While SEO and internet marketing is the most cost effective form of advertising a small business or an SME can do (due to everybody in the 21st century searching for what they want and where they want it, via Google) it cannot make up the entirety of your marketing strategy. As risk must, by necessity, be amortized across a variety of advertising mediums.

What these additional advertising mediums are, will depend on the industry you’re in. For some companies an advert in the local paper might still work. For others, putting fridge magnets into local letterboxes might bring a great return. For other still, TV or radio might be the ticket. But when it comes to face to face marketing, the best return on investment by far can be found by exhibiting at an industry specific trade show.

Visitors to trade shows are qualified business professionals who have taken time out of their busy schedules to come to a venue specifically to review the latest products and services pertinent to their company. Which means that when they’re standing in front of your trade show booth…they’re ALREADY A WARM LEAD.

The challenge of course is how to get them to your trade show booth in the first place…

The trade show sales paradigm can be split into the following four quadrants:

1. Advertising / Marketing.
2. Public Relations.
3. Sales Promotion.
   
4. Personal Selling
   

Note: when done well, the delineation between these four quadrants blurs so as to be practically indistinguishable.

Advertising can best be defined as the non-personal communication of information through paid marketing channels to promote a product or service to a defined audience.

A common advertising and marketing mistake made by companies exhibiting at trade shows is when they try to be ‘all things to all men’ in their pre-show advertising (and thus diffuse their overall message and smother their ‘call to action’). Either that or they indulge in egocentric ‘flag waving’ or branding, in the vain hope that their logo alone will be enough to attract visitors to their stand.

Well, I hate to break it to you, but unless you’re Sony or Apple or Google, etc…your brand alone probably isn’t going to cut it…

To make your exhibiting at a trade show a success, your pre-show advertising and marketing efforts needs to be focused on a SPECIFIC PRODUCT OR SERVICE. So you’ll need to ask yourself what product or service of yours would the people attending THIS PARTICULAR TRADE SHOW be interested in…and why? Because if you can find that sales ‘hot button’ and keep pushing it, again and again and again, in ALL your advertising and marketing leading up to the trade show, your chances of having a constant stream of visitors to your trade show booth will increase exponentially.

Oh, and remember to differentiate between ‘Features’ and ‘Benefits’ in your pre-show advertising, too. Features can be defined as ‘what your products or services do / offer’. Benefits can be defined as ‘WHAT THOSE FEATURES WILL DO FOR THE CUSTOMER. And it’s this latter point that your potential customers are interested in, not the former. This is a very common mistake in below the line advertising, so make sure you avoid it.

Another way to ‘get your message out there’, is to utilize (and exploit, damn it!) your channel partners. You can do this by mailing off the back of their database and sending out Direct Mail (DM) or Direct Response (DR) marketing literature or Electronic Direct Mail (EDMs), in exchange for placing their company logo on all your pre-show advertising, and – if appropriate – giving them some branding or product placement on your trade show stand itself.

You can also run a short-term SEM (pay per click) campaign online to get people to visit your stand. This is a terrific way of tying in your on-line marketing / SEO strategy with your physical presence at a ‘neutral’ venue like a trade show.

And finally, ensure ALL your advertising and marketing in the lead up to the trade show explains:

•          which trade show you’re going to be exhibiting at and why.
•          what products or services you’ll be demonstrating / launching at the trade show.
  
•          the dates and location of the trade show.
  
•          your individual stand number at the trade show (ideally with a map, if space permits).
  

This way you make it EASY for visitors at the trade show to find you.

Public Relations (PR) can best be defined as the practice of managing the flow of information between a company or organization and the general public. PR is used to gain a company positive exposure or ‘spin’ by releasing information that is (theoretically) of public interest, and thus does not require direct payment to a third party for its dissemination.

The vanguard of all PR is the humble press release. These are predominantly used in a ‘scatter-gun’ tactic to carry the desired PR message to media outlets both large and small. When exhibiting at a trade show you’ll need to issue a press release to notify the general public of your involvement at the trade show in question, and also to give them a reason why they should care, along with a call to action. This latter point is important as its this that will prompt the magazine or website in question to actually post your press release in its entirety (lazy journalism 101!) or else to quote from your press release in a story about your involvement in the show.

