Ever attend major exhibitions?

Hi All, 

Just wondering whether anyone has attended a major exhibition lately and whether they would care to share some advice on the process e.g. pitfalls/things to watch out for? 

We've been doing ok for our first year of business and as such we're thinking about exhibiting at one of the major Digital Marketing Events in the calendar, Ad:Tech, in September -- few problems with this though: 

• It costs £6k for two days
• I'm still deliberating as to whether we "are there yet". 
• We would likely have to hire a sales team for the day -- from past experiencing with the events we are looking at some major Companies attending e.g. Sky, Co-operative, Playboy and a lot of cash rich, but less well known, brands etc. 

I know we will come away with business from this, but again our price points are firmly geared to tailoring to small to medium sized business at thismoment in time -- the majority of players at Ad:Tech, the BIG SEO Companies, are offering services (services which are exactly the same as ours), for upwards of ten to fifteen times the cost... e.g. £2k-£10k per month. 

Has anyone ever attended or exhibited at a large scale event? Anyone have any words of wisdom? 

It's obviously a big step for us, but I'm pretty sure it's a year too soon...it's also not something I'm going to step into lightly...

Gareth, I would say, trust your gut. You feel it's too soon then it is (IMO)

We are currently looking at the possibility of exhibiting at the CIPD conference later this year, and the questions we are asking are

• who will be attending?
• are they our target market?
• are we flexible enough and have the infrasructure to handle a sudden increase in contracts?
• do we have the bodies to man this (expensive!) resource and benefit from it's full potential?
• can we afford it not to work?

So far we have decided that yes, it is our target market, yes we do have the infrastructure to work with potential "good news" but for us at this moment in time it may be a financial bridge too far... and we a slightly risk averse at the moment.

As for enough "bodies" to man the stand, that's also a concern. I have been to many many exhibitions over the years where the exhibitors have plainly wasted an huge opportunity by having the wrong people on the stand, people who don't know what they are talking about, or by not having the right attitude to what they are doing there... if you do use an outsourced sales force, then make sure you get to see them in action first! the last thing you want is expensive bodies hiding away at the back, or frightening people away, or spending hours with the "wrong sort of customer".

One thing we are considering is sharing a stand with other small businesses, perhaps those we outsource to anyway (trainers and HR consultants). Is that something you could think about? Perhaps for you it might be web designers?

Don't under estimate how time consuming exhibiting is too.. it takes a LOT of planning and organising before you even get there.. and of course without a good follow up system, you loose much of the benefit... I can't tell you how many times I have left details at an exhibition and never heard from the stand owner ever again!

On the plus side, from past experience I know that done well, exhibiting can be a HUGE boost to a business. You need to have a clear plan of what you want out of it, and how to achieve it. Then several pairs of comfy shoes each and you're off!

Hi Gareth,

I agree with Liz, gut feeling, if you feel it's a year too soon then wait another year. Good to start thinking ahead but if the exhibition is on every year then I'd wait until you're sure it's the right time and you're ready for it.

Have you been to this particular exhibition before, as a visitor?

It could be part of your preparation to go and chat with the exhibitors with the aim of exhibiting next year in mind? You'd see the strengths and weaknesses of the exhibitors' approaches, can learn from their experience and network. Foot in the door strategy.

wisdom? 

story of the hare and the turtoise!

Gareth, you've been very generous with you time so here is a bit of payback.

it is direct and pretty blunt but hopefully constructive

Think how you could better employ the £6k

A  corporate video "You don't need to pay through the nose for effective SEO" professionally produced showing the company has depth and a bit of gravitas

A PR campaign around that.

A top end telemarketeer - target 25 large names (including exact contacts) you want to get in front off. Success here is all in the preparation. Break it into smaaler groups that you can really manage the process

A whole series of mini videos you can put up on your site addressing singular SEO issues. These should be from as many different people as possible to support breadth and depth. The ones on 4N are fine but too long -  90-120 secs - short and snappy.

