Welcome to SalesFish Brand Marketing, Event Marketing and Sales, California’s most strategically-biased event planning, event management, event marketing, sponsorship sales, exhibit sales, and event marketing agency.

We serve Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle. We are very much at home in all 50 United States.

Today’s Event Marketing post comes to us from Mike Thimmesch of www.skylinetradeshowtips.com.  Mr. Thimmesch offers great advice on lead generation for your trade show:

100 Trade Show Lead Generation Ideas

May 01, 2010 | Mike Thimmesch

For most exhibitors, lead generation is their #1 reason for exhibiting at trade shows.  Exhibit marketers want leads to replenish their sales pipeline, bring in new and repeat customers, and generate sales revenue.

So to help stoke the lead generation fires, here are 100 ideas to get you more leads at your upcoming trade shows, divvied up among 5 main areas:

Get more trade show leads by how you select shows

1. Go to more trade shows outside your local region
2. Go to more trade shows, in your best vertical markets
3. Go to more trade shows, in foreign countries
4. Go to fewer trade shows, but put more effort into booth staff preparation and promotions for each remaining show
5. Exhibit at trade shows where your buyers are
6. Track leads to determine and expand in the shows with the best ROI
7. Evolve show selection to match changes in company’s best vertical markets

Get more trade show leads with your exhibit design

1. Get a bigger booth
   1. Get a booth space closer to the hub of traffic, or by a bigger competitor
   2. Get a corner booth space
   3. Backlight your trade show display graphics
   4. Design your exhibit to more boldly and clearly say why attendees will benefit from working with you
   5. Put fewer elements on your exhibit, but make the remaining images and messages bigger and more concise
   6. Use graphics with images and benefits that appeal more directly to attendees at your vertical market shows
   7. Put benefit statements on your trade show exhibit graphics
   8. Replace your tired old display with a new trade show exhibit
   9. Make your exhibit architecture more inviting to enter
   10. Pick more exciting colors on your exhibit
   11. Bring fewer products, such as only your most popular products, to minimize clutter
   12. Get a taller exhibit
   13. Add more lighting
   14. Put messages on your flooring
   15. Avoid an exhibit that looks like everyone else
   16. Keep your booth neat and clean throughout the show
   17. Move interesting equipment and technology to the outside of the booth
   18. Use a theme that gets attention and memorably ties into your competitive advantage or offering
   19. Match your exhibit message to your other marketing materials

Get more trade show leads with pre-show promotions

1. Send an inexpensive postcard offering a free gift in your trade show booth
   1. Run a banner ad on the show website
   2. Send a pre-show email blast to your clients and top prospects located close to the show location
   3. Put stickers with booth location and show info on all outgoing mail
   4. Email invitation to a pre-show microsite with targeted messages and offers
   5. Have your sales people invite their prospects to visit your booth and set up meetings in advance
   6. Send an email invitation to the show’s pre-registered attendee list for this year, and the registered attendee list from last year
   7. Use social media to reach more attendees
   8. Send half of something of value to attendees before the show, and promise to give the other half in your booth
   9. Contact your industry press and tell them about the innovative new product you will be introducing at the show
   10. Put your booth number on all your pre-show promotions: email, mail, ads, website
   11. Design more creative and compelling pre-show promotions to cut through the mailbox clutter
   12. Invite top prospects to lunch or dinner at the show
   13. Send a pre-show promotion offering a more valuable gift in the booth, but not to the entire list, but only to the subset of show attendees that match your target audience
   14. Send free tickets to the trade show to clients and best prospects
   15. Post your trade show schedule on your website with a link to sign up for appointments
   16. Ask the show for additional promotional opportunities

