Exhibitions

I’ve always used exhibitions as a core part of my marketing strategy. At my first exhibition I picked up 100 leads and converted 70 of them into paying clients over the course of the year. When I tell this story people are always astounded – they don’t often find they have such a profitable experience! So I’d like to share with you, in a nutshell, how I did it, and how you can do the same.

1. Be clear about why you’re going. Set yourself realistic goals and make sure your marketing collateral and stand design is set up to help you achieve them.
2. Understand why the visitors are going to the exhibition. What do they expect of you? How can you fulfil their needs (most people get it wrong by pushing what they want to sell at visitors – try coming at it from a different angle!)
3. Create a stand with wow factor. A couple of posters you printed out at home won’t cut it. Be creative, set the scene and allow a little time for wow factor. Think styling! You can see an example of a stand we designed for Photographer Matt Pereira on our blog.
4. If you want to sell products on the day, run a compelling offer (10% off won’t cut it!). Think big discounts, gifts with purchase or bundle offers that compel people to buy now.
5. Selling a service? Think about what you want people to do next – book an appointment perhaps? Create a small “taster” session so that people can try you out without too much commitment. Most of the 70 people that bought from me spent �49 on some business cards. It was a low-value order that enabled people to try us out without having to think too hard. What could you do?
6. Bring your product or service to life. Offer tastings, trials or demonstrations.
7. Run a relevant (not bottle of champagne) competition to gain targeted leads.
8. Try and get a speaker slot if that’s your bag – you’ll boost your exposure and demonstrate your expertise.
9. Be creative with the giveaways. Do people really want another pen? Try and think of something creative that reinforces your brand message. We give away seeds because we help people grow their businesses!
10. Schedule in time before the exhibition for the follow up. Make sure you’ve blocked out at least a couple of days to follow up on all your leads – if you don’t, your competitors will!
11. Have a robust communication plan and be persistent. I converted 70% of my leads because I kept in touch, I called every single one of them and I made sure I kept them on my postal and email distribution lists.
12. Review the event and think about what you could do differently next time.

Getting this right is hard work, but it’s absolutely worth it. If you’ve got an exhibition coming up why not join me on 18th March for a morning of exhibition planning! I’ll walk you through each step to ensure you get the most out of the opportunity. Workshop: How to use exhibitions to grow your business.

This post was taken from my Marvellous Marketing Tips newsletter. If you’d like to be added to the list simply email the studio studio@flourishstudios.co.uk and ask to sign up (just until we get a more sophisticated mechanism in place!).

Tagged as in Business Strategy, Exhibitions, Fiona's Book, Marketing

More than 85 businesses registered in Flourish’s Win a Logo competition at the Best of Richmond’s Networking Expo last week. There could only be one winner, and that winner was Keeler Estate Agency.

Managing Director Nicola said

“We just wanted to say how chuffed we are to hear that we have won the prize of a Premium Corporate Identity ‘overhaul’. I am really excited to see what you and your team come up with for Keeler & Co!”

Watch this space! We’re meeting with Nicola this week and are looking forward to finding out more about her plans for her business and the image she’d like to project. We’ll be posting the progress over the coming weeks…

Tagged as in Exhibitions, Flourish Stuff

On Tuesday night I had the pleasure of judging “Best Exhibition Stand” at the Best of Richmond’s Networking Expo. Nick Taimitahara and his team had put a huge amount of effort into ensuring that his exhibitors made the most of the opportunity. Not only did Nick employ an expert to run a seminar on how to exhibit (ahem… yes, that was me) he also bought each and every exhibitor a copy of my book and broke the tasks down into weekly, manageable chunks to give everyone the best possible opportunity.

So as you can expect, the standard was incredibly high. Every exhibitor had gone to a huge effort to ensure they presented their very best self to the 850 visitors that attended the expo at Twickenham Stadium.

Judging was really hard as there were several stands worthy of a mention. My two runners up were Strictly Marketing for their impactful stand (guys, if you have any photos email them to me and I’ll post them up here) and Barefaced Marketing for her sheer effort (she baked 250 cupcakes and made a branded cushion!). But there could only be one winner, and that was deservedly the Marble Hill pub.

As soon as I saw Oliver and his team wheeling in a full size olive tree (I kid you not!) I knew we were in for a treat! Oliver had recreated not just the styling, but also the atmosphere of his pub and there was a real buzz surrounding his stand. I’m sure the mini pies and the passionfruit and vanilla cocktails had a lot to do with that too, but the staff on the stand really engaged with the visitors – which is exactly what you’d expect from a pub, but not usually what you’d get!

The photos of the stand really don’t show it off to it’s full potential – blame the camera (I mistakenly left mine at home…). But the chairs, bar, wallpaper and (now empty) wine rack really created an atmosphere.

Congrats to Oliver John, Mike and Mike for a tremendous effort! Mr H and I will be popping in to see the “real” bar very soon…

Tagged as in Exhibitions, Fiona's Book, Flourish Stuff

A jubilant Kim and David of the Wedding Community returned from the National Wedding Show last weekend and as we have helped them plan their stand, design their website and create their brand identity, how could I resist sharing the story with you? The Wedding Community is a social networking site for engaged couples and [...]

Tagged as in Case Studies, Exhibitions, Fiona's Book, From The Studio, Marketing

An exhausted Matt Pereira has just returned from the three day National Wedding Show at London’s Olympia, and as we helped him plan, design and style his stand, I couldn’t resist sharing the gorgeous photos with you. Matt has exhibited at the National Wedding Show for several years now, and has always had a professional [...]

Tagged as in Branding, Case Studies, Exhibitions, From The Studio, Graphic Design

Most small businesses pour thousands of pounds into exhibitions every year and fail to walk away with a single client. And yet when they're done properly exhibitions can help you build your database, boost your brand awareness and develop relationships with your clients. I've used exhibitions as a fundamental part of my marketing plan to [...]

Tagged as in Exhibitions, Fiona's Book, Flourish Stuff, Marketing

Last week I had a bit of a rant about a Chelsea exhibitor. But there were some great stands too. So this week I thought I’d share with you some of the successes! Hartley Botanic sell glasshouses. Now by my standards that’s not something that’s particularly sexy. And yet they managed to create a fantastic [...]

Tagged as in Exhibitions

I was at Chelsea Flower Show a week or so ago, and came across a stand selling upmarket children’s playhouses. Now these playhouses weren’t to my taste, but I was intrigued nonetheless and walked over to the stand to pick up a brochure. My jaw hit the floor when I heard one of the owners [...]

Tagged as in Business Strategy, Exhibitions, Graphic Design

When do you start planning how you’re going to follow up on an exhibition? For many businesses it’s not till you have the shoebox of leads in front of you that you think “What on earth am I going to say to these people?”. However, I’m going to suggest that you actually start planning your [...]

Tagged as , direct, exhibitor, follow, letters, marketing, sales, secrets, up in Exhibitions