How An Exhibitor Can Grab The Audience's Attention

Clifton Media Lab 2018

Vision Show 2018 In Focus:Â How An Exhibitor Can Grab The Audience's Attention

Clifton Media Lab 2018

A Brief Introduction As we enter the summer holiday period and things begin to slow down, (well possibly not?), now is the time to prevent falling into the trap of getting one month ahead of the show and thinking, oops, I’ve ran out time!

When it comes to event marketing, the magic is, there ain’t no magic. A careful and precise plan is what it’s all about. Whether you’re attending the show for the first time as a new industry starter or you’re a seasoned Vision Show guru, having and following a well thought-through show plan is essential.

Having launched our business into the Machine Vision industry sector just two years ago at the last Vision Show, we ourselves are relative new-bees. However, when it comes at attending tradeshows as a whole, our team are well versed when it comes to being successful at exhibiting. In fact, we totalled up the number of trade shows that our team have attended across various industries and the number is astonishingly high (282 to be

exact!). That’s a lot of combined knowledge about the best dos, don’ts, successes, epicfailures and general observations about the behaviours of potential buyers at trade shows.

As content marketing experts, it will come as no surprise to you that we believe strong communication before, during and after Vision Show. After all, this is a truly unique opportunity for you to share the same room with Machine Vision's leading thinkers and your future customers. It’s incredibly important that together we get this right.

Here are some key points to remember to tick off, making sure that they are done with plenty of notice for that crucial start date!

Author Hi, I'm Sean. Media Sales Manager at MVPro media. A lot of my clients have asked about top tips for trade shows, how to get the most out of them and what content works best before and after the show; So we pulled this guide together to share our thoughts and ideas. Let us know what you think. sean.welch@mvpromedia.eu (+44) 0117 325 8328

Sean Welch Media Sales Manager MVPro Media

Clifton Media Lab 2018

Step 1: Define Your Objectives The single most important factor to determine whether you will have a successful Vision Show 2018, is by your ability to clearly define what it is that you are trying to achieve. This may sound obvious, but it’s amazing how many exhibitors arrive at the show with no pre-set focus on what commercial reason they are at the show for. A good way of finding out what your primary objective is, is to start by asking yourself the question, what does success look like?

If you can crack the true essence of this, all of the tricky tactical questions that will be raised from now until the beginning of the show will become so much easier to answer.

Having certainly been guilty of this before, we know going to trade shows in an attempt to achieve multiple objectives simply results in achieving nothing at all. We're sorry to say that it's unrealistic to expect to arrive at your booth on day one expecting lots of new contacts, great business development meetings and top meetings with existing customers.

That’s why keeping your objective focused to a small number of achievable and impactful results is so vitally important. In fact, we would go as far to say pick one objective and focus on your efforts on achieving fantastic success just on that one thing..

"Defining your objective is best achieved when you subscribe to the principle of less is more."

Clifton Media Lab 2018

Step 2: Plan Your Message If you’re new to the show:

If you’ve exhibited before:

1. The Elevator Pitch

1. Refine Your Pitch

Create a 20 second elevator pitch that

Create a similar elevator pitch but

covers the four W's - Who you are??

focus it on what’s NEW. Why should a

What you do? Where you do it? And

visitor see you if they've already seen

why you're different? Then use it

your before? Oren Klaff, author of Pitch

everywhere - on your website, your

Anything, famously quotes, Getting

exhibitor web page, your social media

People’s Attention is the first hurdle in

channels, anywhere that your target

any introduction conversation. Talk

audience is likely to see it.

about a new idea, that’s what creates novelty’.

2. Remember to Include Links Always provide links from your

2. Consider Competitors

elevator pitch to your brand story. A

Draw up a list of your 5 key

strong elevator pitch can lead up to

competitors who will be at the

over 50% of eyeball traffic clicking

show. Think back to their booth and

through to view find out more’.

messaging strategy two years ago.

Whilst there are no guarantees that

3. Include Case Studies

their strategy at this year’s show will be

Always showcase an industry

the same, it’s definitely worth

application of your product. This

considering how your message, design

builds trust and creates relevancy; 2

and story is going to be unique to your

key factors in buyers needs.

closest competitors.

4. Get Social Use social media. Plan and simple.

Remember to use the exhibition’s hashtag if they have one – you could get some retweets from the show, from current customers and from businesses that are interested in meeting you.

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Step 3: Consistency Is Key Statistically speaking, at a good show

All of your marketing, whether it’s

you meet approximately 1-5% of all

printed, emailed, posted on your site,

attendees. If you could hypothetically

or spoken to booth visitors must be on

ask each and every one of those

message, consistent and on brand.

attendees after the show what it is that your company does and why you’re

Be clear, punchy, and eye-catching.

different, you’ve succeeded in creating

You literally have seconds to get

clear and consistent messaging. That’s

people’s attention.

the aim.