Get more trade show leads with at-show promotions and activities

1. Introduce a new product at the trade show
   1. Add motion to your exhibit
   2. Offer food, especially if it smells good, like baking cookies
   3. Offer drinks to your booth visitors
   4. Give your attendees something entertaining and fun to do
   5. Do an engaging demo in your booth
   6. Get your client to hold your product
   7. Go beyond sight to appeal to attendees’ sense of smell, sound, taste, and touch
   8. Add interactivity
   9. Run presentations or video loops on large video monitors
   10. Offer healthy food, not just candy
   11. Put out a candy or chocolate dish to slow down attendees long enough to engage them
   12. Offer in-booth massages
   13. Give a free sample of your product
   14. Give a free sample of a product made with your product
   15. Hire a celebrity for your booth, where the celebrity is popular with your target audience at the show
   16. Hire a celebrity lookalike for your booth, where the celebrity is popular with your target audience at the show
   17. Giveaway something useful to your target audience
   18. Hire a performer, such as a magician, to attract attention to your booth
   19. Have a raffle, sweepstakes, money machine or a game
   20. Hold a press conference if you have newsworthy news
   21. Sponsor something highly visible at the show
   22. Have a contest for attendees in your booth
   23. Get signage in the show hall promoting your booth presence
   24. Offer a show special or discount
   25. Get someone from your company to be a speaker at the show
   26. Give presentations or educational sessions in your booth
   27. Do door drops that target only show attendees at their hotel rooms
   28. Pay to include an invite or a gift in the official show bag each attendee gets
   29. Put an ad in the show book
   30. Brand your staffers with outfits or similar attire
   31. Offer one really big prize (worth thousands of dollars) to get more attention

Get more trade show leads with better booth staffing

1. Bring more booth staffers
   1. Bring booth staffers who actually want to be there
   2. Hold a contest to reward the staffers who take the highest quantity of qualified leads
   3. Leave your wallflowers at home
   4. Train your booth staff how to work a trade show booth
   5. Communicate to your staff the company’s goals and your expectations of them in the booth
   6. Don’t use booth staffing as a training ground for brand-new employees
   7. Ask visitors open-ended questions and listen to their answers
   8. Get faster at recording each lead by not writing down every visitor’s name and address, but instead using a badge scanner
   9. Have enough badge scanners to avoid lines with your booth staffers in busy times
   10. Bring crowd gatherers (not booth babes)
   11. Smile
   12. Keep your booth staffers fresh by giving them regular breaks
   13. Learn to more quickly disengage with unqualified attendees
   14. Thoroughly train your booth staffers on the new products you are introducing at the show or just introduced recently
   15. Make friends with your neighboring exhibitors, and refer attendees back and forth
   16. Bring your top management to booth staff, and tell attendees they will be there
   17. Get staffers out of the bowels of your booth and out to the edge of the aisle
   18. Don’t sit down in your booth, unless you are talking with visitors
   19. Don’t hide behind tables
   20. Instead of giving away literature, offer to mail it to attendees, and get their contact info
   21. Prepare your booth staffers with several good engaging questions
   22. Arm your booth staffers with answers to common objections

100.Train your booth staffers to know your products and how they solve your clients’ problems

Which of these 100 ideas will you choose?  Perhaps you are already doing several yourselves.  Some can be combined to be used simultaneously.  It’s a long list, and there’s no way anyone can do all 100.  Some of them even contradict each other.

Yet as Bob Milam advises, while knowing a lot of tactics is useful, knowing which tactics to use and when to use them is even more useful.  Determine your strategy first, then choose among these trade show tactics the most appropriate ones to support your strategy and generate more leads.

Also, while I’ve listed many tactics to get more leads, of course you need to also strive for getting higher quality leads.  And if you can do both, go to the head of the class.

Stay tuned for future relevant Event Planning, Event Management, Event Marketing, Exhibit Sales and Sponsorship Sales content.

We at SalesFish Event Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering Strategic Event planning, Event Management, B2B Telemarketing, B2B Tele-Sales, B2B Inside Sales, Sponsorship Sales, Exhibit Sales, Audience Acquisition, Brand Marketing and Execution.

