19256 GES Whitepaper.indd

7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL
EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
Trends, Insights and Ideas for Creating
Integrated Trade Show Portfolios
TOTO Brand Exhibit
Bell Helicopter Exhibit
White Paper Summary
The new mantra for the new millennium? “Plan, Implement and Measure.” Smart trade
show pros need to step up and take actionable steps that cover each phase of pre-,
during- and post-show planning. This white paper explains the key components required
at each phase, from setting goals and objectives and developing a campaign brief to
tips for getting buy-in and creating well-oiled measurement. Each step is designed to
help you rethink the old and embrace the new by refocusing your trade show energies
so you can take advantage of the opportunities created by the industry’s new reality.
2 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
TOTO Brand Exhibit
Embracing the Strategic Upgrade:
The Power of Integrated Trade Show Campaigns
While few would label the last few years an easy time for the industry,
sometimes change is necessary for growth and recovery. Out of the
adversity of a changing economy, changing marketing departments
and changing corporate spending comes a new age bringing fresh
opportunities for a smarter and more effective kind of engagement
on (and now off) trade show floors. The secret weapon: an integrated
campaign that begins long before the exhibit is even built.
Smaller travel budgets initially played a key role in driving the change. As
companies tightened their belts, they limited their spending, sending only
their most qualified, top buyers into the field. As a result, trade shows
had smaller attendee rosters, but far fewer tire kickers. “A more qualified
buyer blossomed out of that resurgence and more higher level Tier One
and Tier Two buyers came to the shows. So your quality of traffic really
got much better post 9/11,” says Mark Rogers, Vice President of Business
Development at Global Experience Specialists (GES).
As the shows got smaller and the quality of attendees skyrocketed, there
also arose a demand for more efficiency at the show. Buyers had fewer
days on the show floor and fewer nights in the hotel, so they began to
strategize and pre-book their appointments in the days and weeks leading
up to the show. As a result, today about two-thirds of attendees already
know which booth they are going to visit before they arrive.
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©2011 Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES)
How will you get those people on
your list?” Clearly, a new economy
demands a new approach—an
almost wholesale departure from
the model that used to rule the
industry and a full-scale embracing
of a new set of rules. “The ‘build
it and they will come’ theory is
gone,” says Rogers. “If you’re
hoping for that, you’re rolling the
dice because you, the trade show
manager, is ultimately going to
be held accountable for what the
outcome was at the show.”
Translation: “A holistic, integrated
approach is really about what
you’re going to do to get the right
attendees to your booth,” Rogers
says. “And by that I mean, what
are you doing from the standpoint
of pre-show marketing awareness
campaigns.”
3 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
Osram Exhibit
THE PLANNING PROCESS
It All Begins with Upfront Thinking, Strategic Planning and a Group Effort
Successful trade show campaigns leverage high-performance planning that mix brainstorming, strategic planning
and goal-setting. The five parts of best-in-class planning are:
STEP 1 Define Your Audience.
Before you can execute a trade show program that fills your at-show appointment book with high quality leads, you
have to define who you are trying to attract. There may be three or four different types of audience subsets that you
want to connect with. For instance, Audience A is made up of buyers, Audience B consists of influencers and Audience
C is a group of “soon to be” influencers—junior attendees getting ready to be in the Audience B role someday.
STEP 2 Align with Key Stakeholders.
The goal-setting brainstorm session should include key stakeholders from sales and marketing, customer service
and Research and Development who are involved in the show. It’s helpful to have a conversation with each
stakeholder on a one-on-one basis so they know what you’re trying to get accomplished.
STEP 3 Set Goals and Objectives.
Next, ask yourselves questions that will help you later determine if the show was successful. How many A, B and C
leads do you want? How much product do you want to sell? What type of brand awareness are you trying to drive?
What messaging do you want to convey? What is the end result that you want to walk away with after the show?
What constitutes success?
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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©2011 Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES)
4 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
Bell Helicopter Exhibit
STEP 4 Get Internal Buy-In.
As a savvy trade show manager, you’re expected to be prepared to drive the discussion. If you have previous
analytics, use them to validate your points. If you do not have any data, develop a log of notes and photos from
shows that corroborate your points for improvement and the expected better results. According to the Center
for Exhibitors and Industry Research, 79 percent of trade show leads are never followed up. How does your
company compare, and what’s the goal for tighter qualification of leads for greater force in follow up? From here
you can begin to create your business case.