When it comes to companies exhibiting at trade shows however, PR usually comes in the form of “free” editorial coverage or comments in newspapers or trade magazines and web-sites, offered in exchange for adverts purchased in the publication in question.  (Thus proving the old adage that nothing in life is ever truly free...). And, while ‘advertorial’ is rightfully deemed to be a ‘dirty word’ by journalists and marketing managers alike…it is nonetheless a necessary evil to get your message out there. So suck it up and factor this “free” PR into you advertising budget.

Occasionally, if a company is large enough, or their PR agency well enough connected, it is possible to gain PR through radio and television stations. Though usually a company will need to be releasing a hot new product at the trade show to gain this type of attention, as it usually falls on the shoulders of the trade show organizer to rustle up the mainstream media.  (For example when digital television was officially launched in Australia at one of my trade shows in 2000, and I had Senator Alston, the Minister for Technology and the Arts cutting the ribbon and officially opening the event, I had a suitably powerful ‘hook’ to get channels 7, 9, 10, ABC and SBS to turn up in force and cover the show for their main news bulletins – and the news showed long queues of people waiting to come in, before I allowed Senator Alston to cut the ribbon to ‘open’ the trade show).

Sales promotions are defined as short term activities that attract attention to a particular product or service over a finite period of time.

Sales promotions usually run in conjunction with an advertising and marketing campaign, and – where a trade show is concerned - usually combine special offers or giveaways only available at the specific trade show in question. These promotions are offered to create a sense of urgency in the mind of the prospective buyer, such as “Lease this photocopier from our stand today and you’ll get an on-site warrantee worth $1,500 thrown in for the first 12 months of your contract…free!”, etc.

Trade shows offer a particularly vibrant environment for sales promotion, due to the ‘hands on’ nature of the selling experience and limited time-span of the event.

Personal selling is the activities your staff engage in while manning your trade show booth, and is quite possibly the single most important element of the entire trade show paradigm (well, along with post show follow-up…but that’s a discussion for another article!).

To truly appreciate how important personal selling is in the grand scheme of things, you need to ‘walk the floor of a trade show’ and OBSERVE the sales dynamic in action.

I have to say that walking the floor of a trade show I’ve produced is my favorite part of the entire event, because whenever I stand there looking at the throngs of people and the rows upon rows of exhibitors, I’m always overwhelmed by the genuine feeling of pride that comes from my having headed up a team that created something from nothing. Because a dynamic, bustling trade show really is a beautiful thing to behold. So, if you’ve never taken the time to walk around a trade show yourself, I’d advise you to do it ASAP, because it’s there, at the ‘coal face’ of the event, that companies capitalize on their investment…or flush their money down the toilet.

It never ceases to amaze me how much money companies invest in trade shows via advertising / marketing, public relations and sales promotion…only to blow it all by staffing their booth with sales people who – not to put too fine a point on it – don’t want to be there!

Many sales people are good at their job, when their job involves calling on a client and doing a ‘sales presentation’, etc. But that doesn’t in any way mean they’re a natural ‘people person’. Which is exactly what you need to be when manning a trade show booth.

Trade shows are a ‘sales neutral’ environment, where traditional ‘hard sell’ techniques only serve to scare prospective customers away. Trade shows are a venue where ‘always be closing’ needs to be replaced in the sales person’s mind with, ‘always be listening’. Perhaps Dale Carnegie put it best when he said, ‘You have one mouth and two ears, use them in proportion’. Because never has that truism been more relevant than to a person manning a trade show booth. And, while all companies love to sell on the trade show floor, the vast majority of sales they make will come during their post show follow-up, long after the trade show is over. Therefore the sales person’s raison detre while manning their booth is not to close sales (unless that opportunity is there to be taken, of course), but to smile, listen, ask questions, gather contact information, get the prospect excited about the products and services on offer…and establish a personal rapport so they or a colleague can call on them at a later date to close the deal. Because trust me, there is nothing more likely to make visitors walk away from your trade show stand than if your sales staff go all ‘Tom Hopkins’ on them. Which is why populating your trade show booth with knowledgeable sales staff who are genuinely friendly, have a great smile and are easy to get along with, will gain you far more business in the long run, than staffing it with hardcore ‘closers’.

Because unless they have a ‘personality’ in their bag of tricks along with a 101 ‘test closes’…you’ll be best served by keeping them in reserve for the post show follow-up…where the fun really begins!

Want to master SEO? Then book in yourself or your staff for some SEO Training Sydney today! Sydney's #1 SEO Trainer Brian M Logan shows you everything you need to get your company website on the first page of Google. SEO Training can be in-house (we come to you) or classroom based (you come to us).

