Mad 4 Blog

When preparing for a new marketing event such as a sales pitch, convention, seminar, trade show or demonstration, it is always a good idea to pause about three-quarters of the way through (when you still have time to make significant changes) and reevaluate your ideas. You’ve already brainstormed once, when you chose to attend your event and began planning your marketing strategies. However, once you’ve begun plotting your presentation and ordering materials, it’s important to take a step back and ensure that you’re staying on target to meet goals along the way. The worst thing you can possibly do is invest your time, effort and money in an event, only to find out on the last day that you’ve managed to lose sight of your entire marketing agenda.

When building a plan of attack over the course of several weeks or months, it’s easy to exhaust your perspective. As you progress, the ‘why’s and ‘how’s of your initial concept might be compromised, edited or even discarded. In fact, you may even lose your most valuable strategizing tool: objectivity. Suddenly, ideas that would have seemed laughable last month have found their way into your opening lines!

The way to avoid this potential catastrophe is to workshop your event. This means gathering together a group of team members who have been tasked with preparing for your event in addition to those who will be staffing it. Then, you’ll also want to invite outsiders who have nothing to do with your project. Respected industry professionals may offer valid insight, as may organizers or fellow participants of the event you’re planning to attend. Acting as a comprehensive survey group, these contributors should all take part in assessing your current status as well as your ultimate plans. You’ll want to show ideas or samples of your displays, giveaways and other promotional materials.

One good way to test your strategy is to compose a blind presentation; this is also a good time for staffers to practice speaking. Afterward, you should interview your workshop attendees to see what they would guess for your key messaging, intended outcome and prospective audience. If these assessments aren’t matching up with your goals, you’ll want to discuss how changes can be made to better present your business. Transparency is vital when attending an event for the first time; now is not your window to be clever or coy about what you have to offer.

Once everyone is on the same page, now is the time to invite your workshop to assess the outstanding weaknesses in your event presentation. That’s right; as hard as it may be to shoulder, now is the time to hear all of your potential vulnerabilities from a myriad of critics. The harder they are on you, the better. No matter what they say, it will be easier to suffer brutal honesty at this stage than to wait until you’re up in front of a panel or crowd, with your business on the line.

Don’t be scared of your workshop outcomes. Remember: everything at this point is constructive. There’s still time to tweak your presentation and discover new solutions. You’re not expected to start all over again, but conducting a workshop will give you the fresh perspective and honest analysis you need to succeed at your upcoming event.

You may be surprised to hear the above statement, especially coming from us, but it is the simple truth. In good times and bad times, a large percentage of the marketing efforts you put out into the world won’t be as effective as you had planned. What makes marketing successful is the strength of your brand and the emotional connection of your unique message.

An important thing to keep in mind is that failure should not be seen as terminal. In the world of marketing, we tend to look at failures as part of a greater growth process. It’s important to understand what aspects of your marketing endeavors failed or succeeded and then analyze your results to discover why. Many marketing efforts are actually staggered, so that continual analysis/improvement is built directly into the process. Being able to adapt as you go is always a bonus, which is why we never recommend blowing your annual budget on any one tactic. Rather, you should seek cost-effective and well-rounded strategies that will allow you to explore multiple angles and make the greatest possible impact on your determined audience.

Good marketers know that success or failure can be measured in many different ways. For example, even if your conversions aren’t hitting the marks that you expected when you began your marketing campaign doesn’t mean that you haven’t connected with your audience. Every time you engage with prospective clients, you’re building up a bigger presence and allowing them to familiarize with your business and services. Naturally, we always want these impressions to convert to sales. However, the ultimate success of some marketing techniques may not be measurable in nickels and dimes; but by introducing your brand and opening a line of communication, you’re still accomplishing invaluable marketing connections.

As always, consistent and comprehensive marketing campaigns that approach niche audiences from multiple angles over time are the most surefire way to guarantee marketing results. At Mad 4 Marketing, we offer strategic insight that will allow you to enhance brand awareness and connect deeply with your audience through targeted messaging. To address every agenda–from rebranding your company to engaging in social media or even building a complete 360° campaign–we’ve got the talent and experience to help you achieve impactful, successful marketing.

When you are planning to present your company and wares at a trade show, convention, workshop or career fair, the road leading up to the big day is typically fraught with preparation, orders, projects and last-minute arrangements. You get ready for your big appearance for weeks, making sure that everything is in order and clocking long hours. Everyone has horror stories about the night before a big event, when they suddenly realize that they can’t find their booth reservation slip or forgot to order more business cards. But there are ways to eliminate some of the hassle and make the most of your event so that all of your hard work leads to successful results.

