The new mantra for the new millennium? “Plan, Implement and Measure.” Smart trade show pros need to step up and take actionable steps that cover each phase of pre-, during- and post-show planning. This white paper explains the key components required at each phase, from setting goals and objectives and developing a campaign brief to tips for getting buy-in and creating well-oiled measurement. Each step is designed to help you rethink the old and embrace the new by refocusing your trade show energies so you can take advantage of the opportunities created by the industry’s new reality.

1. 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL
EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
Trends, Insights and Ideas for Creating
Integrated Trade Show Portfolios
TOTO Brand Exhibit Bell Helicopter Exhibit
White PaPer Summary
The new mantra for the new millennium? “Plan, Implement and Measure.” Smart trade
show pros need to step up and take actionable steps that cover each phase of pre-,
during- and post-show planning. This white paper explains the key components required
at each phase, from setting goals and objectives and developing a campaign brief to
tips for getting buy-in and creating well-oiled measurement. Each step is designed to
help you rethink the old and embrace the new by refocusing your trade show energies
so you can take advantage of the opportunities created by the industry’s new reality.

2. 2 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
TOTO Brand Exhibit
Embracing the Strategic Upgrade:
The Power of Integrated Trade Show Campaigns
While few would label the last few years an easy time for the industry, How will you get those people on
sometimes change is necessary for growth and recovery. Out of the your list?” Clearly, a new economy
adversity of a changing economy, changing marketing departments demands a new approach—an
and changing corporate spending comes a new age bringing fresh almost wholesale departure from
opportunities for a smarter and more effective kind of engagement the model that used to rule the
on (and now off) trade show floors. The secret weapon: an integrated industry and a full-scale embracing
campaign that begins long before the exhibit is even built. of a new set of rules. “The ‘build
Smaller travel budgets initially played a key role in driving the change. As it and they will come’ theory is
companies tightened their belts, they limited their spending, sending only gone,” says Rogers. “If you’re
their most qualified, top buyers into the field. As a result, trade shows hoping for that, you’re rolling the
had smaller attendee rosters, but far fewer tire kickers. “A more qualified dice because you, the trade show
buyer blossomed out of that resurgence and more higher level Tier One manager, is ultimately going to
and Tier Two buyers came to the shows. So your quality of traffic really be held accountable for what the
got much better post 9/11,” says Mark Rogers, Vice President of Business outcome was at the show.”
Development at Global Experience Specialists (GES). Translation: “A holistic, integrated
As the shows got smaller and the quality of attendees skyrocketed, there approach is really about what
also arose a demand for more efficiency at the show. Buyers had fewer you’re going to do to get the right
days on the show floor and fewer nights in the hotel, so they began to attendees to your booth,” Rogers
strategize and pre-book their appointments in the days and weeks leading says. “And by that I mean, what
up to the show. As a result, today about two-thirds of attendees already are you doing from the standpoint
know which booth they are going to visit before they arrive. of pre-show marketing awareness
campaigns.”
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3. 3 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
Osram Exhibit
THE PLANNING PROCESS
It All Begins with Upfront Thinking, Strategic Planning and a Group Effort
Successful trade show campaigns leverage high-performance planning that mix brainstorming, strategic planning
and goal-setting. The five parts of best-in-class planning are:
STEP 1 Define Your Audience.
Before you can execute a trade show program that fills your at-show appointment book with high quality leads, you
have to define who you are trying to attract. There may be three or four different types of audience subsets that you
want to connect with. For instance, Audience A is made up of buyers, Audience B consists of influencers and Audience
C is a group of “soon to be” influencers—junior attendees getting ready to be in the Audience B role someday.
STEP 2 Align with Key Stakeholders.
The goal-setting brainstorm session should include key stakeholders from sales and marketing, customer service
and Research and Development who are involved in the show. It’s helpful to have a conversation with each
stakeholder on a one-on-one basis so they know what you’re trying to get accomplished.
STEP 3 Set Goals and Objectives.
Next, ask yourselves questions that will help you later determine if the show was successful. How many A, B and C
leads do you want? How much product do you want to sell? What type of brand awareness are you trying to drive?
What messaging do you want to convey? What is the end result that you want to walk away with after the show?
What constitutes success?