The SalesFish team brings more than 30 years’ experience, and more importantly, extreme focus in each of the following disciplines:

• Event Management, Planning and Marketing / Advertising: Positioning, Branding, Brand Identity Marketing, Creative, Public Relations, Advertising, Direct Response, Multi-Media, Interactive Media, Promotional and Web Design
• Event Strategy, Logistics, Event Planning and Event Training
• Comprehensive Event Registration (online/onsite) and On-Site Event Production (lighting, sound, staging, talent)
• Pre- and On-Site Real Time Statistical Data and Market Research
• Event Sales Activities and Fulfillment (reporting, Sales Activities, B2B Tele-Sales activities, B2B telemarketing services, Audience Acquisition, Exhibit Sales, Sponsorship Sales and Post-Show follow-up)

We welcome the chance to cast your net in the area of Event Management, Event Branding, Event Marketing, Event Sales, Event Promotion and Execution.

Call today and Catch More!

Welcome to SalesFish Brand Marketing, Event Marketing and Sales, California’s most strategically-biased event planning, event management, event marketing, sponsorship sales, exhibit sales, and event marketing agency.

We serve Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle. We are very much at home in all 50 United States.

If you’re planning an experiential marketing event like a trade show, user conference, workshop, road show or sales event, you must decide how to SELL your event.

If you’re a first time or fairly new event how you sell is even more critical. The old adage “build it, they will come” does not apply to any event. You must gain the trust of your target audience over time by giving them a world-class experiential event experience.

If you’re a new or mature event, it’s always a great idea to tie your event to a worthy cause and donate a portion of your proceeds. This is called “Cause Marketing.” It’s also a good idea to be prepared to give away landscape as well as opportunities to marquee brands and/or companies.

Regarding audience acquisition, exhibit sales, or sponsorship sales, do you trust in your marketing alone?

When selling an event, it’s never a good idea to represent yourself. There’s a reason Hollywood stars or professional athletes have agents. It’s not just for negotiation purposes but to reflect how special they are.

An intermediary “brands” targets’ minds that your event is special.

This is our strong and strategically-biased encouragement: don’t go it alone when selling your event for audience acquisition, sponsorship sales or exhibit sales.

Stay tuned for future relevant Event Planning, Event Management, Event Marketing, Exhibit Sales and Sponsorship Sales content.

We at SalesFish Event Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering Strategic Event planning, Event Management, B2B Telemarketing, B2B Tele-Sales, B2B Inside Sales, Sponsorship Sales, Exhibit Sales, Audience Acquisition, Brand Marketing and Execution.

The SalesFish team brings more than 30 years’ experience, and more importantly, extreme focus in each of the following disciplines:

• Event Management, Planning and Marketing / Advertising: Positioning, Branding, Brand Identity Marketing, Creative, Public Relations, Advertising, Direct Response, Multi-Media, Interactive Media, Promotional and Web Design
• Event Strategy, Logistics, Event Planning and Event Training
• Comprehensive Event Registration (online/onsite) and On-Site Event Production (lighting, sound, staging, talent)
• Pre- and On-Site Real Time Statistical Data and Market Research
• Event Sales Activities and Fulfillment (reporting, Sales Activities, B2B Tele-Sales activities, B2B telemarketing services, Audience Acquisition, Exhibit Sales, Sponsorship Sales and Post-Show follow-up)

We welcome the chance to cast your net in the area of Event Management, Event Branding, Event Marketing, Event Sales, Event Promotion and Execution.

Call today and Catch More!

Welcome to the blog for SalesFish Brand Marketing, Event Marketing and Sales. We are California’s most strategically-biased event planning, event management, event marketing, sponsorship sales, exhibit sales, and event marketing agency.

We serve Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle. We are very much at home in all 50 United States.

If you’re planning an experiential marketing event whether it’s a trade show, user conference, workshop, road show or sales event, without a doubt you must decide how you’re going to SELL your event.

If you’re a first time or fairly new event, how you sell will be even more critical. The old adage, “Build it, they will come,” does not apply to any event. You must gain the trust of your target audience over time, by continuing to give them a world-class experiential event experience.

If you’re a new or mature event, it’s a great idea to tie your event to a worthy cause and give a portion of proceeds to that cause (this is called cause marketing). It’s also a good idea to be prepared to give away landscape as well as opportunities to marquee brands and/or companies.

