| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Four Simple Ways to Cut Your Trade Show Marketing Budget in Half
Many times when a trade show is planned for there isn't someone who watches the budget and tracks where the money goes. But, if you do want to know where your trade show marketing dollar goes and want to do better, this article is for you. You should track each expense and when you show is over hold a quick review to discover how much you spent. You might be surprised at how things add up. Here are four simple ways to make your trade show marketing budget count. If you can reduce your show spending a losing show might suddenly be worthwhile. 1. Track your deadlines and discounts. Look at your show agreement and see where you get discounts for making early commitments. A better way to look at this is the premium you pay for not being well planned. You'll see a deadline and a price before the date and an increased price after the date. You'll see yet a higher premium for getting a service on the day of the show. Keep good records of the discount deadlines and don't' miss any. That will ensure you minimize your surcharges. Keep special track of your shipping costs and ensure you have time to ship ground and still make your setup deadline. Good planning will really be worth your while and can save you easily 25% 2. Review your booth size. As your company grows its trade show strategy you may be tempted to move up to a larger booth. You may even be tempted to take the show discount (see point number 1) and take a bigger space next year. Event managers will encourage you to do this but beware! Take a look at your show results. Then consider what happens if you had two times more space. Would you get twice the traffic to the booth? Would there two times as many qualified prospects than if you had a 10 x 10 space? If the bigger booth doesn't deliver a bigger result, you could skip the expense and focus on the marketing program instead. 3. Be ruthless on your giveaway budget. Show giveaways can really eat up a show budget is short order. Often you will be focused on the item selection and not the role the item plays in your sales process. Consider the difference in cost between a thousand items you give freely to people passing by your booth and the cost of an item given to your top one hundred prospects. By focusing in on giving quality to your prospects your will remove the risk of overspending on your giveaway budget. Make it pay. 4. Skip the expensive brochure or handout. One common error is to simply bring along a large quantity of your current color brochure stock. There will be no loss of people willing to take a $4.00 brochure from your hand as they walk by. You see, they are being polite. What happens if you meet a thousand polite people? Keep your corporate brochure at home and work with a small product brochure or a custom postcard with a show special and a reason for them to keep it after the show. (Custom access to a website or a product discount works pretty well) You'll spend less and get better results. Bonus tip. Review your shows. If you attend more than one show in a year, list your shows, (with your results) and look really hard at the lowest performer. It's possible that the show may not be as relevant but you stay in regardless. If you are not getting the results from the show, you can let it go. You're not giving anything up. Spend your time to replace this show with another, more targeted, higher performing show or just use this trade show marketing money on another marketing project. None of these concepts are revolutionary or will change the face of trade show marketing. You will however do better by demanding a better accounting of your trade show dollar. Mitch Tarr is a Vancouver BC based trade show consultant who helps companies focus on getting more leads and better sales from trade show marketing programs. Go to http://www.marketing-for-small-business.com to sign up for a FREE newsletter with two proven strategies each month.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Itchin For Some Nichin The whole idea of Niche Marketing is exciting! The possibilities are endless, as there are literally millions of people surfing the web, the vast majorities of whom are here for two reasons . . Writing Marketing Copy That Sells When your prospects see your marketing materials, your brochure, your web site or your ads you want them to read them. You want prospects to read not just the first sentence but the majority of your copy. 7 Ways to Evaluate Your Marketing Plan Business owners often find it difficult to know whether their marketing tactics are working. This can be especially tricky when you use a combination of marketing activities simultaneously, or if using personal-contact tactics such as networking. Step by Step Guide to an SMS Campaign SMS is good for:? Short lead times and immediacy ? Cost effective personalised communication ? Ongoing 1 to 1 relationships ? Automated data capture and compliance ? Direct revenue and uplift opportunitiesBasic Rules for SMSIn addition to permission, there are five key elements that differentiate SMS marketing from traditional marketing. These are also the key success factors for its use. Effective List Management Can Save You Big Let's talk about how to keep your postage costs down.So far you have been following my advice and mailing to the same list more than once. The Marketing Plan and the Four P's The Marketing Plan section of the business plan demonstrates how a company will penetrate the market with its products and services. The Marketing Plan should include "the four P's" - Product, Promotions, Price, and Place. The Day I Learned to Start Saying No It was the fall of 1998 when I had just started my first business as a marketing communications writer. Most of my clients hired me for newsletters, brochures, and sales materials, but I would get the occasional request for something different. Modern Marketing With Postcards Postcards may be one of the best kept secrets of modern marketing. They produce even better results now than in the past. Three Simple Ideas That Increase Profit? FAST! Are you spending more time trying to get new clients than actually working with them?If the answer is yes, then these three simple ideas will help you.First, have you ever asked for something and got something different to what you thought you*d asked for? Or have you ever thought you had asked for something and got a blank expression or worse. 13 Lessons in Marketing, Super Bowl Style Each year, the Super Bowl provides marketers opportunity to study and learn from the games' advertisers, players, and coordinators. Super Bowl XXXVI (February, 2002) was no exception. Seven Secrets For Building Customer Loyalty In Your Restaurant Imagine how much your sales and profits would increase if each of your customers come back just one more time a week or a month. You would boost your sales by 50%. The Most Powerful Marketing Strategy Available To Small Businesses Most small business owners want to generate huge profits, with little effort and in the least amount of time. If you fall into this category then joint venture marketing is the fastest, easiest and most profitable way to do that. The Easiest Small Business Direct Marketing Tip You'll Ever Get This really and truly is the easiest (and most profitable) small business direct marketing tip you'll ever get. And when I say easy? I really mean EASY. Creating Great Charts for Persuasive Trade Show Presentations A well-designed chart can be one of the most persuasive elements of your trade show booth display and literature. It illustrates to your customers why your product is the obvious solution to one of their specific needs. Behold the Power of the Tip You are an expert. You have lots of content - even more than you deliver from the presentation platform or in your consulting engagements. To Be Successful Sell to Wants not Needs My mother used to tell me, tongue in cheek, that I never wanted anything in my life- everything I asked for was something I needed!! Think about it. We say, "I need a new car. Judge Rules in Consultant's Favor with 80-20 Rule I opened the registered letter and was shocked. My best clients were joining together in a class-action suit against me. Take It To The Customer In the past, purchasing ad space was the solution to every entrepreneur's marketing challenge. Then it was direct mail, followed by telemarketing. Marketing Lessons from Santa If a nonexistent man can change the world and millions of people with a message of joy then his marketing plan surely works. Right? Then what has Santa been doing right all these years that we can learn from? Santa's message is short--joy. Getting Paid to Promote Yourself We all know we can pay a magazine or a newspaper to run ads for us. Businesses do it all the time.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
