Experience Issues #6: how to stop suffering at the trade shows and actually make them work for you?
You walk by the aisle.
They look you in eyes with a mix of forced hospitality and hope you will keep walking.
You start the conversation, but their mind is somewhere else.
You give your email, they give you a t-shirt.
Fun times being back in-person, right?
Key takeaway:
As much as we all crave for IRL events to finally be back in full force, nobody wants to return to the dull expo floors with roll-ups and high-top tables.
It’s 2022, time to make it a fun and strategic experience to remember! Both for the attendees and your own team.
The root cause
Someone has recently told me, that if they had a choice between something bad happening to them vs 3-days manning the booth…they would choose the first option.
I am sure it was an exaggeration (was it though?), yet it paints the picture. And I can totally get where this person is coming from.
Just recently I witnessed a show where attendees walked by out of the obligation or in search of the happy hour bar, and teams working at the booth were counting the minutes until their shift was over.
How did it come to this?
To me it’s a hamster wheel that companies have been on for years: going to the shows because everyone in the industry does so or cause they have historically sponsored it.
The internal push for such events usually comes from the founders and sales leadership, and it takes a strong character and a smart strategy to push back.
It’s time to spend more
Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom.
There are great shows, exciting booths, and engaged teams. What makes them stand out?
They are rare. We all know what events these are in our respective industries.
Companies that steal the show seem to invest beyond the bare minimum.
Teams that get the most out of it have an integrated approach to their participation.
Meaning, that companies don’t just get a 10x10 booth space and send a few sales folks with a portable backdrop and notebooks to scan the leads, but they:
Identify 1-3-5 key events where they must be present
Treat this investment not just from a lead gen perspective, but as reputation management and brand building
Build a “takeover” strategy around it: satellite events, thought leadership, content creation, and even unscalable but memorable activities. Sometimes this strategy includes getting rid of the booth space overall!
Cutting through the [internal] noise
There will always be more events than one can sponsor or even attend! There will always be a sales team coming at you with the request to go here and there. But it’s the marketer’s role to stand the ground and keep the focus (and the budget!) on what is really important.
Here are a few things that helped me navigate through tough conversations and pivot the trade show strategy:
Being transparent about the approach and getting the buy-in from the leadership early on. It usually takes a few rounds to truly explain why we won’t be doing certain events, and rather investing more in a single one.
Showing hidden costs of participation in relatively cheap shows. Human hours required to prepare and be present at events like this add up a lot to the overall budget if we think about it.
Providing the alternatives and explaining how we will get to our business goals through other tactics rather than a booth for lower costs / better outcomes.
Not declining the events you don’t believe in fully, but suggesting for the sales team to get a ticket, run a side dinner or breakfast for the key prospects with your support, but with them leading it. More often than not, the ball never gets rolling on these initiatives.
Going all out on one event you believe in, and doing your absolute best in documenting and showcasing the amazing results. More often than not, after one great performance, everyone agreed that ‘this is the way to go”
Time to question yourself
We all have different resources available to make things happen. Budget-, time- and people-wise.
Here are the questions you should ask yourself when making a decision about the event:
What are the minimum costs required to be seen and heard by your target audience at this show?
Are you able to at least break even within 2-3 quarters of the show? Feel free to use my sponsorship ROI estimation formula to calculate it.
Is it a must-attend industry event you need to be at regardless of the costs? If yes, make sure your leadership knows and agrees to it.
What percentage of your Target Accounts / ICP make up the total event audience? 30% is a solid benchmark to start with.
Is the event free to the public or paid to attend? In my experience, free to public events never generate enough ROI to justify a booth
Experience Highlights
Below are 3 great posts that sparked heated discussions in the comments! Golden nuggets are all over the place if you read carefully 😉
Nick Bennet on the ways of thinking about trade shows through the lens of integrated marketing strategy. Definitely sparked a discussion!
Julius Solaris reveals stats around virtual vs IRL events planned in 2022. Sneak peek: things are not looking good for the Team Virtual
Jason Lemkin’s tweet sums it all up about the eagerness to invest in in-person.
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Have you seen some great examples of in-person events or a brand’s presence at one? Give them a shout-out (and tag me - I want to learn from the best!)
And if not…create one and tell the world about it. We all need more conversations that elevate the value and quality of events.
See you in two weeks!
Best,
Aleksandra