Trade Shows, Marketing opportunity or pain the rear?

For years (from 1969 till 1996) Pailton grew organically without ever attending a trade show. About 16 years ago, Pailton exhibited at the IAA commercial vehicle show in Hannover. We have been exhibiting at this Bi Annual event ever since. If you ask around within the company, if it is worth exhibiting at this show, you will most likely get the same mixed response you would get form most SME’s.

One of the biggest issues is tracing enquiries that lead to new business or expanded business back to the show, or to a particular event to justify the return on the investment in going there in the first place. Our last expedition to this show was somewhat disappointing, which could well have been attributable to the general economic downturn. However after a review of the meetings that did take place, and one definitive new customer gained from the show, we have decided not only to go again, but indeed to several other shows this year.

Trade shows are one of those things that if you are going to do, then do it properly or not at all. Budget stands are perfectly functional, but will they attract passing trade and make you stand out from the rest of the Chinese and Turkish component manufacturers all doing the same? Also, if you don’t bother telling anyone you are there, how will you ensure footfall to your stand? If you don’t differentiate yourself, how will anyone know your USP?

This year we are extending our budget for the stand design and build, planning on a campaign to promote our presence, including an enhanced entry in the show guide.

A previous post talked about Social Media, and the opportunity to use social media to promote your presence at a show can be a pretty powerful tool, if you spend the time researching your targeted customers.

We will also be exhibiting at FDIC 2012(Fire service Training forum and Exhibition) in Indianapolis. We only have a small stand, but we have splashed out on a reusable pop up display stand with US specific roller banners. We have created an event on face book, befriended all the manufacturers on Facebook and followed them all on Twitter. We frequently mention them all in posts and Tweets to promote their presence and ours as well as the event itself. Think about it, would you mind if one of your suppliers advertised your presence at a show for you? No body minds you mentioning their name to all your followers. We have also used Linked in to invite specific contacts to our stand, and will be using our YouTube channel to post videos of the event before, during and after, all the while posting and tweeting about the show. We will also be encouraging the visitors to the stand to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, so that subsequent posts and tweets have a wider reach.

We will also be exhibiting at Busworld Russia 2012, and will be doing the same things. Russia is a whole new market for us, so the benefits should be easily measureable. We are planning to make sure we find and invite as many of the target customers as we can, just hoping that they will stop by is like playing roulette with your mortgage money.

If done correctly then trade shows can pay off. The cost however is not just the stand space and build, someone has to book hotels flights, stand space, order parts, order promotional items etc, quite a lot of administration, in addition to the cost of travel, hotels, and the personnel manning the stand and not actually doing their normal jobs, then the recovery time to catch up on the work not done when at the show. It all sounds pretty horrific and those of you that have done trade shows know just how tiring and stressful it can be, especially for an SME. Others in the company see it all as just a big jolly, almost like a week’s holiday, eating out every night on expenses. Well it really isn’t.

So, trade shows, Excellent marketing opportunity or pain the backside? Well it depends, done properly it can produce great contacts, provide new business, open new markets, and even develop new suppliers, and working partnerships.

That’s why we are at FDIC in American Fire Truck market, Busworld Russia (surprisingly) in the Russian Bus market and IAA Commercial vehicles, extending our global reach and developing new markets. What do you think about trade shows and exhibiting?