Step 4: Press And PR 1. Press Pack Gather everything journalists need to know including; contact details, company information, why you’re exhibiting, why it matters to the press, excellent images of your staff, your products, etc, and any news you want to share.

IMPORTANT: Remember, editors and journalists are human beings. It’s no myth that they are inundated with enquiries, so make sure you create copy that says something new, data-driven - writers love to be able to quote stats. If you have it, use data that shows how your product or innovation is forecast to disrupt or change the status quo.

2. Contact Journalists Do this in advance of the show and invite them to your stand. If they can’t do that, do an interview in advance, whether it’s in person, by phone, email or Skype.

3. Send Press Releases Announce that you’re exhibiting to relevant trade magazines and media partners.

Promote your press pack on the event landing page.

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Step 5: Grab the Audience’s Attention At the end of the day, it’s all about the show attendees – that’s why you’re there. So, the questions are; how do you meet as many of them as possible and how do you ensure that the people you are spending your time with, are the right people?

Statistically speaking, around 10% of attendees will be your primary decision maker. Using 2016 attendee numbers as an estimate for this year, there should be around 10,000 attendees in Stuttgart. Therefore, there will approximately be 1,000 prime targets you need to be looking to influence before, during and after the show.

Here's the challenge: To effectively grab their attention by providing them with a reason to visit your booth above and beyond your competitors.

To answer this we're going to break our answer down into two parts; 1) When is the key time to target the audience?

2) What are the key things to consider in attempting to grab the audience's attention?

Clifton Media Lab 2018

Step 5: Grab the Audience’s Attention Let's start with the question. when should you start looking to grab the audience’s attention?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a one size fits all approach to this. Different attendees will be sit in different stages in their retrospective purchasing cycles. Depending on whether you’re looking to announce your brand to the market, showcase a new application of your latest technology or meet existing customers to re-assure them that it’s business as usual, the timing of your approach pre-show is critical. Appear too early and your approach is irrelevant, appear too late and attendees have agreed to meet with your competitors.

So, to prevent either of these scenarios from happening, the strategy again starts with what are you trying to achieve. We’ve mapped out some key objectives for exhibitors and provided our recommendation for when you should start to deliver your message.

Months Before The Show

Actions

9 months

Winning business from competitors

4 months

Launching a new product line

3 months

Launching a new application of your product

2 months

Announce your business as a newcomer to the market

1 month

Meet existing customers

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Step 6: Before, During and Post Event Now let's take a look at some key strategies around grabbing the audience's attention starting with some initial top tips followed by some concept strategies.

Why visitors don’t come to your booth if you haven’t marketed to them: Their diaries are full because other exhibitors have initiated contact with them ahead of the show Don’t know who they should speak to Unaware of your product range or application

Top tips to remember for pre-event marketing 1. Let Your Friends Know Remember to invite people you know. Even if your objective is to meet new prospects, it’s always courteous to let your customers and prospects know you’re exhibiting and welcoming of their time.

2. Take Team Photos Take professional and friendly photos of your event team. This makes it easy to identify who they are and makes your business personable and approachable. This is particularly important for larger players in the market. (Having been involved in

exhibition research studies before, we know up to 30% of general tradeshow attendees, didn’t see the companies they would have liked to because they didn’t know anyone at that company).

3. Make It Known Share that you're at the show with your booth number on all correspondence including on your website, social channels, email signatures and general paid media distribution 4. Book Meeting In Advance Run event calendars and meeting bookers across your communication channels including through paid media distribution. This gives you insight into the types of people you are going to meet and allow you to tailor messaging to their needs.

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Step 6: Before, During and Post event Pre-event campaign ideas based on different objectives There are two broad categories of pre-event marketing that you should consider when looking to grab the audience’s attention.

The first is aimed at industry professionals that may not know who you are and so is concentrated on a new business. The second is for prospects that already know who you are but wouldn’t ordinarily consider coming to your booth. In this case, we are essentially looking to undergo a campaign of marketing to educate.

Here are two campaign ideas that provide strategies for each of these pre-event marketing categories.

1. Objective: Develop awareness and thought leadership around one core topic or area of knowledge that is linked to your elevator pitch.

Proposed Solution: Identify key media partners

and collaborate on a series of content modules using an omnichannel distribution approach across web, email, print and social. Influence recall statistically rises by 10% each touch point per same subject matter. Ensure that your content is relevant, compelling, data-proven, educational and NOT a sales pitch. Provide a fresh and new perspective and entertain the reader. A strong but NOT aggressive call-to-action is a must but only works in pre-event marketing when the reader feels a sense of likeability towards the author or company behind the content. Work with your media partner to establish what these tactical must-haves should include.