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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4. 4 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
Bell Helicopter Exhibit
STEP 4 Get Internal Buy-In.
As a savvy trade show manager, you’re expected to be prepared to drive the discussion. If you have previous
analytics, use them to validate your points. If you do not have any data, develop a log of notes and photos from
shows that corroborate your points for improvement and the expected better results. According to the Center
for Exhibitors and Industry Research, 79 percent of trade show leads are never followed up. How does your
company compare, and what’s the goal for tighter qualification of leads for greater force in follow up? From here
you can begin to create your business case.
Once you’ve developed an initial list of goals and objectives, refine it until there are just one or two key
objectives—primary and secondary goals—for sales and marketing. For example, sales wants to sell 25 product
units at the show to Audience A (primary) and collect 200 new leads from Audience B (secondary). In another
instance marketing wants to promote the company’s recent award for strong customer service among Audience
A attendees (primary), and generate brand awareness among Audience B and C members (secondary).
Finally, be sure everyone is on the same page. “Your ultimate goal is to get buy in, so everybody’s involved.
Everybody agrees to the end result,” Rogers says. “If everybody agrees to the end result, you can drive more
accountability and your percentage of success will be much higher”
A solid set of achievable goals and objectives not only provides the roadmap for the rest of the campaign, it
establishes a clear line of accountability for the sales and marketing team that will become more important
when the program is being measured post-event.
If your objectives can’t clearly answer the question, “What specifically are we trying to do?” go back and keep at it
until they do.
STEP 5 Build the Creative Brief.
The Creative Brief is a document that gives the creative team the direction it needs to drive creative campaign
development decisions. It gives the creative team the insights and inherent truths about what they believe
and what problem your client’s product and brand will solve for them. It also leads to defining what the ONE
key fact, the one message that you want the target to walk away with and remember. This in turn informs the
development of the BIG IDEA.
To quote advertising legend David Ogilvy: “It takes a big idea to attract the attention of consumers and get them to
buy your product. Unless your advertising contains a big idea, it will pass like a ship in the night.”
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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5.  | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
Below is a creative brief template you can use for your next trade show or event campaign.
Sample Creative Brief:
What do we want to happen as a result of the experience?
This should explain the overall objectives and goals i.e. what you want your audience to walk away with.
Who are we talking to?
Identify who you are trying to attract. Reference Step 1: Define Your Audience
What insights and truths do we know about the target audience that will help us?
This is where your research will play a role. Reference Step 4: Get Internal Buy-In
how do they feel about your brand now?
How do people perceive your brand?
how do we want them to feel about your brand?
How you would like to be perceived?
What’s the one KEY FACT we want the target audience to remember?
Identify a unique selling proposition here for your target audience.
Why should they believe your brand?
Come up with a good reason why they should go with your brand instead of a competitor. What competitive
advantage does your brand offer?
What kind of experience will support the KEY FACT?
This is where you need to work with the creative team to build a story. The experience will be developed
from the questions above. For example - will an interactive experience using technology for your audience
work or should you create a more personal approach using other means besides technology? Use the data
from your research to determine how to best communicate with your target audience.
how will the experience support the KEY FACT?
Justify how the experience will sell your product or service.
What is the tone and manner to take?
Describe the tone and manner the experience will convey. Consider colors, environment, architecture,
apparel, booth staff demeanor, and content. For example - friendly, approachable, professional, smart,
savvy, witty etc.
Deliverables:
Itemize what you will need to have the creative team develop. For example - booth (size), email
communication, graphics, custom elements, and name tags etc.
Budget:
Provide a comprehensive budget here and breakdown costs if possible.
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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6. 6 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
STEP 6 IMPLEMENTATION
It’s Time to Execute the Campaign
You’ve done your homework, you’ve honed your goals and messages–it’s objective and provide an
now time to bring your idea to life. environment conducive to meeting
all your top objectives.
