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Effectively Marketing Your Brand
at Tradeshows
Your brand should be
consistently presented across each and every marketing item, including
business cards, web messages, trade show booth graphics, promotional
hand outs, and sales pitches.
There are many different reasons that corporations exhibit at trade
shows. There are even times when they will need to simultaneously
exhibit at more than one show. Sometimes they may even need to exhibit
at two different shows in the same city. There are even times that a
company will have two different trade show exhibits at one show.
One company that has exhibited at two trade shows in the same city
before is Oracle. Why was this necessary?
The main reason is that there is a different objective behind each trade
show that you visit. For Oracle they had one trade show booth focused on
the future direction of the company and one which focused on current new
products. While they were presenting different aspects of the company
both trade show exhibits needed to present the consistent corporate
brand as well. The main corporate message behind each exhibit needs to
be the same no matter what product or feature you are highlighting. This
is the main corporate image or brand that all consumers will know you
by, no matter why they are working with your company.
In order to present a consistent image each trade show exhibit must be
coordinated with all the other marketing materials of the company,
including promotional materials, direct mail campaigns, online
marketing, advertising, and public relations. Mixed messages dilute a
company’s image and identity. All the experts advise that it is best to
stay consistent with your corporate message which will in turn reinforce
your brand.
Trade show activities should not be delegated to your production
management staff according to Even Marketer Magazine. These teams tend
to put much more emphasis on the corporate products rather than the
corporate message. This can really detract from presenting a unified
corporate image.
One important key to avoiding mixed messages is to have a pre-show
meeting with the entire trade show team. It is also important to keep
clear and open communication flowing throughout the show. Always watch
out for any surprises that could impact your message at the show.
Another great idea is to have company monitors periodically drop in at
your booth to monitor the professionalism of your staff and the image
being presented.
One corporation with lots of trade show experience is DaimlerChysler.
They have eight different business units, each of which attends about 60
auto shows a year. In order to ensure the consistency of the brand, zone
office staffers are often sent to the show to monitor the execution of
the trade show exhibit which has been carefully planned ahead of time.
They recognize that while it does not always match up with the
motivations of individual dealers, maintaining brand identity is what
will eventually sell automobiles.
Dealers are often tempted to add more cars into the exhibit space after
the zone staffers have left the show. Rather than helping to sell more
cars it tends to make the exhibit floor look like a parking lot.
Here are a few tips on maintaining brand consistency and reinforcing the
corporate image at a trade show:
Know the key objectives behind your corporate look and its design.
Always follow the corporate guidebook parameters. There are guidelines
for all corporate visuals that should be followed. These guidelines will
spell out not just the exact specifications of a particular image, but
how it should be incorporated into a trade show exhibit which reach
several different audiences and displays different products. Watch
carefully how the name of the corporation is used and always stay true
to your corporate colors and fonts.
Know the mindset of your brand (hip, luxurious, young, etc.) and be
consistent. This includes the booth itself as well as the people who
staff the booth, including their apparel and body language.
There should be no one who represents your company who is not clear
about the various communications aspects of the company. Your brand
should be consistently presented across each and every marketing item,
including business cards, web messages, trade show booth graphics,
promotional hand outs, and sales pitches.
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