PPB October 2018

Trade Show Success | FEATURE | OCTOBER 2018 | 75 “Trade shows serve two purposes,” says Kippie Helzel, vice president of sales at supplier CPS / Keystone Line in Erie, Pennsylvania. “The obvious [one] is meeting and seeing clients, highlighting key products and meeting potential new customers. The other is having the chance to work with your team. “In the environment of a show, the ability to have casual but pointed conversations with customers, the opportunity to thank them and ask them for their business is essential,” Helzel explains. “The same is true of our team; how we all come together, share our ideas and introduce good customers to other teammembers—this is a wonderful opportunity to take our individual energies and best ideas and help create an even stronger team.” Christopher Duffy, MAS, director of marketing for St. Louis, Missouri- based supplier Ariel Premium Supply, Inc., says, “We’re often introducing 50 to 70 new products twice a year. We commit considerable time to thinking about the presentation of the products, where distributors can touch and feel everything, and how we can also showcase our imprint capabilities, especially our multicolor imprinting.” Bill O’Donnell, sales director for supplier National Geographic Books in Washington, D.C., says, “Meeting with current clients and attracting new ones is a top priority for us, along with presenting new products.” Achieving these objectives requires a booth design that is both innovative and inviting. O’Donnell says the booth space needs to not only attract attendees but also encourage them to spend time with the products and the booth personnel. Ariel Premium staff overhauled the supplier’s booth in advance of the 2018 Expo, says Duffy, to meet two primary goals. “One, we wanted enhanced product presentation—a retail look, lighting, eye-level shelving and logo imprinting. Two, we wanted improved flow of traffic, keeping in mind how we wanted customers to move through the booth to allow them to see as many new items as possible.” Helzel says her company’s 20-foot by 20-foot booth is designed to offer maximum product display space in different areas so people have room to move around. “We also centralized the catalogs and flyers on one table, so that we would have easy access from all four ‘wings’ to be able to personally connect TOP 5 REASONS TO EXHIBIT AT TRADE SHOWS 1 Raise Brand Awareness 2 Get Leads From New Buyers And Prospects 3 See Current Clients Face To Face 4 Showcase New And Trendy Products 5 Engage In Networking And Professional Development TOP 5 EXHIBITOR CHALLENGES 1 Cost 2 Competition From Larger Booths 3 Show Floor Position 4 Low-Value Leads 5 Onsite Technical Issues CALCULATING THE VALUE OF TRADE SHOWS When 99 percent of exhibitors find unique value in what trade shows deliver to their bottom line, it seems illogical not to take advantage of trade show opportunities. Here are a few metrics to help you measure the value of your time on the floor: • LEADS GATHERED: Utilize onsite technology, or implement your own, to instantly record leads. • COST PER LEAD: Divide the total cost of your trade show presence by the number of leads gathered. • NEW CUSTOMERS GAINED: Track first-time registrants from booth visit to phone call or site visit to new order. • WEBSITE TRAFFIC: Create a landing page specific to your show marketing to track how many attendees visit your website as a result of engaging with your team on-site. • SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE: Create a show-related hashtag to track how many social media touches are generated based on on-site social media promotion. Source: QuickTapSurvey % =