Pre-Show Tactics
Booth Interactives. Ways to
Once you’ve scrubbed and segmented your list, it’s time to get busy
engage attendees and generate
contacting attendees.
data should also be developed in
Email. A series of well-timed emails can move attendees from awareness tandem with the exhibit design
to appointment in the months leading up to the show. Email blasts can process. These could include iPads
also help you prequalify customers so that the level of engagement at the or kiosks for data collection, on-
event is more customized. A couple of brief survey questions can open up site social media activities, photo
a line of communication that transforms a cold show floor introduction activations, touchscreens, games,
into a highly personalized attendee experience. in-booth entertainment and
Multimedia. Email blasts can also utilize online content to enrich the other activities designed to lure
pre-show relationship building experience. You can drive attendees prospects in and then deliver on
to microsites or videos that offer sneak peeks at new products or fun an experience that maps back to
elements they’ll see at the show. your primary message.
Social Media. Depending on your audience’s adaption rate for technology, Measurement Tools. Metrics
you can also push them to your social media sites like Facebook and should take top priority at
Twitter and encourage a continued conversation there. this stage. Use your pre-show
analysis to determine which data
Direct Mail. It still has an important place in the pre-show mix, too.
generation technologies your
Many companies have strict firewalls that will kick your emails back. And
audience segments will be most
some industries show a higher acceptance rate for paper invitations than
receptive to, and what specific
electronic. It’s up to you to incorporate these demographic insights into
information you want from them
your pre-show audience segmentation and analysis so you know which
(for a more in-depth look at
tactic will work best.
measurement, see page 7).
Phone Calls. Friendly phone calls may seem old school, but that doesn’t
Show Involvement. Other activities
mean they don’t have strategic value. “It’s easy to lean too much on social
that offer great exposure include
media and email, and forget about that important phone call,” Rogers
keynotes, roundtables and session
says. “But people love that. They love the sincerity that a phone call
presentations—putting your
conveys.”
company experts in the spotlight
Booth Staff. Finally, don’t forget to train your booth staff before the in the context of the show. You
show so they can deliver on the key messages set out in the brief. Rogers don’t want to set an excitement/
recommends creating a playbook for everyone working the exhibit that engagement level during the pre-
lists goals and objectives, messaging points and what is expected. show phase and not continue that
At-Show Tactics momentum to the at-show booth.
Says Rogers: “You want to drive the
The development process for the architecture and graphics that will
excitement all the way through the
comprise your trade show exhibit should convey a succinct primary
experience. That’s when people
really take notice.“
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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7. 7 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
Post-Show Tactics Post-event, be sure to send a thank you email within five days, if not
sooner. In addition, make a follow-up phone call or drop a direct mail
Immediately after the show, it’s
piece that contains a survey.
time to begin mining all of the
valuable information you’ve Finally, bring the entire team together again for a post-show meeting. Provide
collected throughout the pre- the group with an analysis of what was measured and what the outcome
and at-show processes and was. It’s key to creating accountability that the same key stakeholders
then uploading these into your who were part of the objective-setting process are in the meeting so they
company’s CRM system. thoroughly understand the data generated from the show.
CASE STUDY: BALANCED EFFORTS
Inside the integrated trade show campaign in action
A leading pet care company needed a show-stopping experience
to promote its newest line of pet foods at its largest industry event,
the North American Veterinary Conference (NAVC). GES created an
integrated marketing campaign designed to immerse attendees in
the principles of the brand—health, strength and balance. A unique
and engaging product video accompanied by in-booth “balancing
acts” brought the campaign to life and delivered award-winning
results.
Goals & Objectives
Develop an integrated marketing campaign of pre-, at-, and post-show touch points to increase brand
awareness and qualified leads while driving traffic to the booth and website. Create an exhibit that
captivates and educates attendees while distinguishing the brand as the go-to source for pet foods.
Increase veterinarian recommendations and sales of the brand’s distinct product lines.
Pre-Show
Pre-show direct mail drove traffic to the client’s website where prospects could pre-register, fill out a
survey and view a teaser video for the event.
At-Show
The dynamic booth design featured interactive components, a large-screen theater, numerous lead stations
and fabric panels to visually illustrate the idea of movement and balance. At-show activities included
acrobatic performances and a presentation of the video featuring unique shadow art performances by
an internationally acclaimed dance company. Staff training and measurement stations helped the brand
collect a record number of qualified leads, while premium giveaways aligned with the campaign theme.
Post-Show
Post-show thank you emails and post cards reinforced the brand’s message and drove traffic to its website
for additional product information. The client captivated its target audience (average length of booth
visits was 20 minutes) and doubled the client’s qualified leads from the previous year.