Change you website  - why be provincial? why be technical/geeky - the website is dull - I'm sure it is wonderfully optomised but what traffic do you get and is conversion acceptable?  IMHO you are wasting your above the fold space on the home page.

Getting rid of your 0800 number or providing an alternative - via 4N I did a poll about numbers - most people use mobile and most get charged for calls to 0800 and many won't call them - weird I know but true also avoid new style numbers (I've still got some) but I'm running a split test against traditional but if you are changing/adding go for the traditional. 

Getting a call forwarding/answering in place. Nothing is more annoying as a client than not getting the call answered or the ability to leave a message quickly.

Make more of your team's experience - the benefits you have brought - people still buy into people.

Having seen you in action I think there is probably a great business there waiting to be discovered. Do the simple things first.

Hope this helps.

I rarely give testamonials but I added one to your profile.

How do you know that?

You need to be prepared to lose the money you invest, that way, if/ when you do get business from it, it's a bonus.

I personally would attend as a vistor this year, see what you think, get the exhibitor list from their website and see who is also exhibiting - do you have something they cannot offer?

Can you get any business just from visiting and collecting busienss cards to approach at a later date?

Hi Gareth,

We're looking at the exact same thing this year with the biggest trade show, and as a new fairly company there is an element of "risk" behind it. I've fortunately been to all these exhibitions we're looking at  in the past so know whats there at the moment.

First of all, can you afford it? Bearing in mind Exhibitions are a relationship building tool and there will probably only be a few options to instantly sell. A lot of organisations use it to advertise to their current client base and also to prospective clients "See you at such and such a show" to try and convince them that you are a great business to work with.

However it won't deliver instant return and you'll need to then attend for at least 3 years otherwise it will just seem odd to clients that you were there one year and gone the next.

I disagree as well with having a team to man the stand for you, 12 hour days constantly being positive and chasing after business? Do you really think that there would be anyone more motivated to do this than yourself? I would cover your office and get yourself on the stand meeting your clients, send a mailer to all your clients before hand to try and get them to meet you at the show. That way they won't be suprised to phone your office and find you not there.

Bit higgledy piggledy but I hope that helps.

James

Guys, this is why I #Love4N - I can alway rely on quality, to the point advice from lot's of more experienced heads than mine. I think as always it's case of me trying to run before I can walk -- enthusiasm is rarely in short supply, it just needs to be reigned in and applied with more focus on end goals and results. 

@Liz: Thanks for the great advice. I definitely take on board the idea about hiring out a sales team for the day and this was one of my major concerns, that they wouldn't be able to communicate the passion and enthusiasm I have for CWM. 

The sharing idea is gerat, but having spoken to Ad:Tech I don't think this is something they would let us do, the stand space is fairly limited as is...

And yeah, the planning aspect is huge and this in itself is going to be what's probably going to sway me to not exhibit this year. 

Thanks again for the advice, and if you go to CIPD I hope it gives you the type of return you are looking for (please report back with your results/experiences!). 

@Eleonore: Thanks Eleonore - I haven't attended the event before, but I have been a part of the organisation behind exhibiting there.

I used to work as a Senior Account Manager for one of the largest Digital Marketing Agencies in Manchester/London, and they used Ad:Tech for securing about 40-50% of their business each year. I think attending with a truck full of business cards and a my crazy E-Commerce manager friend may well be the best option this time round. 

@Chris: Your advice, your bluntness and your to the point attitude is as always, spot on, Chris -- if I can say one thing from having spoken to you briefly, and having observed your posts on this forum, you get to the point aout what needs to be done. 

On the website, you're dead right -- it's garbage (I designed it myself, can you tell?). We've only been in business for about 8 months, and the focus has been predominantly on driving sales and working to get the most from our clients websites -- that focus definitely needs to be applied to our own website. From a conversion view point I was limited by the theme and I'm not practicing what I preach (which as far as I'm concerned is some sort of sin).

