The World's Greatest Trade Show Marketing Guide!

It's coming soon. Read about it at www.tradeshow-marketing.com.
The official launch date is March 15. It is approaching fast.

Used trade show booths

I got a call from a client the other day looking to unload a used trade show booth. Apparently their strategy had changed and they were going in a completely different direction.

I wrote a short piece on used trade show booths on my commercial site.

Click here to read about whether to consider buying used trade show booths.

I have a question though. Anybody have any experience with great used exhibit booth buyers? I'd like to know what made it a great experience from a booth seller's perspective.

Leave a comment.

Demand for convention space waning

The sky is falling!

There seems to be a general cry about how the convention and exhibiting business is in decline and has been for a number of years. My personal feeling is that its kind of difficult to call the trend accurately given the lack of quality data. Recent reports have demonstrated that Las Vegas and Orlando have become the premier centers for large scale shows in recent years.

However, this is a good old fashioned example of good marketing verses poor marketing. Good marketing has a clear view of the intended market, a clear view of the problems faced by that market, and a clear statement of the offering of the convention facility to solve the problems of that market. Bad marketing is "build it and they will come."

It reminds me of the old joke where two hunters are confronted by a hostile bear in the woods. One hunter calmly takes off his boots and puts on a nice pair of nike running shoes. His buddy says. "Are you crazy, you'll never outrun that bear." The response. "True, but I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun you!"

I think Shreveport has the right idea. It is targeting a specific segment of the market for shows and therefore I think has the right idea.


See the full story at.Demand for convention space waning

Archery Trade Association Show in Indianapolis, and the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas.

This is a great article with insight into these large shows.

Oshkosh Northwestern - Hunting remains passion for millions

Of special note towards the end of the article is the comment on how much time he could spend as a delegate (68 seconds!) if he attempted to visit EVERY booth.

How do you help your customers prioritize who they visit at a show?

Preshow Public Relations Work - Hop-on to Exhibit at CTIA Wireless 2005 Trade Show in March

I came accross a company the other day doing some preshow PR work by the book. They put out a press release announcing their attenance at an upcoming show.

Hop-on to Exhibit at CTIA Wireless 2005 Trade Show in March

Did they do the whole job? Did they contact media to see who is attending the show? Are they tracking the traffic back to their site from the release? Is the release optimized to be found by search engines? Did they send the release to their clients to ensure they know about the show and their presence?

There are a million specific marketing programs that could be run based on this simple release.

Got marketing?

don't forget www.marketing-for-small-business.com

Tradeshow Promotional Items. Part II

Tradeshow promotional items are one area that companies spend way too much time on before a show. How many meetings to determine the style of pen, color of pen, how many pens, who gets a pen, the pen budget.

There are literally thousands of items to put your logo on. Ask yourself, does the item support your show goal? Even better, how will this item help us get more "insert show goal here" than without it?

If you haven't tried to find an item for a show online, brainstorm at WWW.BRANDERS.COM for tradeshow promotional items

Don't follow the crowd.