March 29, 2024 6:38 AM
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Creating new business opportunities

With domestic and global economic conditions and regulatory rules keeping the tradeshow industry in a state of uncertainty, creating opportunity while dealing with a transitional economy could mean the difference between staying in business and permanently shutting the doors.

friedman

Francis J. Friedman speaks to attendees at Expo! Expo!

Francis J. Friedman, president, Time & Place Strategies, recently discussed ways to deal with times of economic uncertainty and create growth opportunities. Time & Place Strategies is a business management consulting firm based in New York City. The Southwest Chapter of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) invited Friedman to share his insights during the recent IAEE Expo! Expo! in Orlando.

“Tradeshows are the only medium where the customer pays to hear a sales presentation. They are the owners of the tradeshow. And owners have expectations,” said Friedman. “Successful tradeshow brands are built on targeted markets. The imperative question is: ‘Why should I attend your show?’ If the value is high enough, I will be there.”

But communicating that value can be difficult for exhibitors. To help emphasize value, Friedman suggests show owners produce a tradeshow that is emotionally in-synch with targeted audiences.

“You must add value to get people to pay to attend. Unless the value you are offering is really good, your show will be average,” said Friedman. “High value makes it easy to move a customer to ‘yes.’ You want people to say: ‘I would die or crawl on my knees to get to your show.’”

But providing value means it first must be defined. And defining value means exhibitors must learn what their targeted audiences desire and what they are willing to pay for when resources are becoming scarce, according to Friedman. Conducting in-depth interviews of clients and potential customers can help a firm learn more about their target audiences.

Once value is defined, show organizers need to clearly articulate it and make promises in their promotional copy that evolves over time. Friedman suggests all promotional copy have a relevant context, be written in first-person and engage the targeted audience in an intelligent conversation from their perspective. Winning promotional copy would include a compelling sales argument that is leveraged against the needs, wants and desires of the target audience. And winning copy clearly must demonstrate how the show is the solution to all their problems.

“A leveraged sales argument powerfully answers: ‘What’s in it for me?’” said Friedman.

Organizers also should orchestrate the participant’s entire experience from the beginning of a tradeshow to its end. This means planning nearly every minute of every day for attendees through the show floor, educational sessions and special events with constant communication before, during and after a show.

The idea is to build a “sales funnel” from preshow engagement through post-show follow-up. During a tradeshow, various messages and promotions can keep targeted audiences engaged.

“Go where the target goes,” said Friedman. “If they use Facebook and Twitter, then you go there, too.”

Show management also must add something new to the show floor. Maintaining a clip file of good ideas can help exhibitors inject something new into their booths and keep their exhibit fresh from the show’s opening until it closes.

Show-floor kinetics also can enliven an event from start to finish. Friedman describes show-floor kinetics as the movement, action, energy and engagement that occurs between exhibitors and show attendees.

“We can’t produce any ‘corpse’ shows anymore,” said Friedman. “There is no cavalry. John Wayne is not going to come up riding to save you.”

While John Wayne won’t make any sudden appearances to save a tradeshow, Friedman’s advice can make it so a tradeshow doesn’t need to be rescued and only expanded to accommodate more growth as success continues despite economic uncertainty.

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