"How to Succeed at Your Annual Trade Show: 5 Easy Ways to Increase Leads and Sales"

Transform Your Trade Show

To Increase Sales Let me share a story with about one man who developed a new, innovative process that changed his business forever. One day, Dominique Demarville, a French cellar master, received a call that a cache of 170-year old wine had been found at the bottom of the sea. Intrigued, Demarville wanted to test the wine, but the testers warned that it smelled like wet hair. Nonetheless, Demarville tested the wine – hair smell and all. The wine was “sweet and fresh”. The dark, cool seas had changed the chemical compounds and transformed the wine into champagne. The sea’s “near perfect conditions” had altered the wine’s character. Today vintners in Napa Valley use Demarville’s new and innovative process boosting their sales. The good news is, you don’t rely on chance or accident… or taste wine that smells like wet hair. Now, you too, can boost annual sales with a new and innovative process. If your content marketing campaign is stuck, you’ll find out how to transform your content marketing strategy for trade shows to increase sales. Before we do that, let’s first look at why trade shows are so important.

The Value of Trade Shows: B2B Marketing’s Swiss Army Knife Trade shows are efficient and effective. They give B2B Marketers a competitive advantage. The top 3 goals for exhibitors at trade shows are lead generation, brand awareness, and relationship building. (Source: Skyline Exhibits Market Research). Most important, when done right trade shows succeed. They’re the Black Friday of the B2B Industry.

Trade Shows Rack Up Profits Before making a B2B sale… you have to reach many prospects and make numerous contacts. That’s what it takes to sell expensive and complex products and services. It helps that trade shows deliver many potential buyers to one place. That makes it easier to generate sales and boost the bottom line. Trade shows yield out-sized results. According to a 2015 Tech Marketing Priorities Report, more than any other marketing tactic trade shows deliver mammoth results. Specifically, you can earn up to 50% of annual sales from one trade show. Here’s what the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) found about trade shows: • • • •

99% of marketers said they found unique value compared to other marketing mediums 76% of trade show attendees ask for quotes 70% of trade show attendees came to buy at least one product/service 26% (0n average) sign purchase orders

Getting these results in three or four days is typical. Trade show attendees aren’t your ordinary proposes. They are mature prospects who are further along in the buying process. That means you can distribute your marketing spend more effectively. Trade shows reduce the B2B sales cycle. Selling at trade shows radically condenses the B2B sales cycle because you have so many willing buyers in one place. That allows you to allot your marketing spend more efficiently. You won’t waste money on flights, hotels, and auto rentals, all of which eat into your marketing budget. And converting trade leads into sales costs 38% less than sales calls. (Source: CEIR –10 Impressive Statistics to back your trade show marketing program.) As you can see, a focused content marketing strategy allows you to double down on potential profits and reduce your costs.

Trade Shows are Lead Generation Magnets Lead generation takes many forms, online and offline. And it consumes scarce resources like time and money and yields uncertain results. But trade shows make your job easier: • • •

Trade shows attract large numbers of potential customer to one place Trade shows deliver attendees who are interested in your products Trade shows appeal to decision makers

Trade shows attract many customers and prospects to one place. Large numbers of buyers swarm to trade shows like bees to honey. Why are trade shows so popular? 2

I’m sure you know first-hand that purchasing expensive, complex products and services can impact your business – positively or negatively. Trade shows address this head-on. They give you a chance to learn more first-hand, before making a commitment. Nothing beats a face-toface setting. (Source: CEIR: The Role and Value of Face to Face.) Moreover, your company’s sales staff, has not seen 88% of existing customers in the preceding 12 months. With new and existing customers converging to one location, you have a target-rich audience. (Source: Exhibit Surveys, Inc.) Having a large and captive audience improves lead generation. But having eager and informed buyers takes lead generation to the next level. Trade shows provide an eager audience interested in your products and services. According to Exhibit Surveys, Inc., 67% of all attendees represent a new prospect for exhibiting companies. A lot of potential buyers leave their offices, some traveling long distances, to see your products and services. And it gets even better. Many key decision makers attend trade shows. In fact, 46% of trade show attendees are in Executive or Upper Management. (Source: CEIR: The Role and Value of Face to Face.) As you’re aware, getting an appointment with key executives is not easy. They simply don’t haven’t time to see you. But trade shows deliver them to you … in droves. This tips the scales in your favor – significantly. But that’s not all. Now imagine what clear and consistent messaging can do to boost your brand awareness.

Trade Shows Help Boost Your Brand Nail Your Message and Boost Your Brand to Work Wonders at Your Next Trade Show Trade shows offer your business a chance to sharpen its brand with clear, consistent messaging. It provides you a chance to differentiate your business from your competitors. As you’re one business among many at trade shows, differentiation becomes even more important. That’s why you need a strong value proposition. Clear, consistent, and differentiated messages break through the clutter straight to your bottomline. Companies that have radically transformed their brands through differentiation have seen stock prices rise 250% per year, as they’ve revived. (Source: Zag, Marty Neumeier). There’s one more way branding at trade shows boosts sales. Compelling and engaging content helps build trust. Live events are golden opportunities. They help build trust with a captive audience. As Bob Burg said, "All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust." 3

We talked above how prospects like face-to-face events. They’re also beneficial to sellers. As face-to-face events, trade shows allow you to “listen to the customer”. They enable you to find out prospects’ challenges, needs, and interests. When you build your brand around your customers’ concerns, you’ll build trust. When you build trust, you’ll make long-lasting relationships.

