Setting Up a Pre-Show Campaign

There are three levels of drawing traffic to your booth:

Level 1 – Get people to attend the show.

Level 2 – Get show visitors to come to your booth.

Level 3 – Entice show visitor passing by your booth to come inside and engage with you.

We have discussed Level 3 in detail in previous chapters relating to setting up the right booth, choosing the right giveaways, and selecting and training the appropriate staff.

My experience shows that Level 1 is best left to the show organizers to figure out. You will find it immensely difficult to make someone take time off work to travel to a show just to visit your booth unless she was planning on being there in the first place.

This blog deals with Level 2. Assuming the organizers did a good job of bringing visitors to the show, and you have the right booth set up for engagement, how can you increase the number of people who come looking for your booth?

Whatever you do, do not waste your contact list’s time by making them read an e-mail that simply says you will be at the show without giving them a compelling and personalized reason to visit you.

Here are a few methods I have used in varying degrees of success, usually initiated as an e-mail and sometimes a follow-up call, seven to ten days prior to the show:

1. Promise a personal gift – It can even be the same giveaway you ordered 2,000 of, but if you frame it as a personal gift, it could draw people to the booth. Try something like this: “Hey Bob, I’m going to be at the Vegas show next week and I have a personal gift I would like to give you. Could you stop by Monday morning at 11 am?”

2. Promote an exclusive VIP meeting – If your CEO or CTO, for example, are authority figures in your industry, you can promote exclusive meetings with them to share their insights, product roadmap, and get customer feedback. Whatever you do, do not try to invite people to “an exclusive meeting” with a salesperson. That would be too obvious. Try something like this: “Hey Bob, my CEO is going to be at the show next week and he has only three available meeting slots. I wanted you to be the first to hear about it so you could take a chance at this great opportunity.”

3. Invite people to an exclusive, private demo of your latest and greatest product – This works well with clients who see themselves as technologically advanced and early product adopters in their industry.

4. Set up a cocktail event – Go for a time slot right after the show when people are already there anyway. Invite people to an informal social gathering with drinks and snacks to let their hair down after a long day at the show. This is a great networking opportunity for your staff. Make sure to check with the trade show organizers to ensure your event is not competing with one of theirs. An alternative to a cocktail event is an early breakfast event before the show opens, if the show organizers are not holding one themselves.

Whatever invitation you send out, try to be exact about the day and time you want to meet your visitors. Sending a specific request like “See you there on Monday at 11 am?” is far more likely to elicit a response than a less urgent call-to-action like “I hope to see you there.”

Take Away Tips

Tip #1 – Your pre-show campaign should focus on getting show visitors to your booth.

Tip #2 – Use your pre-show campaign to invite visitors to receive a personal gift, promote a VIP meeting, private demo, or cocktail event.