Once you’ve developed an initial list of goals and objectives, refine it until there are just one or two key
objectives—primary and secondary goals—for sales and marketing. For example, sales wants to sell 25 product
units at the show to Audience A (primary) and collect 200 new leads from Audience B (secondary). In another
instance marketing wants to promote the company’s recent award for strong customer service among Audience
A attendees (primary), and generate brand awareness among Audience B and C members (secondary).
Finally, be sure everyone is on the same page. “Your ultimate goal is to get buy in, so everybody’s involved.
Everybody agrees to the end result,” Rogers says. “If everybody agrees to the end result, you can drive more
accountability and your percentage of success will be much higher”
A solid set of achievable goals and objectives not only provides the roadmap for the rest of the campaign, it
establishes a clear line of accountability for the sales and marketing team that will become more important
when the program is being measured post-event.
If your objectives can’t clearly answer the question, “What specifically are we trying to do?” go back and keep at it
until they do.
STEP 5 Build the Creative Brief.
The Creative Brief is a document that gives the creative team the direction it needs to drive creative campaign
development decisions. It gives the creative team the insights and inherent truths about what they believe
and what problem your client’s product and brand will solve for them. It also leads to defining what the ONE
key fact, the one message that you want the target to walk away with and remember. This in turn informs the
development of the BIG IDEA.
To quote advertising legend David Ogilvy: “It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to
buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.”
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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©2011 Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES)
 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
Below is a creative brief template you can use for your next trade show or event campaign.
Sample Creative Brief:
What do we want to happen as a result of the experience?
This should explain the overall objectives and goals i.e. what you want your audience to walk away with.
Who are we talking to?
Identify who you are trying to attract. Reference Step 1: Define Your Audience
What insights and truths do we know about the target audience that will help us?
This is where your research will play a role. Reference Step 4: Get Internal Buy-In
how do they feel about your brand now?
How do people perceive your brand?
how do we want them to feel about your brand?
How you would like to be perceived?
What’s the one KEY FACT we want the target audience to remember?
Identify a unique selling proposition here for your target audience.
Why should they believe your brand?
Come up with a good reason why they should go with your brand instead of a competitor. What competitive
advantage does your brand offer?
What kind of experience will support the KEY FACT?
This is where you need to work with the creative team to build a story. The experience will be developed
from the questions above. For example - will an interactive experience using technology for your audience
work or should you create a more personal approach using other means besides technology? Use the data
from your research to determine how to best communicate with your target audience.
how will the experience support the KEY FACT?
Justify how the experience will sell your product or service.
What is the tone and manner to take?
Describe the tone and manner the experience will convey. Consider colors, environment, architecture,
apparel, booth staff demeanor, and content. For example - friendly, approachable, professional, smart,
savvy, witty etc.
Deliverables:
Itemize what you will need to have the creative team develop. For example - booth (size), email
communication, graphics, custom elements, and name tags etc.
Budget:
Provide a comprehensive budget here and breakdown costs if possible.
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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©2011 Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES)
6 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
STEP 6
IMPLEMENTATION
It’s Time to Execute the Campaign
You’ve done your homework, you’ve honed your goals and messages–it’s
now time to bring your idea to life.
Pre-Show Tactics
Once you’ve scrubbed and segmented your list, it’s time to get busy
contacting attendees.
Email. A series of well-timed emails can move attendees from awareness
to appointment in the months leading up to the show. Email blasts can
also help you prequalify customers so that the level of engagement at the
event is more customized. A couple of brief survey questions can open up
a line of communication that transforms a cold show floor introduction
into a highly personalized attendee experience.
Multimedia. Email blasts can also utilize online content to enrich the
pre-show relationship building experience. You can drive attendees
to microsites or videos that offer sneak peeks at new products or fun
elements they’ll see at the show.
Social Media. Depending on your audience’s adaption rate for technology,
you can also push them to your social media sites like Facebook and
Twitter and encourage a continued conversation there.
Direct Mail. It still has an important place in the pre-show mix, too.
