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Trade show marketing efforts and ideas are constantly changing. With each new trade show, businesses make adjustments to better their booth graphics, promotional giveaways and lead generating systems. That’s why we are always searching the Web for the latest innovations in trade show marketing. Here are some companies that we feel are truly making a difference in the way we do business:

Essentials for Effective Tradeshow Staffing

Your tradeshow booth team is the critical link to maximizing your event success. According to Trade-Show-Advisor.com, how you select, train and schedule your staff will determine whether you achieve your exhibiting goals or return home with mediocre outcomes from your time and resources.

Booth Staff Selection:

Display booth representatives carry the responsibility for greeting and pre-qualifying your exhibit visitors, establishing relationships that convert prospects into leads and then into buyers -- and personify your product’s quality and image.

Therefore, always staff your tradeshow booth with the best and the brightest from your company. Your team should be comprised of top employees who deeply believe in your product, have superior customer service skills, evoke professionalism, and fully understand your objectives.

Training:

Set aside some specific training time in the weeks leading up to the show. Begin training by sharing what will be expected of tradeshow personnel and the specific outcomes you want to achieve from event participation.

Ensure your tradeshow booth team has in-depth knowledge of your product or service by reviewing product/service data, customer feedback surveys, advertising materials, and market trend information.

Develop a thirty-second script or “elevator speech” that describes your product features and benefits. Then have everyone rehearse it so all team members can consistently, effectively and effortlessly talk about your product, explain how it helps and serves users, and discuss why it is the best solution on the market today.

Before departing for the show, review details including how to dress, when to arrive, booth scheduling, and trade show etiquette (i.e. no eating, drinking, phone calls, sitting, etc. while working in the booth).

Booth Staff Scheduling:

Identifying staffing needs correlates to the size of your display area, relevancy of the audience attending, and type of event in which you are participating. For a trade show staffing formula to help determine the number of representatives you need for effective booth scheduling, review this Trade Show Staffing Formula.

Training Tools: Helping Make Your Trade Show Effective

Planning and implementing a trade show marketing event can be a daunting task. There are hundreds of details and checklists to follow and it can feel as if every small decision made will affect the show’s ROI. The Trade Show Teacher offers businesses a wealth of training and assistance in planning their trade show marketing campaigns.

Linda Musgrove, the Trade Show Teacher, has conducted seminars at many Associations & Trade Shows nationwide focused on trade show marketing, the power of public relations, booth staff training and much more. Her company strives to help businesses effectively use trade show marketing to their fullest advantage.

One of their most popular learning tools is the educational "Trade Show Tutoring" program conducted by the Trade Show Teacher. This program is customized to fit your company's exhibiting experience & needs. The goal is to directly increase your trade show ROI by further developing your trade show marketing strategies and training booth staff to effectively engage prospects and convert them to hard sales.

If a customized tutoring program doesn’t suit your budget, the Trade Show teacher also offers a step-by step manual and CD focused on defining or improving your business’s trade show strategy, obtaining qualified leads and most importantly increasing your trade show ROI! The website also features and informative newsletter and various tips for trade show marketing.

If you are struggling with how to best incorporate trade shows into your business’s marketing plan or just want to make them more effective, we highly recommend contacting the Trade Show Teacher.

Lead Generation: Ideas For Effectively Pursuing Trade Show Leads

Following up on leads can be one of the single most important aspects of trade show marketing. No matter how effective booth graphics and show contests were, if leads are not pursued properly, the trade show would not be considered a success. It is important to reach out to prospects quickly after the show in such a way that they are receptive to hearing more about your business.

Brian Carrol is the CEO of InTouch, Inc. and the former President of Carroll Communications. From early marketing experience with Cray, Honeywell, and Piper Jaffray and with broad sales and marketing management experience since, Brian has become a leading expert on business to business (B2B) lead generation.

His B2B Lead Generation Blog features expertise related to B2B marketing, lead generation and complex sales. It is an excellent resource for reading about the latest advances in managing your trade show or other business leads. Brian researches software and database options for lead generation, profiles what other successful businesses are doing and generally stays on top of B2B marketing.

Brian’s B2B knowledge and expertise led to his first book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale (McGraw-Hill June 2006). His speaking engagements allows him to coach over 20,000 people a year on improving their business’s marketing effectiveness and lead generation strategies for the complex sale. If your business is lacking in lead follow up following a trade show, we highly recommend joining the thousands of businesses who are already relying on Brian’s blog to guide their B2B lead generation techniques.