MarketingProfs' Members Register for B2B Forum 2010 for just $695! (good until 11/30) »

Ask your question ... sign up today! It's FREE!
Advertising/PR     
 
This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.
How Long Before A Trade Show Do You Promote It?
Posted By: lfortune on 3/2/2007 8:39 AM (CST) 250 Points
When putting on a trade show for a particular industry, how long prior to the event do you promote it. The date and location for next year's show is announced at the current show - but I'm interested in advertising it after that. Do you go heavy starting at 6 months (later or sooner) I'm interested in what you have to say.

Thanks

Lori Fortune

Posted by: michael Member Response
3/2/2007 8:49 AM (CST)
Lori,

Once I'm commited to the show I start talking about it. Mailings might start 6months before, but I start surveying last years participants while it's fresh in their mind. Also, if it's in-country I might be more comfortable starting later.

Michael
 
Posted by: lfortune Author Response
3/2/2007 8:53 AM (CST)
It is in country - although we do have international members that attend. The show is advertised in a trade magazine ever since the previous show the year before. What I'm interested in (timeframe) is when is the best time to hit heavy with the postcards and large brochures.

Thanks

Lori
 
Posted by: CarolBlaha Member Response
3/2/2007 8:59 AM (CST)
Who are you trying to attract? Attendees or exhibitors?

if exhibitors-- right now. Attendees, I'd work on PR releases to keep it in their mind all year round. Rest-- starting 6 months-- most shows have hotel offers to promote-- that limitability creates a sense of urgency.

 
Posted by: lfortune Author Response
3/2/2007 9:02 AM (CST)
I'm looking for attendee's.

Lori
 
Posted by: Steve Hoffacker Member Response
3/2/2007 9:08 AM (CST)
If it's a closed trade show, you will want to appeal to potential customers that may not have looked at your product or services in the past, those who are somewhat familiar with what you offer but have never purchased from you, and your current customers or clients. The sales message and the timing of those messages will vary on your audience. If it's open to the public, the sooner you start promoting, the more people will know about you and make plans to visit you. Look at all of the cross-promotional opportunities you have from your normal web presence to the materials prepared by the sponsoring organization.
 
Posted by: NuCoPro Member Response
3/2/2007 9:26 AM (CST)
It's actually more of an ever increasing activity, meaning that you start lightly promoting it during this year's event. Then you slowly ramp up your promotions as each month passes.

Six months prior is a good time to put out a more major notice, so that people will get it on their calendars.
 
Posted by: lfortune Author Response
3/2/2007 9:50 AM (CST)
Thank you

Lori
 
Posted by: Tracey Member Response
3/2/2007 11:47 AM (CST)
It might help to take a look at your last year's registration trends. Do attendees tend to register last-minute? Then maybe you need more aggressive early-bird pricing. A recent study from RegOnline suggested that giving people a 1 month opportunity to sign up for earlybird pricing is ideal. Longer, and they put it off. And you'd still want to hit them with heavy advertising around the time the most people registered.

Remember to avoid bad communication dates. I think there was an article on this website that shows when bad dates are. I avoid all holidays and surrounding dates, end of month (depending on your customers - if they get busy at that time), and go lighter in summer.

Also, can you time your advertising with other important news or events that are going on in your industry? If a trade mag has a big feature on a topic that relates to your tradeshow, you can advertise simultaneously and work off the mag's mindshare.

Lastly, try a split advertising schedule. Divide your advertising recipients into different groups (and if you can, a 'control' group who gets nothing, or gets the same advertising as last year). Try different advertising schedules on each group so that next year, you can have more quantitative data on what worked. Be sure to make each group similar in demographics so you're comparing apples to apples. Hope that helps!
 
Posted by: lfortune Author Response
3/2/2007 12:29 PM (CST)
you've given me some great new (to me) ideas.
 
Posted by: vermont_pr_guy Member Response
3/2/2007 3:14 PM (CST)
Lori,

To a certain extent, it depends on your clientele. If a significant portion are from the nonprofit and public sector, I think it is essential to get information to them as soon as possible and load up the front end since many of them have to face a laborious process of applying for funding, getting approvals, playing shell games with funds, etc.

