Licensing Expo: Getting Results

Licensing Expo puts Twitter posts about their show on the front page of their website.

Today I was reading the Twitterstream from Licensing Expo and was pleased at how enthusiastic and positive the exhibitors were in their comments as they returned from the show.  Licensing Expo has wisely retweeted these positive comments, and they can all be seen at www.twitter.com/licensingexpo.  Here are a few:

• DrewLitton: I had a great time at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas and met some great people. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
• PriscillaDesign: Licensing International Expo – An amazing, inspiring, challenging and motivating event to experience.
• jfreedman: Just got home from the Licensing Show in Vegas. Good show. Lots of opportunity for branded virtual goods. Let’s discuss
• dearcalliope: is driving back to LA today after a great Licensing Show. Now the work really begins!
• eBrandingqueen: Vegas licensing show was a great event. Protecting brands is a start, but making $ through licensing deals is the way to secure your future
• MarathonMkting: Licensing Expo 09 rocked! Great job Advanstar and all the Exhibitors!
• MktgMavn: Great Licensing Expo 2009. Lots of great meetings! Impressed with show turnout and others are too. Looking forward to 2010 …
• DSTChuck: Just got back from Licensing show in Vegas– I felt like a kid in a candy store! #LX9
• mrryanusa: Licensing Expo was great! Full of fun ideas

Licensing Expo was so proud of these twitter messages that they put them right on the front page of their website.  It’s great to see Licensing Expo deliver on the promise of trade shows:  Face-to-face meetings that lead to serious business.

Custom Modular Exhibits: Similar Impact, More Flexibility Than Traditional Custom Exhibits

20 page White Paper shows why the exhibiting world is going to modular exhibits.

Trade show exhibitors get similar impact and more flexibility with custom modular exhibits compared to traditional custom exhibits.  That’s one of the findings of the new 20-page White Paper, “The Trend to Custom Modular Exhibits,” written by Tradeshow Week magazine and sponsored by Skyline Exhibits. 

In a survey for the White Paper, Tradeshow Week asked if any exhibitors had used both custom modular exhibits and traditional custom exhibits.  Those who said they had used both, over 90% said they had similar or greater impact than with their old traditional custom exhibit.    The survey found that two-thirds of the exhibitors (67%) who have made the switch from Custom (full-scale) to only using Hybrid Custom or Custom Modular say their exhibit had a “similar impact” and 27% even said their exhibit had “greater impact” after switching to only Hybrid Custom or Custom Modular exhibits – only 7% felt their former Custom (full-scale) had greater impact.

Moreover, in addition to getting similar impact, exhibitors with modular exhibits got more flexibility.  Almost three out of four exhibitors (73%) who have made the switch from Custom (full-scale) to only using Hybrid Custom or Custom Modular say the result is “Greater flexibility”.

Want the complete White Paper?  Just go to www.skyline.com/Request/Custom-Modular-White-Paper-Brochure/.

Turn Trade Show Attendees Into Booth Visitors With Better Promotions

Because some trade shows have reported double-digit attendee drops during this economic downturn, you need to work harder at getting the attendees that do come to the show into your trade show booth.

One of the most powerful tactics is Pre-Show Promotions – marketing your presence before the show.  So we’ve gathered together 29 intriguing Pre-Show Promotion ideas shared by your peers when surveyed for our new White Paper, What’s Working in Exhibiting.

 

Want more traffic to your trade show booth? Get creative with Pre-Show Promotions.

So many ways to reach them

 

There are many Pre-Show Promotion activities beyond the standard ad in the show directory.  Here are a wide variety of Pre-Show Promotion mediums available to you that exhibitors told us they use to reach their target audience before the show:

“Direct mail, emails, and phone calls.”   unknown

“Send out new catalogs prior to a show.”   Ana Tenreiro, LeStage

“Mailings, door drops, bag inserts.”   Henry Gardiner

“Mail outs, web tag line, e-mail tag line.”   Paul Shepherdson, Scale-Tron Inc.

“Email, traditional mail, printed advertisements in journals, online banners.”   Sean P. McCall, Integrated DNA Technologies

“Increased targeted emailings, and full page ad in trade publications.”   Maria Pensato, Viconics Inc

“Targeted e-newsletters.”   Cathy Campbell, WAGO Corporation

“We do small ads in secondary tabloids.”   Steven Helton, National Cremation Society

“Trade advertising.”   Andrew Lippman, EverNutrition, Inc.

“Trade show section on our website.”   Don Strahle,     Acoustical Solutions, Inc.

