Accelerate your sales: using an integrated trade-show-marketing program.

• Author: Hoffman, Jeff
• Position: Advice Trade Shows

AN EFFECTIVE TRADE-SHOW program is a proven vehicle for accelerating sales, as well as building image, branding and visibility. Exhibitors that integrate other marketing components into a comprehensive trade-show program increase target visitor attraction and create conversion efficiencies. Leads generated in this manner are proven to cost up to 56 percent less to close than field sales calls without a trade-show program. Your trade-show program is the one place where every dollar you spend affects your marketing as well as your sales effort. An effective trade-show program reduces the cost of generating sales leads, as well as the cost of closing sales.

Unfortunately, the most common approach to budgeting is to go through everything and make sure that everything done last year is covered again. Instead, marketing budgets should be developed from the bottom up. In other words, start with the objectives that need to be achieved and the product or message that must get across. Allocate resources to that initiative, probably more than you would normally, and let the chips fall where they must. Narrow the focus on objectives, targeted customers, on product, on message, and on strategy

You may not be able to promote everything (make everyone happy). Whatever the marketing budget is, it needs to be allocated strategically, not spread evenly across product lines or departments. As costs increase, or budgets are reduced, efforts become watered down. Make sure your marketing budget works hard for you by focusing on doing something different. There is no principle that says a lean budget cannot be new, different and exciting. Identify the strongest-performing product, or most important message, and put more resources there to generate some real impact, To do what you did last year, but just less of it, positions you as smaller and has less impact.

Use your trade-show plan to accelerate sales and improve market share. However, you won't accomplish that by repeating what you did last year. Make your trade-show program work for you by following these guidelines:

* Simplify...