The Evolution of Trade Show Technology
I spent some time this morning sifting through pages of articles around trade-shows via my favorite search engine. I searched on phrases like Trade-show Effectiveness, Event ROI and Lead Capture. Regardless of the search criteria, they all lead to the same thing: useless information that you probably already know, just presented in a new way. They promise increased ROI if you practice “these 4 simple conversational skills.” They provide “insight” into consumer behavior and how to attract them to your booth. I even found a spreadsheet pre-loaded with equations that actually assigned a dollar value to “qualified leads.” How do you even classify a lead as “qualified” from a trade show? For all you know, they’re talking to you because you have the shiniest piece of junk on your table and they want to stuff their bag with all they can get their hands on. (Okay, not everyone is like that, but you get where I’m going with this). After all the searching, I couldn’t help but take a step back and ask some questions…
1. As a growing business, why are you attending trade-shows?
Well, the answer might seem obvious, but when you really take a step back, is it? I think that most answers would look something like: “I go to demonstrate my products and services” or maybe “To collect leads and chat with prospective clients.” But is that really why you’re there? Aren’t you there to differentiate your brand from your competition? It may not seem like a big difference, but what if you started treating trade-shows as brand showcases instead of lead mills. I know I ask a lot of questions, but I think these are critical (and usually overlooked) areas that need to be explored.
2. In an era of digital, wireless, hi-tech awesome everything, why is the technological aspect of trade-shows so damn antiquated?
I have absolutely no clue. Why don’t we leverage technology to help showcase our brands? I recall attending quite a few conferences in my previous job as an exhibitor. The tech expert came over and set up a box and a scanner that was similar to what I’d see in my local grocery store. Seriously? I’m going to scan a lead like a box of Twinkies and print out a receipt of their visit. “But Chris, I paid $1000 for the ‘PREMIUM’ phone scanner app”… Okay, and now you’re stuck with a list of people with maybe a couple of notes to go along with it. Is a spreadsheet really the best we can do? This isn’t brand engagement. Your brand is drowning in a sea of business cards with scribbled notes and a spreadsheet of a few hundred event attendees.
3. What about the people that are genuinely interested?
I have an idea: let’s try and figure out which attendees read the stack of brochures they stuffed in their bag, buried under 20 pens and 4 pairs of sunglasses. Not so easy, right? There is a serious disconnect between marketing and sales, when in reality, one cannot exist without the other. “Why?” I ask, when it’s these two areas of your business that define your brand. They create a living breathing brand eco-system that touches your audience in countless ways through numerous avenues. What if we knew exactly when and where your audience touched your brand?
Let’s go back to the “brand showcase” idea. It’s the end of the day, you’re packing up your booth and getting ready to leave. What if I told you that 5 people that you spoke with have visited your website before they even left the show? If I asked, could you tell me if they read the follow up email you sent them? Did they click on the link included in it? Or do you have to sift through chicken scratched business cards and remember what they were interested in from a week before. It’s here where we distinguish the right data from big data. Catching a customer in the exact moment they are engaged is priceless to any business.
When you showcase your brand, you’re putting it out there for the world to see. So why is there such a huge disconnect between trade-shows and the day-to-day business? Why do we not know more about how our brand touches to the world?
Interested in learning more? Schedule a demo of our momencio platform here or email me at czaccaria@customedialabs.com to find out how the Jedi Knights of brand engagement do tradeshows.