“Advertising on the web page.”   Pat Stewart, BD Power

Great Pre-Promotional Strategies and Tactics

Your peers are great experimenters and have come up with methods that get more people to their trade show booths.  Here’s a sampling of some of their best ideas.

These exhibitors remind us that trade shows are about the personal touch.  They reach out to clients and best prospects before the show, to invite them for a visit, or even set up meetings and demos:

“Book meeting with important clients and prospects before the show & education session at our stand.”  Valerie Danger, Nstein Technologies

“We send our existing customers tickets to the show to encourage their attendance.”  P. Gibson, Intle Design

“Informing – usually through e-mail – of our intent to exhibit and setting up appointments/dinners.”  Jeff Lawson, Spongex

“Email blasts reminding people of our booth location, including free access to the show, and trying to set up meetings.”  Ryan Marsh, Bright Systems

“Letting some of our good leads know we will be at the show.”  Joyce Collins, Chestnut Cove Log Homes

“Direct notification of potential attendees by mail or email of new developments, offers and/or technology improvements to our processes and products.”  David Stellwagen, The Buckhead Coffee Company

“Call large specific potential customers to invite to stop by.”  Ash Luthra, LSL Industries

“We try to personally contact leads that we feel are a good fit for each show.”  Mary Hamor 

“We send out mailers followed up with phone calls inviting them to a product demo and contest entry.”  Dan Laninga, Cygnus Incorporated

“Very targeted, personal contacts to specific individuals.”   Christine Stamm, Wisconsin Department of Commerce

These exhibitors use their Pre-Show Promotions to give prospects a compelling reason to visit their trade show booth, with a compelling or creative offer:

“We are sending early mailers. At the show they will get a card to attendees with a show special discount.”   Kathi Graham, JCI Industries, Inc.

“Invitation cards with a gift draw upon presentation of the card.”  Margo Renoir

“Pre mailers “Bring this card to booth for a free …”  Jessica Adkins, Sodexo

“Mailings and participating in “new product” announcements.”  Bill Wilson, Carriage House Products, Inc

 “We send show planners, thumb drives loaded with company information and a letter from the company owner.”  Scott Williams, SiteHawk

“We sometimes offer special events at our booth, such as bring an object for us to do a live demo on.”   Jamie Churchill, Cold Jet

“Scratch-off mailers in which attendees don’t scratch until they get to the booth. They win product discounts and various other prizes.”   Emily Riess, Assay Designs, Inc.

“Using a theme that stems off our advertising campaign and focuses on our show objectives.”  Mary Sheldon, Mate Precision Tooling

Use Pre-Show Promotions to get more people – and more of the right people – into your trade show booth.  You have many ways to reach out before the show, and lots of ways to creatively and personally appeal to your clients and prospects.

New Skyline Trade Show Display Products

Skyline Launches the Largest Batch of New Trade Show Display Products in its History

Trade show exhibitors’ needs continue to change. Exhibitors want their display to be lighter, easier to set up, and more durable — but also more attractive, versatile, and functional.   To meet exhibitor’s needs for more innovative trade show displays, Skyline completely retooled its new product development approach. The expanded and revitalized team rallied around a design-centric philosophy that puts solving exhibitors’ urgent, yet unmet needs at its core.    That renewed effort has paid off in spades, as Skyline has nearly simultaneously released the largest batch of innovative new products in its history. Here are some of the new products recently introduced:

Mirage® Backlit The World’s Most Durable Pop-Up Display Backlit for Impact!
Exhibitors can now better break through the clutter with illuminated mural graphics. Mirage, the most durable pop-up trade show display in the industry, can now be backlit with bright, durable, low-energy-using LED lights to attract even more attention. When Skyline had its own Skyline Best New Product Contest at EXHIBITOR2009, Mirage Backlit was chosen by attendees as the best new Skyline product. Read more about the Mirage® Backlit …

DesignView™ Presentation System Branded Graphics, Built-In Presentation Screen
With front or rear screen projection, DesignView™ combines a short-throw projector with a big, branded graphic that has a built-in screen area for seamless, impactful messaging. The ability to have a branded, changeable, portable presentation system brings a new level of flexibility and impact to trade show exhibitors and event marketers. Many EXHIBITOR2009 attendees immediately grasped the potential DesignView offered them. We repeatedly heard attendees exclaim, “I love it! I don’t have to buy graphics whenever I want to change my message!” Read more about the DesignView™ Presentation System...
	Buyers Choice Award Winner! Voted best new product at EXHIBITOR2009