Many companies have strict firewalls that will kick your emails back. And
some industries show a higher acceptance rate for paper invitations than
electronic. It’s up to you to incorporate these demographic insights into
your pre-show audience segmentation and analysis so you know which
tactic will work best.
Phone Calls. Friendly phone calls may seem old school, but that doesn’t
mean they don’t have strategic value. “It’s easy to lean too much on social
media and email, and forget about that important phone call,” Rogers
says. “But people love that. They love the sincerity that a phone call
conveys.”
Booth Staff. Finally, don’t forget to train your booth staff before the
show so they can deliver on the key messages set out in the brief. Rogers
recommends creating a playbook for everyone working the exhibit that
lists goals and objectives, messaging points and what is expected.
At-Show Tactics
The development process for the architecture and graphics that will
comprise your trade show exhibit should convey a succinct primary
objective and provide an
environment conducive to meeting
all your top objectives.
Booth Interactives. Ways to
engage attendees and generate
data should also be developed in
tandem with the exhibit design
process. These could include iPads
or kiosks for data collection, onsite social media activities, photo
activations, touchscreens, games,
in-booth entertainment and
other activities designed to lure
prospects in and then deliver on
an experience that maps back to
your primary message.
Measurement Tools. Metrics
should take top priority at
this stage. Use your pre-show
analysis to determine which data
generation technologies your
audience segments will be most
receptive to, and what specific
information you want from them
(for a more in-depth look at
measurement, see page 7).
Show Involvement. Other activities
that offer great exposure include
keynotes, roundtables and session
presentations—putting
your
company experts in the spotlight
in the context of the show. You
don’t want to set an excitement/
engagement level during the preshow phase and not continue that
momentum to the at-show booth.
Says Rogers: “You want to drive the
excitement all the way through the
experience. That’s when people
really take notice.“
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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©2011 Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES)
7 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
Post-Show Tactics
Immediately after the show, it’s
time to begin mining all of the
valuable information you’ve
collected throughout the preand at-show processes and
then uploading these into your
company’s CRM system.
Post-event, be sure to send a thank you email within five days, if not
sooner. In addition, make a follow-up phone call or drop a direct mail
piece that contains a survey.
Finally, bring the entire team together again for a post-show meeting. Provide
the group with an analysis of what was measured and what the outcome
was. It’s key to creating accountability that the same key stakeholders
who were part of the objective-setting process are in the meeting so they
thoroughly understand the data generated from the show.
CASE STUDY: BALANCED EFFORTS
Inside the integrated trade show campaign in action
A leading pet care company needed a show-stopping experience
to promote its newest line of pet foods at its largest industry event,
the North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC). GES created an
integrated marketing campaign designed to immerse attendees in
the principles of the brand—health, strength and balance. A unique
and engaging product video accompanied by in-booth “balancing
acts” brought the campaign to life and delivered award-winning
results.
Goals & Objectives
Develop an integrated marketing campaign of pre-, at-, and post-show touch points to increase brand
awareness and qualified leads while driving traffic to the booth and website. Create an exhibit that
captivates and educates attendees while distinguishing the brand as the go-to source for pet foods.
Increase veterinarian recommendations and sales of the brand’s distinct product lines.
Pre-Show
Pre-show direct mail drove traffic to the client’s website where prospects could pre-register, fill out a
survey and view a teaser video for the event.
At-Show
The dynamic booth design featured interactive components, a large-screen theater, numerous lead stations
and fabric panels to visually illustrate the idea of movement and balance. At-show activities included
acrobatic performances and a presentation of the video featuring unique shadow art performances by
an internationally acclaimed dance company. Staff training and measurement stations helped the brand
collect a record number of qualified leads, while premium giveaways aligned with the campaign theme.
Post-Show
Post-show thank you emails and post cards reinforced the brand’s message and drove traffic to its website
for additional product information. The client captivated its target audience (average length of booth
visits was 20 minutes) and doubled the client’s qualified leads from the previous year.
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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©2011 Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES)
STEP 7
MEASURING AND REPORT
Prove Performance and Understand What Did or Didn’t Work
did they do and what did they get out of it? That can be a clue that you’re
Out of who was invited and who came, next you assess what did they do
when they came
far along did you move them through the channel? The pet food brand,
focused on small animals. How many of those did they get?