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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8. STEP 7 MEASURING AND REPORT
Prove Performance and Understand What Did or Didn’t Work
from the entrance and exit points
did they do and what did they get out of it? That can be a clue that you’re to the duration of time spent
within each area to the interest in
Out of who was invited and who came, next you assess what did they do video clips, to assess how well it
when they came worked. “It’s incredibly valuable to
far along did you move them through the channel? The pet food brand, understand that a certain percent
focused on small animals. How many of those did they get? trial product over another and
there’s a three percent abandon
Post-show, it’s imperative that you get your show data uploaded into rate on the product video,” says
your company’s CRM or Salesforce database immediately. There are two
ways to make this process go faster: one, get a clear understanding of
how the data base fields are set up before programming your data are the kinds of statistics that
collection devices. If you do not ask for information in the same format as brand managers need and want to
your database system… well, let’s just say that someone has a lot of know.”
post-show data cleansing and reformatting to do, says Triano. And two,
clearly define the roles and steps to processing this most valuable asset. For a government agency client
Roles should include onsite data backup to protect the precious data looking to connect with Gen Y
from corruption or general loss, to delivering raw data to a data manager taxpayers, GES researched
or partner as soon as possible after show closes. Remember, prospects audience, behavioral trends,
and current customers are waiting for a follow-up. Provide cleansed and and communication channels.
non-duplicate files to the appropriate team members. In some cases you The result? A portable game
may want this data already split by regional zip codes, products or pre series. This experience included
assigned to a sales representative, says Triano. collecting demographics, on-
demand personalized VIP cards
Other data points from the event should answer: who you talked to
started with 1-2 opinion baseline
questions, activity game and
the rewarded questions. The
experience allows real-time
VIP card has a website and plans
compound studies. Equipped with a sound dome above the monitors, show eventually.
doctors were spending 5-20 minutes on various studies. Supplying data
well.
well before the show or event.
data. You can track and report on every touch point within the booth,
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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9. 9 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
CULTIVATING CONVERSATIONS
A Primer on the Importance of Pre-show Sales Team Training
The top notch sales teams who staff your booth are customarily highly On the show floor, you get three
effective in the field. But, during the few times a year they are called on seconds to engage a stranger. At an
to work an event, they need specific preparation for working this unique initial meeting and a few minutes
and different environment to transition their field skills to the exhibit of introduction, one generally goes
floor–the dynamics of communication are different. “A lot of marketers into several stages in the sales
say, ‘We’ve got our best people in the booth, they know what to do.’ But process that includes an in-depth
those folks, as good as they are, haven’t been as schooled as they need to Customer Needs Analysis which can
be in the dynamics of the trade show or convention exhibiting process,” take several calls and lots of time.
says Jerry Gerson, a corporate training specialist and GES partner.” On the exhibit floor you get about
Here are a few ways to get your booth staff up to snuff in the months 45 seconds to get a profile match
before the event: (do they fit what you’re looking for?)
And then you’re trying to qualify
Arm Them with Data. Help them understand that today’s trade show their needs and create an experience
experience is ripe with new opportunities who are walking the floor looking that leaves the attendee wanting to
for what’s new, solutions that can work for them and exhibiting companies continue the conversation for their
who are willing to talk with them, not pitch to them, and that just one reasons, in less than 15 minutes.
attendee could make their sales year. Teach them how to effectively engage That is why making your messages
attendees before and during the event. Says Gerson: “The average attendee, clear, concise and to the point have
across the exhibiting landscape, is going to visit an average of 20 to 35 exhibits greater memorability.
at a trade show and will spend between five and 17 minutes where they have
interest. About 63 percent have buying plans, 76 percent have an agenda And finally, capture sales-useful
and two-thirds have pre-selected which exhibits they’ll visit before they even information for the field and ask the
arrive. We often hear ‘I’m going to meet with my customers–everybody who attendee “What should be our next
comes knows us.’ While it’s great to meet with current customers, they need step?” There is an effective approach
to be prepared to exploit what I call the areas of existing growth. 36 percent for working the exhibit floor and
of attendees are first-time attendees (per the Center for Exhibition Industry your staff should be exposed to it.