In regards to audience acquisition, exhibit sales, or sponsorship sales, do you trust in your marketing alone?

When selling an event, it’s never a good idea to represent yourself. There’s a reason Hollywood stars or professional athletes have agents. It’s not just for negotiation purposes but to further reflect how special they are.

There’s something about having an intermediary that “brands” targets minds that your event is special.

Don’t go it alone when it comes to selling your event, whether it’s for audience acquisition, sponsorship sales or exhibit sales. That’s our strong and strategically-biased opinion.

Stay tuned for future relevant Event Planning, Event Management, Event Marketing, Exhibit Sales and Sponsorship Sales content.

We at SalesFish Event Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering Strategic Event planning, Event Management, B2B Telemarketing, B2B Tele-Sales, B2B Inside Sales, Sponsorship Sales, Exhibit Sales, Audience Acquisition, Brand Marketing and Execution.

The SalesFish team brings more than 30 years experience. More importantly, we bring extreme focus in each of the following disciplines:

• Event Management, Planning and Marketing/Advertising: Positioning, Branding, Brand Identity Marketing, Creative, Public Relations, Advertising, Direct Response, Multi-Media, Interactive Media, Promotional and Web Design
• Event Strategy, Logistics, Event Planning and Event Training
• Comprehensive Event Registration (online/onsite) and On-Site Event Production (lighting, sound, staging, talent)
• Pre and On-Site Real Time Statistical Data and Market Research
• Event Sales Activities and Fulfillment (Reporting, Sales Activities, B2B Tele-Sales activities, B2B Telemarketing services, Audience Acquisition, Exhibit Sales, Sponsorship Sales, and Post-Show follow up)

We welcome the chance to cast your net in the areas of Event Management, Event Branding, Event Marketing, Event Sales, Event Promotion and Execution.

Call Today and Catch More!

Welcome to the blog for SalesFish Brand Marketing, Event Marketing and Sales, California’s most strategically biased event planning, event management, event marketing, sponsorship sales, exhibit sales, and event marketing agency. 

We serve Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle. We are very much at home in all 50 United States.

If you’re planning an experiential marketing event like a trade show, user conference, workshop, road show or sales event, you must decide how you’re going to SELL your event.

If you’re a first time or fairly new event, how you sell is even more critical.  The old adage “Build it, they will come” does not apply here.  You must gain the trust of your target audience over time by giving them a world-class experiential event experience.

If you’re a new or mature event, tie your event to a worthy cause and give a portion of proceeds to that cause.  This is known as Cause Marketing.  Also, be prepared to give away landscape and opportunities to marquee brands and/or companies.

Regarding audience acquisition, exhibit sales, or sponsorship sales, will you trust in your marketing by going it alone?

It’s not a good idea to represent yourself when selling an event. There’s a reason Hollywood stars or professional athletes have agents.  It’s not for negotiation purposes but to reflect how special they are. An intermediary “brands” your event as special.

This is our strong and strategically biased encouragement: Don’t go it alone when selling your event for audience acquisition, sponsorship sales or exhibit sales.

Stay tuned for future relevant Event Planning, Event Management, Event Marketing, Exhibit Sales and Sponsorship Sales content.  

We at SalesFish Event Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering Strategic Event planning, Event Management, B2B Telemarketing, B2B Tele-Sales, B2B Inside Sales, Sponsorship Sales, Exhibit Sales, Audience Acquisition, Brand Marketing and Execution.

Welcome to the blog for SalesFish Brand Marketing, Event Marketing and Sales, California’s most strategically biased event planning, event management, event marketing, sponsorship sales, exhibit sales, and event marketing agency.

We serve Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Portland, Seattle and are very much at home in all 50 United States.

If you’re planning an experiential marketing event, such as a trade show, user conference, workshop, road show or sales event, you must decide how you will SELL your event.

If you’re a first time or fairly new event, how you sell is more critical.  “Build it, they will come” does not apply to every event. You must gain the trust of your target audience over time by continuing to give them a world-class experiential event experience.

