M

Marketing

The term “marketing” goes back to the 16th century, simply referring to the process of buying and selling at a market.

China has a rich history of early marketing practices; including branding, packaging, advertising, and retail signage.

And an early form of direct marketing was conducted by the Sears mail order business when it sent out 8000 hand-written postcards in 1892 (resulting in 2000 orders).

There are many ways you can market your presence at a trade show or event, including;

• Email marketing.
• Search engine optimisation.
• PR.
• Digital advertising.

You can even send out postcards like Sears; although don’t expect such a strong conversion rate.

Meetings

In the training film “Meetings, Bloody Meetings”, John Cleese’s character is asked by his wife: “Why can’t you do your work when you’re at work?” He answered: “There isn’t time. I have to go to meetings!”

While we are all aware of the problem of meaningless meetings, pre-arranging appointments at events with existing customers and new prospects will pay great dividends.

It is also often more cost-effective than hosting or travelling to individual meetings.

If you plan to hold the meeting at your stand, ensure the design includes an appropriate area and seating. Or find out if there is meeting space or facilities at the venue.

Metrics

See Key Metrics.

Micro-sites

A micro-site is a small topic-focused website that functions as a supplement to your primary website. It can pack a much more powerful punch than a page or even a sub-section of your website.

Usually, with its own domain, a micro-site can be entirely focused on your presence at an exhibition and act as a virtual display stand.

If you think of all the messages, graphics, products, and services that will be displayed at the actual event, they can also be featured within the pages of your exhibition micro-site.

It can be strongly marketed in the period before the event and have a useful lifespan for some time afterwards. Its contents could include:

• Focus on the products and services that will be displayed.
• Why and how to attend.
• Book an appointment.
• Highlights and benefits.
• Meet your stand team.
• Enter a competition.
• Workshop summaries and later content to download.
• Post-show images and multi-media.

Your micro-site can also act as a Google magnet around search phrases related to the event by using search engine optimisation techniques and paid advertising.

Motivate Staff

It seems the internet – and social media in particular – is awash with motivational quotes, messages, and images.

It also makes sense to particularly motivate your exhibition team to perform well.

This should begin with making them aware of the business objectives and ensuring they are fully prepared to achieve the goals.

Motivation can also be given a boost through the use of performance recognition and rewards.

Multimedia

The five main elements of multimedia are considered to be:

• Text.
• Images.
• Audio.
• Video.
• Animation.

Collectively – and separately – they can help convey your messages and make an impact within your exhibition stand design.

It is, however, important to bear in mind that exhibitions primarily provide the opportunity for human interaction and that no element of multimedia is a replacement for people talking to people.

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