Post-show, it’s imperative that you get your show data uploaded into
your company’s CRM or Salesforce database immediately. There are two
ways to make this process go faster: one, get a clear understanding of
how the data base fields are set up before programming your data
collection devices. If you do not ask for information in the same format as
your database system… well, let’s just say that someone has a lot of
post-show data cleansing and reformatting to do, says Triano. And two,
clearly define the roles and steps to processing this most valuable asset.
Roles should include onsite data backup to protect the precious data
from corruption or general loss, to delivering raw data to a data manager
or partner as soon as possible after show closes. Remember, prospects
and current customers are waiting for a follow-up. Provide cleansed and
non-duplicate files to the appropriate team members. In some cases you
may want this data already split by regional zip codes, products or pre
assigned to a sales representative, says Triano.
Other data points from the event should answer: who you talked to
from the entrance and exit points
to the duration of time spent
within each area to the interest in
video clips, to assess how well it
worked. “It’s incredibly valuable to
understand that a certain percent
trial product over another and
there’s a three percent abandon
rate on the product video,” says
are the kinds of statistics that
brand managers need and want to
know.”
For a government agency client
looking to connect with Gen Y
taxpayers, GES researched
audience, behavioral trends,
and communication channels.
The result? A portable game
series. This experience included
collecting demographics, ondemand personalized VIP cards
started with 1-2 opinion baseline
questions, activity game and
the rewarded questions. The
experience allows real-time
VIP card has a website and plans
compound studies. Equipped with a sound dome above the monitors,
doctors were spending 5-20 minutes on various studies. Supplying data
show eventually.
well.
well before the show or event.
data. You can track and report on every touch point within the booth,
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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©2011 Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES)
9 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
CULTIVATING CONVERSATIONS
A Primer on the Importance of Pre-show Sales Team Training
The top notch sales teams who staff your booth are customarily highly
effective in the field. But, during the few times a year they are called on
to work an event, they need specific preparation for working this unique
and different environment to transition their field skills to the exhibit
floor–the dynamics of communication are different. “A lot of marketers
say, ‘We’ve got our best people in the booth, they know what to do.’ But
those folks, as good as they are, haven’t been as schooled as they need to
be in the dynamics of the trade show or convention exhibiting process,”
says Jerry Gerson, a corporate training specialist and GES partner.”
Here are a few ways to get your booth staff up to snuff in the months
before the event:
Arm Them with Data. Help them understand that today’s trade show
experience is ripe with new opportunities who are walking the floor looking
for what’s new, solutions that can work for them and exhibiting companies
who are willing to talk with them, not pitch to them, and that just one
attendee could make their sales year. Teach them how to effectively engage
attendees before and during the event. Says Gerson: “The average attendee,
across the exhibiting landscape, is going to visit an average of 20 to 35 exhibits
at a trade show and will spend between five and 17 minutes where they have
interest. About 63 percent have buying plans, 76 percent have an agenda
and two-thirds have pre-selected which exhibits they’ll visit before they even
arrive. We often hear ‘I’m going to meet with my customers–everybody who
comes knows us.’ While it’s great to meet with current customers, they need
to be prepared to exploit what I call the areas of existing growth. 36 percent
of attendees are first-time attendees (per the Center for Exhibition Industry
Research, CEIR). The old assumptions don’t work anymore.”
Make Them Accountable. The line of accountability starts with goals and
objectives and leads right onto the show floor. That’s why clear, specific
and focused objectives that are written and communicated to the exhibit
staff in advance gives them clear direction on what they are to accomplish.
Be sure it’s clear to them why they are at the show, who they are trying
to attract (the target profile), what must be communicated to that target
attendee, what the company is trying to bring home and how the company
will measure success. “If they understand what the end result is supposed
to be—and what is the business-useful result, then you have a focus and a
direction in terms of performance and accountability,” says Gerson.
Define the Differences in Dynamics. “The intent of sales is to close the
sale,” Gerson explains. “The intent of exhibiting is to open opportunities
for sales to close.” If you explain the differences to your booth staff, they
can learn to adjust their approach.
A sales call appointment, for instance, can take days or weeks to schedule.
