2. Agenda
Here’s what we will cover today:
•Creating a successful marketing plan
•Achieving measurable return on investment (ROI)
•Increasing sales and enhancing branding
•Leveraging social media
3. What Makes a Great Marketing Plan?
Know Your Audience!
A great PMA exhibitor
marketing plan begins with a
good understanding of the
people attending each of the
two trade shows.
6. Hours Spent on the Show Floor
Fresh Summit attendees
spent average of 10.3 hours over 2.1 days
Average
Time spent by Business Segment Hours
Retailers 10.9
Grower/Shipper/Processor 10.5
Distributor 10.2
Broker 10.4
Wholesaler 9.3
Industry Product/Service Provider 10.5
88% of Foodservice attendees spent 3 or more hours on the show floor
(up from 76% in 2010)
12. Set Achievable Goals
Top PMA Exhibitor Objectives:
• Increase company or brand
awareness
• Obtain qualified sales leads
• Maintain image, awareness,
presence
• New product introduction
• Establish a presence or image
13. Staffing the Exhibit for Success
Team Meeting YOUR WINNING TEAM!
Review Objectives
Selling is Personal
The 3 – 30 – 60 Rule
Ready to GO!
14. Classifying Leads Results in Increased ROI
A System for Classifying Leads
A Lead: Large $$$ program & short lead time
B Lead: Small $ program & short lead time or Large
$$$ program & long lead time
C Lead: Small $ program & long lead time
D Lead: Potential contact for future business
15. Measuring Return on Investment (ROI)
How PMA exhibitors measure ROI:
• Potential sales
• Number of qualified leads
• Brand awareness
• Total number of leads
The majority of PMA exhibitors realize their ROI within the
first 9 months after each show.
16. Leverage Social Media
Leverage social media
for achieving customer growth and satisfaction
18. Visits to Social Media Sites
Social Media Gaining in Usage – Promote Show
%
Frequency
Once
Three Once Several
times a Once a every Once a times a a
Visit Every day week week 2 weeks month year year Never
25
YouTube 75 (62) 5 10 17 12 16 13 2
(38)
30
Facebook 70 (68) 32 12 12 5 5 3 1
(42)
38
LinkedIn 62 (NA) 9 10 20 8 9 5 1
(NA)
72
Twitter 28 (17) 6 2 4 2 7 5 2
(83)
Numbers in parenthesis are 2010 scores.
19. Demographics: Social Media Users by Job Title
Social Media Users Combined
(53%)
Sales/Marketing Managers & Associates 50%
VP Sales/Marketing 19%
President, CEO, COO, Partner, Owner 11%
Adv./Mark. Communications Manager 10%
Director New Business Development 8%
Exhibit Manager 2%
Sales/Marketing functions are the heaviest social media users.
20. The Value of Exhibitions
Exhibitions continue to provide value:
•Exhibitor cost to make first contact with trade show lead: $235 vs.
$1,039 without a trade show lead
•Exhibitor’s average cost to close a sale: $2,188 with a trade show lead
VS $3,102 without a trade show lead
•Exhibitor’s ROI from trade shows is $4 to $6 for every $1 invested.
Source: CEIR Research Data (2011) on Leads and ROI
21. Summary
Identify your target audience(s)
Create a marketing plan
Enhance your brand and messaging through PMA tools
and social media
Follow-up on leads and with post-show communication
Measure your ROI
22. Special Thanks
We appreciate the support of GES –
our Global Experience Specialists –
for bringing us this webinar!
Editor's Notes
Welcome by Kim St. George (scripted)
In 2011, 85% of attendees at Fresh Summit influenced the buying process in some way; that is they either have the final say or they recommend a purchase. This is 5% above the industry average! And if you dig a little deeper and look at the percentage of buying influencers in the specific business segments that make up that 85%, you’ll see the great potential you have. In 2011, 100% of those from both the supermarket/mass market segment and wholesalers influence the buying process in their company. More than 90% of the Grower Shippers, Brokers and Distributers that attend influence the buying process in their companies. 72% of attendees come from companies with sales over 10M!