Here are some tips that will ensure your exhibition runs smoothly to help make the experience as relaxing and rewarding as possible:

•    Determine a target audience. From design to materials to pitches, one way to rally before a trade show is to determine who you’re trying to approach. Simply making an impact isn’t enough; with a diverse array of attendants, you’ll want to be sure you interact with and impress the correct people. With this goal in mind, it will be easier to streamline your objectives and organize your preparation.
•    Keep a tight budget. Throwing a lot of money at your booth set-up or handouts isn’t the way to achieve success. By keeping a strict, low budget and only investing in what will intrigue and inform your target audience, you’ll walk away with greater return on investment.
•    Train one cohesive team. The same team who will attend your event and staff your exhibition should be on-board throughout preparation. Keeping everyone on the same page and allowing them to participate from the ground up ensures their knowledgeable performance on game day, and also builds team strength.
•    Prepare sound bites. Have you worked on your elevator speech in awhile? Now is the perfect time to train your team how to explain your business in one minute or less. The ability to create a big impact with limited time is key to succeeding on a convention floor. Unenthused or unprepared answers can undo all of the effort you’ve put into preparing for your exhibition.
•    Don’t count heads. Your purpose at an exhibit isn’t just to collect or pass out business cards; you should focus on building relationships rather than speaking quickly to as many people as possible. Although your efforts may be less measurable at the end of the day, you’ll see greater results over time by creating bonds with individuals than by prioritizing the length of your sign-up sheet.
•    Use your time wisely. From the moment you hit the floor, be prepared to work. No matter how many trips to the coffee machine it takes, your team needs to be attentive and energetic throughout the day. From set-up to break-down, trade show dates can feel like the longest days of your work year. But that’s just more reason to juice every moment for what it’s worth. If you’re not going to go for the glory, what’s the point of signing up at all?

Skyline Trade Show Tips offers helpful studies, suggestions and guidelines for optimal performance at trade shows. One article explains how you can have fun when presenting at trade shows. Although frequent trade show attendees may find the process rote, there are still a few ways to keep trade shows upbeat and exciting. Here are just a few tips from Skyline, expounded upon by Mad 4 Marketing. Because after 18 years in business, we certainly have a history with trade shows!

Guess the Hottest Booth Trend
Before entering your trade show, everyone on your team should pick a trend that they predict will be the hottest trade show trend. You can bet on types of candy being handed out or the most popular colors used in trade show displays. There are endless variations! To make your bids, you’ll be forced to consider previous trade show experiences. This will help you get into the right mindset to attend, while allowing you to reflect on prior experiences. In turn, this can help you brainstorm your own unique ways to stand out from the crowd. Once everyone has submitted their bid, you can spend the day figuring out the most popular trade show trends. One person will be declared the winner! And you’ll also gain plenty of notes about the hottest and most successful trade show trends.

Add Key Words to Conversations
Skyline suggests playing a word game where you challenge your co-workers and fellow booth staffers to interject silly or obscure words into conversations with visitors. Mad 4 Marketing thought of a way to improve upon this game. Before attending a trade show, itemize your company’s key messaging. This can be anything from a business slogan to power words that are relevant to your industry, such as “customer satisfaction” or “first in service.” Each time someone on your team uses one of the phrases in conversation, they can collect a point or cross their phrase off a bingo chart. Whoever wins receives a prize!

Count Engagement Timing
This game can be played two ways. You can walk down the center of an aisle at a trade show and count how many steps you can take before someone makes the effort to directly address you. Or, you can approach a booth and begin to pick up pamphlets or fiddle with the display while counting how long it takes for a staffer to come speak to you. The biggest advantage to trade shows is the ability to engage with your colleagues and customers. This game allows you to learn the tricks and techniques of other businesses while figuring out what will and won’t work for your own company in the future.

Ask the Hard Questions
At a trade show, it may be fun to visit rival booths and ask them questions such as ‘What are your business weaknesses?’ and ‘Why are you better than your competitors?’ (You can even interject your own company name for the second one!) Being able to freely engage with the competition is an advantage you should never pass up. This is your opportunity to find out everything you can about the companies with whom you compete–often, under the cloak of anonymity. Just be prepared to have your own answers in case they turn this fun little game back on you!