Clifton Media Lab 2018

Step 6: Before, During and Post event Pre-event campaign ideas based on different objectives 2. Objective: Schedule new business meetings with prospective customers Proposed Solution: When it comes to targeting prospects, content is king.

Focus on what is new and why you’re different. Run a series of content Q+A interviews with journalists and industry Key-Opinion-Leaders. This creates a sense of if journalists are writing about this before the show, this must be something worth looking at. Highlight that you are exhibiting at Vision and are running product demonstrations of your products with details of your booth number. Provide links to meeting booking software (we are particularly fond of Calendly because of it’s ease-of-use), to schedule their attendance to the product demonstration with a sales rep from your company. Capturing prospective data ahead of the show is useful as it allows you to make last minute tailoring to your messaging based on the needs of people you know that you are going to be seeing.

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Step 6: Before, During and Post Event Top Tips To Remember For During Show Marketing When it comes to marketing during the trade show, there are hundreds of ways to spend your time and money to drive people to the booth. Different ideas work for different companies, so it’s up to you to trial concepts across events to see what works for you.

You’re looking to disrupt people’s days with something they really want at that time. Think about this. There are fantastic parties and corporate entertainment opportunities in the evenings at Vision, so people often arrive with sore hangover headaches at the morning of the show, (Not speaking from personal

experience!) So, think about hangover cure options, breakfast, coffee, paracetamol! On the contrary, it’s been a long day of meetings and fast paced engagements, people want to unwind at the end of the day, so provide them with a local beer or wine. It doesn’t cost too much but it can make the difference between people walking past your booth or deciding to stay for a chat.

Here are a few more ideas and tips:

Invest in promotion concepts that are situated around people having rest, i.e. by restaurants, outside smoking areas or in

hotels. The chances of people properly looking at them and engaging with them are massively increased compared with hall banners or floor mats.

If you decide to spend on big ticket brand awareness items such as bag or lanyard sponsorship, survey visitors before the show begins and immediately after. This will give you an exact picture of the change in attendee behaviour towards your brand for ROI proofing. Speak to Messe Stuttgat about their opportunities to do this or media partners such as ourselves.

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Step 6: Before, During and Post Event Top Tips To Remember For During Show Marketing Here are a few more ideas and tips: Be sure to include reference codes for on-booth competitions or prize-draws across all of your content distribution across tradepress magazines and in event guides. Include details of any competitions or business card drops in your literature with a unique reference code that attendees can provide when they arrive at your booth. This will allow you to attribute the quality and success of your paid-for media campaigns.

Sponsor tools or guides that help show attendees with problems. The show may have on site navigation or product finders. If there is a mobile app which provides route planning or product showcases, that’s always a good thing. Large exhibitions can be busy and sometimes confusing places. Be the company that offers help and support.

Nominate a team member at the show to take over social media. In our experience, it’s much easier and faster to have onsite social media management rather than managing this from your office. After each business card exchange, put a recording system of who the meeting was with and what company they represent to allow your social manager to follow social updates.

On site video interviews are a great thing. Make sure you do this on day 1 of the show. A huge benefit of video interviews is that attendees can put a face to a company which boosts your approachability. Don’t wait until the afternoon of day 3 of the show to run your video interview as you’ll be losing out on the chance to enable attendees to pair faces with company.

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Step 7: Following Up What To Do When It's All Over We know, you’ve not even got to the event yet, but put in place how you’re going to collect visitor information and contact details now and think about how you can market to them afterwards.

Order any printing and giveaway items, such as pens and USB sticks well in advance, plan out plenty of time to approach the media and your intended audience, and you should have a successful and busy exhibition.

Post event blogging and media reporting are always significantly prominent after exhibitions. From our own perspective, we often see 60% spikes in web traffic post exhibitions from the market, looking for post-event content that they may have missed. Leveraging this for your own re-targeting campaigns is really important in supplementing the efforts of your sales team in their follow-ups.

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Next Steps What to do when it's all over So that concludes our event guide. We hope you’ve found that to be of use. As outlined at the beginning of the guide, we aren’t professing to be experts with the perfect how-to here. Instead, we merely wanted to share our thoughts and best tips based on our own exhibition experiences. A number of our team members have previously worked in the exhibition industry for some of the largest exhibition companies in the world and it’s from this exposure and insight, that we wanted to share some of our thoughts and opinions with you.

If you’ve found this to be of use, please share it internally with your colleagues and don’t be afraid to give it a like and share on social media.

If you have any questions on any of the above or would like to discuss how we can work with you in developing your communication strategy, please call us on +44 (0)117 325 8328 or email our MV Pro Sales Manager, Sean Welch sean.welch@mvpromedia.eu