We will be launching a brand new web presence with the help of CBJ Digital (I can't recommend Michelle Burgess and this Company highly enough) hopefully as the year moves on. 

£6k is a lot of money in anyone's start up year, and the suggestions you have listed all need to be addressed -- ideas and enthusiasm are certainly never in short supply, but as you have clearly identified structuring them is the problem (and that's something I'm aware of). 

And yeah, the telephone number -- I'm on that! ;)

@Lee: Again, much like Chris, always blunt and to the point and again, I've been carefully observing the advice you hand out throughout the forum. 

Very true -- having observed the performance of the sales team at my last agency working the crowds at this event, I know there is money to be made (and a lot of it); whether we have the resources to be able to tap into that at the moment is something else entirely. 

Thanks for the input. 

@Janet: Thanks for this and as above, this looks like the way we will go this year. Knowing the way the event is structured, I don't think there will be much difficulty in moving around the floor and poaching a bit of business here, there and everywhere. 

@James: Thanks for this, James. 

This is another problem. We have quite a sizeable base of clients, but again many of them are only just moving out of what I would call the set-up phase stage, so significant results are still to follow...Ad:Tech is a bit of a "look at the clients we have on-board" event and to be honest, short of a major nationwide franchisor and a relatively big trailer company, we are a little bit short in that respect. 

The after-show aspect has been considered but again, it always helps to have a dedicated sales team on-board to follow up leads -- again, this is something we're lacking.

As above, I am concerned about hiring a sales team for the day and the inevitable un-educated enthusiasm they may have for the brand, even if I got them moving on a strong commission basis. 

Thanks again for the advice, James. 

@All: Great advice everyone -- I will be meeting with a few former colleagues on Wednesday next week to discuss the finer details of this, but by all accounts I will probably pass this one by this year (I will still be attending) and focus on building a foundation first. 

If you want a second opinion on your new website when in beta don't hesitate to ask.

This point is so obvious but is often missed.

The website is for your clients what do they want to see?

Definately get more up about your and the teams track record.

People buy people.

Be visible and communicate.

The trouble with Big exhibitions ( we've done Internet world at Olympia twice but not this year) is that you are a small pebble on a very big beach.

This week we exhibited at a local business show with great buzz. We contacted with loads of people including 4n's.We ran free filming offer just for the day

and a free seminar session - many thanks to Paul Sampson for doing a great job. We have some good local leads to follow up next week.

My advice is plan in advance, set up early and enjoy the buzz and keep it local.

This is fantastic advice from above Gareth. At the end of the day, you've posted on here, you'll get good advice, opinions that you want, opinions that get you thinking and you are still going to have to make a decision yourself. So trust yourself to make the right decision.

Maybe contact exhibitors to see if they have exhibited before and had previous wins could assist in your decision making? That may shed some light on financial return.

If you do go ahead...
In terms of your communication, ensure you are clear with your message and that your people representing your business are adaptable to the personalities they will come into contact with. If the market is technical, ensure your people can talk technical/jargon. You've got to communicate on the wavelength of the customer and know enough about industry jargon to be seen as credible. Ensure people who are communicating about the business, service levels, process for delivery etc do so in a uniform way.

You'll need an attraction mechanism to get people to your stand and a function of accruing data of people in the hall. Think of running a competition of some description to 'hold people at the stand' so that you have an immediate talking point that enables rapport to develop. 

I hope  you found that useful Gareth. All the best, it must be an exciting time for you!

Regards

Nick

Loads of good advice in previous posts.Ii would add (or possibly repeat) never exhibit at a show you have not previously visited. If you think it's too soon for your biz you are most probably right. Multiply the space cost by 4 to give you a rough idea of the total cost.

Good Luck

Jim

Send me your email address and I'll forward you a free e-copy of my book "Winning the Exhibition Game".