Was that trade show worth your investment?

Well it’s back to another year of trade shows:

There are plenty of articles out there discussing ways to measure your ROI for trade shows, but have you ever thought about what to do if you decide not to attend one? Do you;

Take route A:  Count the pennies in your budget, feel slightly sheepish that you didn’t attend and wait to hear if any other industry colleagues gave up the ghost this year as well?

or

Consider plan B: Start exploring an alternative that gives you the core benefits of a trade show, but in a cost effective way?

From our experience, we know many of you go down route A. So many.

And if you already take on plan b, be sure to comment below and let us know what you’re up to!

So today we want to share a trade show plan B idea with you: delivering the core trade show benefit, without actually attending a single show!

To do this, lets step back and have a think about what the real value of a trade show is to your business:

1. An opportunity to tell people about your product range
2. An opportunity to develop relationships with your customers and distributors.
3. Sell product – but if your ROI is low, you’ve probably worked out by now the real value of a show isn’t in selling product.

Point 1 and 2 are worth bearing some heavy consideration and the classic tool of relationship development, face to face meetings have now evolved to include Skype sessions or pre-recorded videos uploaded to YouTube.

Think about it, the net ‘relationship’ effect is the same (provision of information from a real person) and believe it or not, if you consistently post videos showing a bit of personality and interest, people will warm to you, develop a sense of trust, and be more likely to retain the information you provide plus be inclined to purchase your product.

How can it work? Like this:

Step 1: Create a YouTube channel for your business

Step 2: Find a friendly, interesting person (ideally a sales rep that your customers know and like) to front the videos and present information.

Step 3: Film a short (3-5 minutes max) video of this person presenting a bit of info about a new product or a ‘what’s been happening at our company’ clip.

Step 4: Professionally edit to produce a cohesive, branded video.

Step 5: Upload to YouTube and be sure to direct viewers to your website where they can download your product guide or look up their nearest representative.

Step 6: (This is the important part, and where video whoops the proverbial trade show butt) Tell everyone about this video. Not just once, but multiple ways across days, weeks and months. Here’s a few ways:

–       Send customers emails about your new YouTube channel

–       Include a link to the latest video on the bottom of your email signature

–       Place a link on your website for the channel and latest episode

–       Share on social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook. You could even promote your posts to reach a wider audience.

Step 7: Film more content, measure views, comments, shares and never look at another trade show prospectus again.

The best part of this solution- you own it, it has legs and will travel far further than the limited audience at any trade show, plus it will last well beyond the arduous bump out of any event, or expiry date of a virtual trade show.

And if you need a hand executing this, we can help you every step of the way, just ask!