Research, CEIR). The old assumptions don’t work anymore.” The on-site magic really happens
Make Them Accountable. The line of accountability starts with goals and when your measurement tools
objectives and leads right onto the show floor. That’s why clear, specific enable your team to scan a badge
and focused objectives that are written and communicated to the exhibit and quickly give your sales team the
staff in advance gives them clear direction on what they are to accomplish. pre-qualifying data you collected
Be sure it’s clear to them why they are at the show, who they are trying months before the event. This leads
to attract (the target profile), what must be communicated to that target to a highly personalized, deeply
attendee, what the company is trying to bring home and how the company relevant conversation. “They come
will measure success. “If they understand what the end result is supposed in and swipe and you say, ‘Gosh,
to be—and what is the business-useful result, then you have a focus and a we already have your information,
direction in terms of performance and accountability,” says Gerson. and I understand you want to talk
about X, I’m so glad you came to
Define the Differences in Dynamics. “The intent of sales is to close the the booth. Let’s chat about your
sale,” Gerson explains. “The intent of exhibiting is to open opportunities issue,’” Rogers says. “It makes them
for sales to close.” If you explain the differences to your booth staff, they feel that we’ve listened, we care.
can learn to adjust their approach. And it also takes them out of that
A sales call appointment, for instance, can take days or weeks to schedule. cold call experience.”
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10. 10 | 7 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EXHIBIT CAMPAIGNS
STEP 7 MEASURING ANd REPORT
Prove Performance and Understand What Did or Didn’t Work
After the show wraps, ask yourself who was invited and who came? What from the entrance and exit points
did they do and what did they get out of it? That can be a clue that you’re to the duration of time spent
not communicating properly with that attendee before the event. within each area to the interest in
Out of who was invited and who came, next you assess what did they do video clips, to assess how well it
when they came? Not only what information did they give you, but how worked. “It’s incredibly valuable to
far along did you move them through the channel? The pet food brand, understand that a certain percent
for instance, wanted appointments with new, multi-doctor clinics that of attendees are interested in one
focused on small animals. How many of those did they get? trial product over another and
there’s a three percent abandon
Post-show, it’s imperative that you get your show data uploaded into rate on the product video,” says
your company’s CRM or Salesforce database immediately. There are Angela Triano, Marketing Solutions
two ways to make this process go faster: one, get a clear understanding Account Executive at GES. “These
of how the data base fields are set up before programming your data are the kinds of statistics that
collection devices. If you do not ask for information in the same format brand managers need and want to
as your database system… well, let’s just say that someone has a lot of know.”
post-show data cleansing and reformatting to do. And two, clearly define
the roles and steps to processing this most valuable asset. Roles should For a government agency client
include onsite data backup to protect the precious data from corruption looking to connect with Gen Y
or general loss, to delivering raw data to a data manager or partner as taxpayers, GES researched
soon as possible after show closes. Remember, prospects and current audience, behavioral trends,
customers are waiting for a follow-up. Provide cleansed and non-duplicate and communication channels.
files to the appropriate team members. In some cases you may want this The result? A portable game
data already split by regional zip codes, products or pre assigned to a series. This experience included
sales representative. collecting demographics, on-
demand personalized VIP cards
Other data points from the event should answer: who you talked to and an interactive journey that
before the show, what information did you get, what did people say, what started with 1-2 opinion baseline
were the trends across the show, how many people actually participated questions, activity game and
before the show, and were those the same people, or different people that the rewarded questions. The
participated at-show? You will also want to measure what happened in experience allows real-time
terms of the booth experience, from the swipe information to immediate metrics on perception rates. The
product follow up needs. By building a pharmaceutical interactive program VIP card has a website and plans
and configuring a badge scan, one GES client was able to measure trial to continue the experience post
compound studies. Equipped with a sound dome above the monitors, show eventually.
doctors were spending 5-20 minutes on various studies. Supplying data
points that supported interest trends, duration of time spent within each The kind of statistics that transform
interactive, all abandoned pathways or videos were captured as a reactive trade show program into
The doctors could even request a follow up on specific information. a proactive, holistic program that
delivers on objectives and begins
Data about your booth’s performance in terms of traffic flow per day or well before the show or event.
per hour, and interactives within the booth can reveal excellent behavioral
data. You can track and report on every touch point within the booth,
STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7
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