Trade Shows Help Build Lasting Relationships To sell B2B’s complex and expensive products and services, companies have to reach many prospects and make numerous contacts before making a sale. Trade shows allow you to build relationships on a massive scale. Face-to-face marketing events help salespeople reach more prospects, and trade shows are a natural environment for meeting people. • • •

70% of exhibitors attend trade show to strengthen relationships or partnerships (Source: http://www.sageworld.com/blog) 51% of tradeshow attendees requested that a sales representative visit their company after the show (Source: CEIR Report ACRR 1152.12) 45% of attendees visit only one exhibition per year (Source: http://www.sageworld.com/blog)

If you’ve presented well, many attendees will ask to meet with a sales person. And, when you exhibit at a show you’ll find unique prospects there you can’t reach at other trade shows. So, trade shows offer you a means to meet many new and interested prospects looking for a relationship. It’s not “one and done”. I’m sure you grasp the value of trade shows. Now let’s look at how to transform your content marketing strategy to unlock that enormous financial value.

5 Ways to Revive Your Content Marketing Strategy to Increase Sales We’ve looked at why trade shows are mission-critical marketing events. Now let’s look at how you can leverage trade shows to leverage these great benefits to your advantage. #1) Target Your Audience. Communication overload is bad and increasing. Many businesses are frustrated with their content marketing results. As explained above, trade show participants are predisposed to seeking you out. They want to buy your products and services. They are ready, willing and eager prospects. But you still have to break through the clutter of information. To break through communication overload, craft your content with clarity and purpose focused on your highly motivated audience. 4

#2) Segment your motivated audience into these focused groups: “hot leads”, “leads”, and “prospects”. Segmenting your audience means you can increase your content’s utility and break away from one-size fits all content. You’ll increase “qualified leads” with relevant marketing messages. Customer-centric copy resonates with prospects and builds trust and credibility. • • •

Focus marketing content on what your customer or prospect needs to know Customize content to speak to customers’ challenges, needs, and interests Show how your strengths help the prospect solve her problem

#3) Publish content that generates leads, promotes your brand, and builds relationships. You have a highly targeted audience focused on hot leads, lead and prospects. You’ve established three separate and distinct personas. Now you want to map those personas to the trade show trifecta: • • •

Generating leads Communicating your brand message Establishing long-lasting relationships

Aligning your content this way helps you develop and map relevant content for the three personas to their buyer stages. You’ll earn more leads and sales. #4) Promote Your Brand Clearly and Consistently. Branding is an important aspect in B2B marketing content. Get it right and you’ll see benefits that come along with brand recognition. Get it wrong and you risk damaging your company’s reputation. To get it right, your messaging must be clear and consistent across all platforms and content types. Before writing any content, create a content messaging blueprint across all platforms content types that: • • •

Communicates a clear, consistent and engaging message demonstrating your value to the customer Highlights your strengths making it the centerpiece of all your marketing content Differentiates your business– explain why you… and not your competitors

When you start with a content messaging blueprint, you’ll have more compelling content because it includes all relevant marketing and selling statements about your product or service. #5) Focus on building lifelong relationships. “To build a long-term, successful enterprise, when you don't close a sale, open a relationship." (Patricia Tripp) Although trade show attendees are more motivated than your average prospects, they aren’t all ready and willing to buy. Yes, they’re interested, so you must engage them. How exactly do you do that? •

Tell potential customers your company story – from its beginnings to where it is today 5

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Write marketing content that doesn’t sell - provide useful tips, tactics, techniques Let your customers explain how your company helped them with case studies

This personalizes your company. It provides useful information. And it shows prospects how you provided real solutions to real customers and achieved real results. When you focus on keeping your clients, you’ll take the stress out of selling, you’ll shorten the B2B sales cycle, and you’ll get more referrals.

Conclusion Selling B2B products and services isn’t easy. But trade shows eliminate many of the obstacles you face in generating leads and making sales. More important, trade shows generate more leads and sales that can amount up to 50% or more of annual revenues. The simple fact is you can significantly improve your company’s trade show results. Just as Demarville introduced a new and innovative process for aging wine, you, too, can introduce a new and innovative process to revitalize your trade show content marketing strategy. And the beauty of implementing this new process is that it’s simple and has the potential for amazing results. With the five simple steps explained in this article, you can increase your sales significantly. Are you satisfied with the results you’re getting? If not, then it’s time to look at revitalizing your trade show content marketing strategy. You’ll be amazed at the results you achieve. Now it’s up to you. If you want more sales from your trade shows, call me at 256-886-4483 for a free 30-minute consult. Or, if you prefer, just fill out the convenient contact form, and I’ll get back to you within the next 48 hours.

Alex Milo, CSCP, CPL B2B Copywriter

Phone: 256-886-4684 Email: [email protected] http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandermilo http://www.b2bcopywriting-alexmilo.com

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