77% are involved in the purchasing decisions at their companies, which is up 4% from 2010.
Fresh Summit attendees spent an average of 10 hours at the show over 2.1 days with the heaviest traffic on Saturday and Sunday. This has been the trend for a number of years and both the attendee and exhibitor surveys told us loud and clear that the third day is not effective. If you haven’t already seen the communications from PMA, make a NOTE that the Expo Schedule is changed this year to a 2 day show, from 10am – 5pm on Saturday and Sunday. While it is just 2 days now, the total show hours have only decreased by 1.5 hours. This means that you have 14 hours of OPPORTUNITY to meet, qualify, and promote to a high-powered audience. At the Foodservice Expo, 88% of attendees spent more than 3 hours at the show (up from 76% in 2010). This is a positive gain.
The top 3 reasons attendees go to Fresh Summit, in order of importance, is to network, to strengthen existing relationships and to see new products and services. Foodservice attendees are looking for the same things with slightly different priorities - #1 for them is to strengthen relationships, followed by identifying new products and services and then networking. One important thing to note is that there is a significant disconnect between the priority Attendees give to identifying and seeing new products & services and the importance you, the exhibitors, give to showing new products and services. It is much lower on your list of priorities according to the surveys. Here is a suggestion to match your goals with this attendee need: If you have a product or service that you have launched within the last year, consider a spot in the New Products Showcase. It is a low cost opportunity to extend your marketing reach with a high potential for return, since 87% of Fresh Summit attendees visited the New Products Showcase! PMA has three different new product packages to consider based on the amount of exposure you are looking for and your budget. Research proves that attendees consistently want to “see what’s new” at exhibitions.
25% of Fresh Summit attendees are first-timers which means a big opportunity for you!
If you’re after Gen X or Gen Y, they like texting, but if you want to reach the Boomers, email may be the most effective. At Fresh Summit, attendees’ average age is around 50, however attendees aged 35 and younger increased by 9%. So be sure to connect the delivery method, the HOW, with the WHO you are targeting. Let’s go through the list: Personal contact – most effective in motivating attendees to come and visit your booth E-marketing – companies could over use email so be careful Social media – We will talk in a little while about the specific social media “habits” of Fresh Summit attendees but obviously the use of social media is slowly becoming the most important means for you to reach your targeted audiences and build enthusiasm for your PMA event participation. Choose the platform that they use most frequently (Note that Facebook and others are blocked by many companies). Just this past October at Fresh Summit, PMA launched Xchange, a new social networking platform for the produce and floral industry where you can connect specifically with event attendees or with other members of the industry throughout the year. PMA also offers exhibitors a unique opportunity to connect with their target audience through Exhibitor Central, the PMA blog: buyers & foodservice operators tell exactly what they are looking for from exhibitors at PMA events and you have the opportunity to ask them questions and dialogue with them about their needs. These are truly effective platforms for you to use. Direct mail – postcards are still effective or a personal letter. Advertising & Public relations – these enhance awareness of your participation, particularly if you are introducing new products or services. Sponsorships increase awareness of your company and that results in greater traffic in your exhibit. We already mentioned the New Products Showcase and there are a variety of other ways to get your name/brand out there to event attendees through PMA. Every study proves that sponsorships create a favorable reaction toward your company and increase your exposure & memorability. Organize your own programs, create your own blog & special interest group
One thing PMA currently offers is “Hosted Retailer Program” that focuses on bringing those who typically do not attend PMA events; for example, key retailers at Fresh Summit and major operators/distributors at Foodservice are hosted. Let PMA know if there is someone you feel should be invited into this program. Last year 20 new retailers from 10 countries attended Fresh Summit (up from 16 retailers from 8 countries in 2010) and 8 new operators and/or distributors from 6 countries attended Foodservice Expo (2011 was the first year of this program) - The attendee list is available 24/7 and the main contact for the booth has access to a list that can be exported into excel and includes email addresses, mailing info and business types of registered attendees so that you can sort the list and send communications directly to your targets. Fresh Summit - 5 complimentary invites for every 100 square feet of rented space are provided free and you can purchase more for just $90 each (huge savings from regular rates) (Fresh Summit) Foodservice - Extra exhibit staff badges distributed to prospects & customers “ Best of Show” program: use the criteria as you are planning your booth to ensure you are on target with messaging, staffing, etc. Winner receives excellent exposure (examples: priority booth selection for the following year, advertising in FRESH magazine) Get your message out to the Press: To obtain a media list for each event, contact Meg Miller at [email_address] in late June for Foodservice and in mid-September for Fresh Summit. Create an electronic press kit to share with press or include press kits in the Fresh Summit press room. Use PMA provided press release templates to help craft your message. Those are already posted in the Foodservice Marketing Toolbox and will be coming soon on Fresh Summit. You can upload press releases in the online directory (up to 5) or Rent an Industry Meeting room at Fresh Summit and hold a press event onsite to generate excitement/get your message out to the media.