If you’re a new or mature event, tie your event to a worthy cause and give some proceeds to it (cause marketing).  Be ready to give away landscape as well as opportunities to marquee brands and/or companies.

Regarding audience acquisition, exhibit sales, or sponsorship sales do you trust in your own marketing?

When selling an event, don’t represent yourself.  There’s a reason Hollywood stars and professional athletes have agents.  It’s not for negotiation purposes but to show how special they are.

There’s something about an intermediary branding targets’ minds that makes your event special.

This is our strong and strategically biased encouragement: don’t go it alone selling your event for audience acquisition, sponsorship sales or exhibit sales.

Stay tuned for future relevant Event Planning, Event Management, Event Marketing, Exhibit Sales and Sponsorship Sales content.

We at SalesFish Event Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering Strategic Event planning, Event Management, B2B Telemarketing, B2B Telesales, B2B Inside Sales, Sponsorship Sales, Exhibit Sales, Audience Acquisition, Brand Marketing and Execution.

Welcome to the blog for California’s most strategically-biased event management, event planning, event marketing, sponsorship sales, exhibit sales, and experiential event marketing agency. 

We serve Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Portland, Seattle and are very much at home in all 50 United States.

You made it to the planning stages of your event, hired an event manager, now how do you insure the marketing and sales success of your event? 

If this is a first time event and/or you’re trying to increase the growth of your event in the area of attendance, exhibit sales or sponsorship sales, it is critical to have a proactive and aggressive tactical strategy in place.

We sincerely encourage you to hire a seasoned event marketing, audience acquisition, exhibit sales and sponsorship sales agency. If you decide to go it alone, you risk making critical mistakes along the way, costing you time and money.

Take it from an organization with twenty years of event management, event marketing, sponsorship sales and exhibit sales.  

Event management, event marketing, sponsorship sales and exhibit sales are rare business acumens where you don’t want to go it alone.  There are TOO many details and business considerations to plan and understand.  It’s like negotiating with Donald Trump without a battery of “A” game lawyers.

As an organization seeking to put on the best B2B or B2C experiential marketing event, your responsibility is to put on the best show and let the best team take over the rest. 

When it comes to B2B event management, B2B event marketing, B2B event production, B2B event promotions, sponsorship sales and exhibit sales, experience counts!

As earlier mentioned, stand back and enjoy the ride, in the end you’ll be the hero and the event everyone speaks of for years to come.     

Stay tuned for future relevant Event Management, Event Planning, Event Marketing, Exhibit Sales, Sponsorship Sales, B2B Telemarketing, B2B Tele-Sales, B2B Inside Sales content.  

We at SalesFish Event Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering strategic event management, corporate event planning, event marketing and event sales execution.

Fish around our site and “Improve your Net”

Welcome to the blog for California’s most strategically-biased event management, event planning, event marketing, sponsorship sales, exhibit sales, and experiential event marketing agency. 

We serve Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle. We are very much at home in all 50 United States.

You made it to the planning stages of your event, now what? 

Hire an event manager!

If you never planned an event, we sincerely encourage you to hire an event manager or event management agency. If you decide to go it alone, you risk making critical mistakes along the way that cost you time and money.

Take it from us, an organization that’s seen twenty years of event management, event marketing, sponsorship sales and exhibit sales.  

Event management, event marketing, sponsorship sales and exhibit sales are those rare business acumens where you don’t go it alone.  There are TOO many details and business considerations to plan and understand.  It would be like negotiating with Donald Trump and not having a battery of “A” game lawyers.

As an organization seeking to put on the best B2B or B2C experiential marketing event, your responsibility is to put on the best show and let the best team take over the rest; a team who became a GREAT team because they experienced their fair share of bloody noses in the early days.

When it comes to B2B event management, B2B event marketing, B2B event production, B2B event promotions, sponsorship sales and exhibit sales, experience counts!

As earlier mentioned stand back and enjoy the ride. In the end you’re the hero and the event everyone speaks of for years to come.

Stay tuned for future relevant Event Management, Event Planning, Event Marketing, Exhibit Sales, Sponsorship Sales, B2B Telemarketing, B2B Tele-Sales, and B2B Inside Sales content.  