The idea of an early bird special is an excellent one because again, folks in the public and nonprofit sectors are often looking for any way to save money.

On the corporate side, I think multichannel is the key. Follow up with last years attendees ASAP with a personalized a letter/e-mail (this may not be practical depending on the size of the show) thanking them for coming and offering a nice discount for commiting now. The nice part about doing this (depending on how the dateso fyour events fall) is that some organizations end up with extra money att he end of a fiscal year and may choose to prepay some expenses from the next FY.

My rule of thumb: Hit them early while the show is still fresh in their minds take a break, and then start ramping up 8 months out and really turn up the gas six months out.

I have always found that multichannel is the key: mail, e-mail and phone. The phone is labor intensive but does work.

Also, another great incentive is the 'refer a friend' get a discount option. Let other people do the contact work for you.

Good luck!

~Jason
 
Posted by: Tracey Member Response
3/2/2007 3:54 PM (CST)
Oh, and one other thing I've done before -- I offer a "no commitment" registration to last year's attendees. E.g., at the 2006 conference I give them a registration form for 2007. They get a special discount (better than the earlybird price), won't get billed until 2007, and they can cancel anytime before then without a fee. So it's a win-win situation.
 
Posted by: A-Lux Accepted Answer
3/4/2007 6:54 PM (CST)
Hi Lori,

I've worked with teams that manage over 200 events a year across different audiences.

We have a process that's worked so far. Like Tracy said previously, we offer pre-registration for next year's conference on site at a deeply discounted price that's cheaper than the Early Bird registration.

We send the brochure out at 6 months out then hit people once a month with a promotion via email, print and inserts pushing the early bird discount.

I would focus on a sequence of touch points that's acceptable to your audience. You should watch out for list attrition. We've tested out the waters and for most conferences we sent promotions once a month up to 2 months before the show. Early Bird expires one month before the show.

Two months before the show we go to messages sent every other week. The month before it goes to once a week emails. And the last week there's two emails that go out.

Good luck to you. Test every time you send something out and roll with it.

Good luck to you. Event marketing is a lot of fun.

Cheers,

Ani Luxner-Matson
 


Get more answers ... ReTweet this!

Would you like to post a response?
Welcome to Know-How Exchange!
This is a collaborative community. We welcome everyone's participation.
All you need to do is login. Enter your account info in the box above (top right).
Not a member? Not a problem. Register here (it's FREE and EASY).




Know-How Exchange powered by MarketingProfs


Sponsored Links

Buy a Link Now

Just Released ... Download Today!
Just Released ... Download Today!
Look inside
Included with Premium Membership
User Name:
Password:
Remember Me
Forgot your password?

Top 25 KHE Experts
(Advertising/PR)
Jay Hamilton-Roth (43473)
W.M.M.A. (31505)
mgoodman (25971)
CarolBlaha (19996)
michael (17966)
thinkmor (11658)
PhilGrisolia=Results (11575)
darcy.moen (10787)
stevea (10362)
NuCoPro (9474)
Peter (henna gaijin) (9467)
telemoxie (8723)
mbarber (8199)
Mushfique Manzoor (7932)
Puru Gupta (6790)
SteveByrneBranding (6482)
Gary Bloomer (6295)
SRyan ;] (5966)
shghosh (5797)
Deremiah *CPE (5479)
Pepper Blue (5368)
ASVP/ChrisB (5176)
Tracey (5120)
Mikee (4878)
amandavega (4775)
Recently Posted Marketing Jobs
Director of Marketing and Communications
Demand Generation Manager
Marketing/Advertising Faculty
Director of Marketing
Market Analyst
Sr. Field Marketing Manager - Business Intell.
Associate Vice President of Marketing and Corporat
Marketing Manager
[more jobs]

Join over 355,000 members ... SIGN UP!

My email address is and I'd like my password to be .

Already a member? Sign In!

My email address is , and my password is .


HACKER SAFE certified sites prevent over 99.9% of hacker crime.