7 Tips for Building a Winning Trade Show StrategyTrade shows are unique among the various ways Franchisors use to grow their brands and its imperative that we all develop sound strategies to ensure a successful show.
For years I have watched brands at all levels of our industry flounder with truly maximizing the ROI that is available at these events and this article will provide some of the ideas I have used that consistently deliver a high volume of qualified franchise candidates through to the closing table.
Trade shows are unique compared to other forms of franchise recruitment because they bring you face to face with interested and likely qualified candidates the moment they sense their own interest in your brand. Being prepared to engage those candidates in that moment makes all the difference.
Here are 7 tried and true tips I use to win big with franchise trade shows.
Spend time with your marketing team to develop a strategy that allows for you to drive people to the show to meet with you specifically. I often utilize social media and pay-per-click marketing to target the right groups of investors that are seeking opportunities like my brand. This begins with having a solid understanding of who your main buyer profiles are and where to find them.
I will run campaigns that drip in front of these groups that invite them to register to attend the expo using a promo code (free admissions promo codes are often provided by the show vendor). I always make sure to include a subsequent form-fill with all their info - the value of this kind of candidate is easy to see!
These candidates have high curiosity coupled with high motivation - reach out to them asap and graciously thank them for registering for the show, offer to carve out a few minutes just for them and make sure you are driving them too your booth FIRST!
These concierge-like behaviors can cement the relationships you are trying to build. They also allow for more discourse and engagement through the sales funnel and provide a kind of focus on your brand as they walk through a sea of other opportunities on the trade show floor.
2. Develop a System for Booth Engagement
Every year, every trade show, every industry has examples of poor booth engagement. Some brands are notorious for sitting in their booths, behind tables and screens, chatting among themselves, eating and drinking and even abandoning their booths for extended periods of time.
These behaviors create a barrier for the candidate to move forward and engage in a conversation with your brand. Some people are naturally shy and won't take action and ask to engage with your brand - they have to be invited to hear your brands story!
Most people attending the show don't know what they are looking for and will often dismiss great opportunities just simply based on the look of the booth or the lack of a smile from the brand representatives.
Inviting people in, snapping them out of their dazed meandering and into a real discussion is not difficult to do, but for some reason, most brands don't practice the level of enthusiasm needed to maximize booth engagement.
A little education goes a long way - dialing in a 20 second conversation about the highlights of the brand and opportunity as an "aisle" presentation to draw people in is important as well.
Remember - facts tell, stories sell!
3. Booth Design - stand out but keep it simpleTrade shows are about meaningful engagement and overcrowding your booth with gimmicks, technology, free samples, or even too many team members can really inhibit your chance to connect with the motivated investors as they walk the room.
One year our booth was placed next to another brand that ran the "Harlem Shake" on a continuous loop on a 65" TV screen FOR 3 DAYS!! (if you don't know the Harlem Shake, click here - my personal favorite is the Miami Heat version)
Its important to facilitate meaningful conversations, provide relevant information through presentations to intimate groups, and to be able to peel off the diamonds among the rough for a more engaged discussion.
This can create memorable interactions that will facilitate a more engaged follow up after the show!
The goal of the show should be to connect with as many potential candidates as you can, capture their contact information, and push them into your sales funnel as quickly as possible.
This is ultimately the goal of every brand at the show which is why it is extremely important to engage with the candidates as quickly as possible - employ a "first to market" strategy.
Redbull was the first energy drink to really hit the market in a way that cut through the noise and that strategy has made the Redbull brand synonymous with energy drinks and supplementation, extreme sports, music festivals, and tired parents of toddlers (I know because I am one) across the globe!
Still to this day, Redbull commands a market share so large that the next 3 biggest competitors combined barely scrape out an equal market share to what Redbull commands on their own.
The same thought applies here - be the first to reach out to the candidates among your fellow exhibitors and gain the greater share of engagement.
My team begins our phone campaigns in the evening of the first day of the trade show - each scan is getting a call.
Day 2 launches our SMS campaign during the day and the continuation of the phone campaign in the evening, and from their, email is also employed.
These efforts are designed to put gas in the engine of my next tip...
6. Stay in Town!
Typically, brands leave post trade show.
Their staff goes home, to the next show, to visit a franchise location, to Disneyland....
They don't stay in town for further engagement.
This has never made sense to me...
Franchisors spend so much money on exhibiting but they don't seem to consider the power of face-to-face meetings after the show in a less chaotic setting.
My team's goal is to book as many 1-on-1 style meetings with our booth contacts for the next week after the show.
During those meetings, I will review the presentation in more detail, have the candidate complete the franchise application, provide and discuss the FDD, visit an established location (if one exists in a reasonable proximity) and connect them to our existing network of franchisees for further Q&A, and book the discovery day.
This cuts 1/3 of the front of the average sales cycle I typically target AND ensures that the window that competing brands are trying to fly through is closed VERY fast!
7. Follow-up and Re-targeting
With the newest marketing technology at our disposal, follow-up has become increasingly more automated.
Aside from calls, emails, and texts, we can throw ads in front of the attendees we met through social media with relative ease in order to try and continue further engagement with new interested investors for a further 2 weeks after the show has ended.
But what about the hundreds of attendees we didn't speak with?
There can be hundreds of qualified, motivated investors that never walked down your aisle, that never gave you a chance to engage, and who could be an ideal fit for your franchise opportunity...
This is where geo-targeting comes in to the equation.
Wikipedia defines Geo-targeting as "...the method of determining the geo-location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on their location. This includes country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, IP address, ISP or other criteria."
It is possible to draw a "geo-fence" around the 4 walls of the trade show floor and trigger the delivery of your brand message to everyone who entered the show!
Its a given that all attendees are interested enough in franchising to attend the show and geo-targeting ia a relatively inexpensive layer of advertising to employ considering the potential returns if a single candidate engages with your brand.
Ultimately, the quality of the offerings of your brand, the success of your franchisees, and the future of your industry is what is going to ultimately ignite the growth of your brand, but employing these simple strategies has worked for me and I believe it WILL increase your opportunity to share those messages to a larger, more qualified trade show audience.
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