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©2011 Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES)
On the show floor, you get three
seconds to engage a stranger. At an
initial meeting and a few minutes
of introduction, one generally goes
into several stages in the sales
process that includes an in-depth
Customer Needs Analysis which can
take several calls and lots of time.
On the exhibit floor you get about
45 seconds to get a profile match
(do they fit what you’re looking for?)
And then you’re trying to qualify
their needs and create an experience
that leaves the attendee wanting to
continue the conversation for their
reasons, in less than 15 minutes.
That is why making your messages
clear, concise and to the point have
greater memorability.
And finally, capture sales-useful
information for the field and ask the
attendee “What should be our next
step?” There is an effective approach
for working the exhibit floor and
your staff should be exposed to it.
The on-site magic really happens
when your measurement tools
enable your team to scan a badge
and quickly give your sales team the
pre-qualifying data you collected
months before the event. This leads
to a highly personalized, deeply
relevant conversation. “They come
in and swipe and you say, ‘Gosh,
we already have your information,
and I understand you want to talk
about X, I’m so glad you came to
the booth. Let’s chat about your
issue,’” Rogers says. “It makes them
feel that we’ve listened, we care.
And it also takes them out of that
cold call experience.”
10 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
STEP 7
Measuring and Report
Prove Performance and Understand What Did or Didn’t Work
After the show wraps, ask yourself who was invited and who came? What
did they do and what did they get out of it? That can be a clue that you’re
not communicating properly with that attendee before the event.
Out of who was invited and who came, next you assess what did they do
when they came? Not only what information did they give you, but how
far along did you move them through the channel? The pet food brand,
for instance, wanted appointments with new, multi-doctor clinics that
focused on small animals. How many of those did they get?
Post-show, it’s imperative that you get your show data uploaded into
your company’s CRM or Salesforce database immediately. There are
two ways to make this process go faster: one, get a clear understanding
of how the data base fields are set up before programming your data
collection devices. If you do not ask for information in the same format
as your database system… well, let’s just say that someone has a lot of
post-show data cleansing and reformatting to do. And two, clearly define
the roles and steps to processing this most valuable asset. Roles should
include onsite data backup to protect the precious data from corruption
or general loss, to delivering raw data to a data manager or partner as
soon as possible after show closes. Remember, prospects and current
customers are waiting for a follow-up. Provide cleansed and non-duplicate
files to the appropriate team members. In some cases you may want this
data already split by regional zip codes, products or pre assigned to a
sales representative.
Other data points from the event should answer: who you talked to
before the show, what information did you get, what did people say, what
were the trends across the show, how many people actually participated
before the show, and were those the same people, or different people that
participated at-show? You will also want to measure what happened in
terms of the booth experience, from the swipe information to immediate
product follow up needs. By building a pharmaceutical interactive program
and configuring a badge scan, one GES client was able to measure trial
compound studies. Equipped with a sound dome above the monitors,
doctors were spending 5-20 minutes on various studies. Supplying data
points that supported interest trends, duration of time spent within each
interactive, all abandoned pathways or videos were captured as ǁĞůů͘
The doctors could even request a follow up on specific information.
Data about your booth’s performance in terms of traffic flow per day or
per hour, and interactives within the booth can reveal excellent behavioral
data. You can track and report on every touch point within the booth,
from the entrance and exit points
to the duration of time spent
within each area to the interest in
video clips, to assess how well it
worked. “It’s incredibly valuable to
understand that a certain percent
of attendees are interested in one
trial product over another and
there’s a three percent abandon
rate on the product video,” says
Angela Triano, Marketing Solutions
Account Executive at GES. “These
are the kinds of statistics that
brand managers need and want to
know.”
For a government agency client
looking to connect with Gen Y
taxpayers, GES researched
audience, behavioral trends,
and communication channels.
The result? A portable game
series. This experience included
collecting demographics, ondemand personalized VIP cards
and an interactive journey that
started with 1-2 opinion baseline
questions, activity game and
the rewarded questions. The
experience allows real-time
metrics on perception rates. The
VIP card has a website and plans
to continue the experience post
show eventually.
The kind of statistics that transform
a reactive trade show program into
a proactive, holistic program that
delivers on objectives and begins
well before the show or event.
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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©2011 Global Experience Specialists, Inc. (GES)