classic tricks and newer ideas:
- Have a small section in your exhibition stand, perhaps a corner, blocked off to create a space for one-on-one consultations. These can be pre-scheduled with attendees you’ve contacted ahead of time, and usually there’s room for people who are really interested to sign up as well.
- Run a contest on local radio. Hey, it still works – there are plenty of people out there who don’t bother paying for satellite radio and still use the local stations. If you’ve got a product aimed at kids and\or their parents, this is an ideal fit.
- Have a VIP meeting room in your expo booth where some users get to play around with demo units for your next product. This would be the sort of thing fans would win through social media contests, so think social integration. If you want to garner a lot of extra online coverage (and if you have a bit of a mean streak), use plexiglass paneling so everyone else can look and watch, but not touch.
- Hold an exclusive talk. You’d likely shut down the trade show booth for an hour, closing it off with portable paneling or a fabric banner or graphic wall and have a talk with a couple people relevant to your industry, as well as yourself. This is a great tie-in for webcasting, so people can still see what they aren’t getting to see live. Q&A’s are a must; consider online participation too.
- Exclusive before- or after-parties still work well, especially with invited bloggers or local media figures. When dealing with bloggers, as we’ve said before, the key is to give them their freedom – whatever wining and dining you do does not come with an expectation of a favorable review. Sorry, but that’s one way things have changed lately.
- Utilize Calls to Action on your blog to sign up visitors there to
- If you’re directly involved in some sort of media production, this is the way to have previews at your exposition booths. Whether you’re talking about a hip new comic, highly-expected remix collaboration, or an upcoming film, withhold at least a bit of the presentation and save that for especially dedicated or interested guests.
- Relatedly, give special perks: Everyone can experience the demo live, but only those who jumped through previous online hoops are given download access to the materials displayed at your exposition presentation.
- And more! Any online download offer should ALWAYS have the words “and more!” attached. Going online gets people MORE, and you get more opportunities to part them from their personal information in the process.
Because, it’s crucial to remember the golden rule:
The Best Trade Show Display Leads Give the Most Data
Pretty much without fail – the more data you convince someone to part with, the more likely they are to convert. They’re showing increasing engagement, and you’re learning more information about them that lets you precision-target your sales follow-ups. These are the ones your sales team will love you for: those leads who’ve already told you everything you want to know.
So, whenever possible, look for unobtrusive ways to learn a little more about your leads and prospects. Remember, people are (rightfully) a bit paranoid about their electronic privacy. Be upfront about your intentions, and be careful not to ask too often, or else you make your exclusive trade show audience feel like a captive audience instead.
If you’re looking to spice up your trade show display results, look into adding a bit of mystery and intrigue. Adding exclusive elements make for some happy fans, a lot more curious fans, and significantly higher levels of online exposure. When paired with online campaigns, they can be excellent for getting your overall message out!
For more, read what quality leads mean or quality vs. quality on leads.