The online directory is located on our website and available for anyone to see throughout the entire year. Many attendees use this tool to make their plan of who to visit on the show floor. The amount of information they can get about your company is completely dependent upon how much information you enter. Basic information is automatically included, like your company name, booth number and general contact info. You have the ability to add a description about your company, products or services, select all the products you offer, upload press releases or a company logo. The more you enter, the greater your changes of getting on a prospective customers “radar” as attendees can search this directory by products or keywords. The info you enter here is also used for the printed directory distributed to all attendees onsite at each event and on the mobile app that anyone can download. Foodservice Printed Directory Deadline – June 5, 2012 at 5pm EDT Fresh Summit Printed Directory Deadline – August 31, 2012 5 pm EDT
In order to truly know if you’ve been successful, you must set goals with measureable results. Goals should be realistic and achievable. Objectives should define your overall PMA show participation, and may include a target for new sales leads or contacts; reinforcing your brand and company image; introducing new products or services or establishing your presence if you are a new company. You and your team may be setting both company and individual goals. Each one of these objectives needs to be allocated to your staff in terms of numbers per hour: for example, if new products and services are present, a goal may be that booth staff are to make a certain number of presentations per hour. Also, defining expectations as to the number of leads per day is a good idea if that is your objective.
Armed with your achievable goals, make sure you schedule a time for your entire exhibit team to get together prior to show. In this meeting, review all your plans for the exhibit – product demonstrations, promotions, new product introduction, prospects & customers coming to the booth – and assign responsibilities to everyone during the hours the show is open. Once again, go over all your company objectives and get everyone to understand that achieving them is each person’s responsibility. Remind them to be approachable and have good body language when dealing with attendees. Review the principles of exhibit selling: first you sell yourself, then you sell the company, then you sell the product. Remind them that selling from the exhibit is unique and prospecting is expected – so be sure they’re comfortable with that. Review the 3-30-60 Rule of Exhibiting: you have 3 seconds to make eye contact, then take 30 seconds to qualify the prospect with questions about their buying needs, and 60 seconds to give your “elevator pitch”
To ensure that your company achieves its maximum return on investment, it is important that leads be reviewed, assigned, and followed up on promptly. Classifying leads can help expedite this process, and make sure that leads are not forgotten. Why classify leads? Ensures timely and accurate follow up Leads have a limited life. Prioritize the follow up A and B leads immediately after each PMA show (your competition probably has some of the same leads). There are many studies that show that an alarming number of leads generated at exhibitions are never pursued – don’t let your organization be one of these statistics!
PMA Xchange is a new social networking space developed specifically for the fresh produce and floral communities. Xchange provides opportunities to connect with global industry professionals, form peer groups, share and gain information, raise your professional profile and recruit talent.
These are 2011 survey results showing the frequency that attendees visit or use several social media platforms.
Some final demographics about social media…as you can see, sales and marketing functions are the heaviest users of social media, but the audience is changing and expanding as quickly as social media is. 1/23/2012
According to the most current data from the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), tradeshows or exhibitions continue to be an extremely cost-effective way to generate leads and close sales.