Or you can always call us on 0425 204 887 if you want to leave your SEO Sydney requirements to the experts. Your website's 1st Page of Google results are guaranteed in writing in the contract.

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While still a ‘Job Description’ in its infancy, the requirement for a ‘On-Line Community Manager’ (who handles a company’s ‘On-Line Community Engagement’) no longer causes businesses to ask “What does an On-Line Community Manager do, and should I get one?” but rather “What makes a great On-Line Community Manager, and where can I find one?”.

However, as the role of ‘On-Line Community Manager’ has only existed in its present form in the last couple of years, the job description varies greatly from one organization to another. Below is a rough list of things you'll need to keep in mind to help ensure you hire the right person to successfully manage your on-line community engagement needs.

1. Your community must have a purpose, and this purpose can’t just be ‘so we make more money’. Rather it must exist to fill a need in the community you’re attempting to reach.
2. Use whichever tool or platform your members are most familiar with and most likely to use daily. In other words, don’t use something archaic like MySpace, just because you have fond memories of it. And by the same token, don’t use the latest shinny new web 2.0 platform, just because you want to feel ‘relevant’. As always, GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE.
3. Communities are about the people who populate them. So create lots and lots and LOTS of NEW, ORIGINAL CONTENT for them (and encourage them to comment on it, discuss it and share it with their friends). There is no other way to do it.
4. Build personal relationships with your community, and especially with your top web 2.0 contributors. Getting lots of ‘likes’ (etc) is driven by the quality and relevance of your content, and impacts greatly on their ability (and interest) in interacting with that content.
5. Encourage debate and do not be afraid to push the envelope with the content you post. Challenging / edgy topics get the most comments and likes and re-tweets, etc. So don’t become a prisoner to the PC brigade. Have an opinion.
6. Building an on-line community is a never ending process. So build it slowly and steadily and don’t expect to be the most popular kid on the block in only a few months. Anything on the web takes 6-12 months at least to gauge and chart growth. And community engagement (like trust) takes years.
7. Stop selling! There's nothing that'll stop people reading your blog or Twitter feed or Facebook page quicker than trying to sell them things EVERY TIME YOU POST. If you must push a product or service, try to keep it to 30% sales and 70% giving away or linking to information that is relevant to your audience. Keeping in mind that the information you post doesn't always have to be yours (though it's better if it is) because some of the best blog posts are ones that reference something somebody else has written elsewhere on the web, with you adding your 2 cents into the debate (based on your experience and expertise). But remember internet etiquette 101: if you use or reference someone else's content: always, always, ALWAYS link back to the source (thus sharing the Google love with those who deserve it). 
8. Give away free (relevant) information and content to your community at every opportunity to give them a reason to keep coming back. In the Small Business and SME space, People 'Like' /  'Share'  / Link To individual pieces of content, far more than they 'Like' / 'Share' or Link To a company or a brand. The more you give to your community (without asking for anything in return) the more inclined your community will be to come back or share what you've posted with their friends. 
9. Encourage members to recruit friends. The best way to grow an on-line community is by referrals. So create a referral strategy which rewards members who invite their friends and link to your content.
10. The web is a visual medium. And if, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’. Then rest assured that, 'A video is worth a thousand pictures'. So populate your website and web 2.0 platforms with lots of video content as well as relevant, SEO optimized written content. Ideally every page should have a video, as this helps engage your audience. These videos should be short (1-3 minutes tops) and stick to a single subject or topic. The people in your community are busy, so spoon-feed them bite sized chunks of content.

To quote Spiderman, ‘With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility’. So never use your admin powers unless absolutely necessary.  Nothing is guaranteed to make people check out  quicker than an overpowering web 2.0 Administrator who deletes content that he doesn’t agree with.

Want to master SEO? Then book in yourself or your staff for some SEO Training Sydney today! Sydney's #1 SEO Trainer Brian M Logan shows you everything you need to get your company website on the first page of Google. SEO Training can be in-house (we come to you) or classroom based (you come to us).


Or you can always call us on 0425 204 887 if you want to leave your SEO Sydney requirements to the experts. Your website's 1st Page of Google results are guaranteed in writing in the contract.

Enjoy this free article? Great! Don't forget to Like it, Tweet it and LINK to it from your blog or website. Your sharing of the page with your friends is greatly appreciated! :)