InterfaceFLOR® Carpet Tiles Modular Exhibits Meet Modular Carpet
Hello Mr. Modular Exhibit, meet your new friend, Modular Carpet. That modularity means a greater level of design without investing in custom carpet, as different colored carpet tiles can be arranged into a custom pattern, or even cut to make a completely unique look that enhances your exhibit design. Best of all, between its 100% recyclability and available rental in Las Vegas and Orlando, it’s the most environmentally sustainable carpet available for trade shows today. More about InterfaceFLOR® Carpet Tiles…

Myriad™ Inline Banner Stand Designed for Impact, Flexibility and Merchandising
As if banner stands weren’t portable enough already, Myriad gives exhibitors a full inline display with just two lightweight banner stand units. Myriad’s center banner adds graphic area with little additional weight and no extra hardware. Best of all, exhibitors can show literature and products on Myriad’s variety of repositionable shelves and literature holders. Read more about the Myriad™ Inline …

Convey™ Information Placard  Versatile Messaging System
Convey was the surprise hit in our EXHIBITOR2009 inline booth. Because we were already featuring 6 other new products, we did not aggressively promote it — but that didn’t stop a few attendees from judging Convey their top choice. Exhibitors really like the compact size, style, and ability to show a small graphic, literature display, or even a digital picture frame. They can be used at a stylish marker in a trade show booth, or as stand-alone kiosks in retail applications, office lobbies or at special events. More about Convey…

What’s Working in Exhibiting: New Skyline White Paper

To find out what’s really working in exhibiting now, we worked with Tradeshow Week to survey and analyze the best practices of today’s trade show exhibitors.  The response was amazing.  You and your peers shared over 1,000 new tips, filled with methods to make the most of a trade show program.  94 of these tips are included in the new 32-page What’s Working in Exhibiting White Paper.

Skyline has just published the new 32-page What’s Working in Exhibiting White Paper.  Click here to get your copy.

The Two Big Questions:  How to Increase Results and Stretch Exhibiting Budgets Most of all, exhibitors shared their best advice for 7 key parts of a trade show program.  Here’s the gist of what your peers said is making their trade shows more effective in each exhibiting topic: Exhibitors said they had most success boosting their results with pre-show marketing and show selection.  Show selection also was a key method to stretching exhibiting budgets, as was reducing booth staffing expenses, and saving on display shipping.  Further successful methods are related in the White Paper.      Show Selection  This was the only facet of exhibiting that was frequently mentioned as a key driver in both improving results and reducing costs.  Survey respondents on average are going to 2.2 less shows in 2009, about 15.2% less.  As one exhibitor commented, fewer shows can be a good thing: “We did fewer shows, but with a greater presence.”  Budgeting   Exhibitors reported they are trimming their 2009 budgets by 9.2% on average.  Those who are decreasing their budgets outnumber those increasing by 4 to 1.  However, about half are keeping their budgets the same.  Other than reducing their number of shows, the two most popular methods of stretching their budgets are to reduce booth staff expenses and to save on shipping with lighter weight displays. Measuring Results   90% of exhibitors said they are doing some sort of measurement.  The key: Create a process and formula to actually measure and report sales generated from trade show leads.  Exhibitors who could show sales to justify their trade show program actually were twice as likely to get their budgets increased instead of decreased.  As one exhibitor said, “The only successful justification is sales revenue.  One good sale will pay for a full show’s marketing.” Lead Management   Best practice:  Put more effort into following up your leads.  When exhibitors focused on lead follow-up, more of them actually increased than decreased their budgets.  Lead management elements included persistent, planned follow up, a good CRM / database program, and a person responsible for it.  Note:  these are the same elements needed for measuring results! Exhibit Design   Less really is more.  Exhibitors reported their primary ways to change exhibit design that improved trade show results was to go more simple, including a more open and less cluttered layout, and exhibit graphics that are bright, clear and straight to the point.  Most exhibitors are also going for more flexibility to easily change graphics and booth configurations. Booth Staffing  By far and away, exhibitors say sales people make their best booth staffers, followed by their top management.  Exhibitors are getting better results by improving how they select staffers, communicating their goals before the show, and booth staff training.  Said one survey respondent, “We pick the ones that have proven track records and set high expectations for any newcomers.”  Promotions  Exhibitors rely most on direct mail and email for their pre-show promotions.  When asked which at-show promotions are working best, exhibitors liked free giveaways / drawings, discounts, and demonstrations.  One exhibitor described their proactive pre-show marketing thus: “We identified targets and reached out to key attendees before the show.  We invited key prospects to lunch/dinner meetings to have more in-depth conversations off the show floor.” Much of marketing is taking risks and experimenting.  Your peers have been doing just that, and this new report lets you tap into their recent successes and failures.  Take advantage of the wisdom of crowds, and get yourself a copy of the What’s Working in Exhibiting White Paper.