We at SalesFish Event Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering strategic event management, corporate event planning, event marketing and event sales execution.

Welcome to the blog for California’s most strategically-biased event planning, event management, event marketing, sponsorship sales, exhibit sales, and event marketing agency. 

We serve Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Portland, and Seattle.  We are very much at home in all 50 United States.

If you’re planning an experiential marketing event whether it’s a trade show, user conference, workshop, road show or sales event, you, without a doubt, must decide how to SELL your event.

If you’re a first time or fairly new event, how you sell is even more critical.  The old adage “build it and they will come” does not apply to any event.  You must gain the trust of your target audience over time by continuing to give them a world-class experiential event experience.

If you’re a new or mature event, it’s always a great idea to tie your event to a worthy cause and give a portion of proceeds to that cause (cause marketing).  It’s also a good idea to be prepared to give away landscape as well as opportunities to marquee brands and/or companies.

In regards to audience acquisition, exhibit sales, or sponsorship sales are you trusting in your marketing alone?

When selling an event it’s never a good idea to represent yourself.  There’s a reason Hollywood stars or professional athletes have agents: it isn’t just for negotiation purposes, but to further reflect how special they really are.

There’s something about having an intermediary to “brand” target’s minds that your event is special.

Our strong and strategically-biased encouragement is to not go it alone when selling your event, whether it’s for audience acquisition, sponsorship sales or exhibit sales.

_{Stay tuned for future relevant Event Planning, Event Management, Event Marketing, Exhibit Sales and Sponsorship Sales content.}  

_{We at SalesFish Event Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering Strategic Event planning, Event Management, B2B Telemarketing, B2B Tele-Sales, B2B Inside Sales, Sponsorship Sales, Exhibit Sales, Audience Acquisition, Brand Marketing and Execution}.

Welcome to the blog for California’s most strategically-biased event planning, event marketing, sponsorship sales, exhibit sales, and event marketing agency. We serve Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and all 50 United States.

You made it to the planning stages of your event, now what? 

Hire an event planner!

If you never planned an event, we sincerely encourage you to hire an event planner. If you decide to go it alone, you’ll risk making critical mistakes along the way that cost time and money.

Take it from an organization that’s seen twenty years of event planning & event marketing.  Event planning and event marketing are rare business acumens you don’t want to try alone.  There are TOO many details and business considerations to plan and understand.  It’s like negotiating with Donald Trump without a battery of “A” game lawyers.

As an organization seeking to put on the best B2B or B2C experiential marketing event, your responsibility is to put on the “best show” and let the best team take over the rest. 

This team became a GREAT team because they experienced their fair share of bloody noses in the early days,

When it comes to B2B event planning, B2B event marketing, B2B event production or B2B event promotions, experience counts!

As earlier mentioned, stand back and enjoy the ride. In the end you’re the hero.  Your event will be the one everyone speaks about for years to come.     

Stay tuned for future relevant Event Planning, Event Marketing, Exhibit Sales and Sponsorship Sales content.  

We at SalesFish Event Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering strategic event planning, marketing and execution.

Welcome to the blog for California’s most strategically-biased event planning, event marketing, sponsorship sales, exhibit sales, and event marketing agency. We serve Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and all 50 United States.

Okay, you made the decision to create an experiential marketing event.  How do you start?  As every great event planner knows, you plan. Without a plan you plan to fail.  It’s a cliché’, but none the less true. 

The first questions you ask are what are the goals and objectives of your experiential marketing event? And, have you done your due diligence and research?

In the perfect experiential event marketing world, what do you want your target audience to say about your event at the end?  How will you lead them there?

What pieces and professionals need to be in place to execute a perfect experiential marketing event? How long will it take to plan and execute your event?  What is your intended return on investment for your event?

We will answer these question and more in the weeks to come.

Stay tuned for future relevant Event Marketing, Exhibit Sales and Sponsorship Sales content.  We at SalesFish Event Marketing & Sales thank you for joining us in our commitment to unwavering strategic event planning, marketing and execution.