It's almost trade show season. That time between September and November when nearly every association holds their annual events.
In staffing and recruiting, trade shows (and job fairs) can be one of your most valuable marketing toolsâ¦if you leverage them effectively.
Before we get to the things you should do, let's start with the most common conference marketing blunders we see.
Ain't gonna happen!
At a trade show or a job fair, you are one of dozens or even hundreds of other exhibitors. If you want to attract employers and/or job seekers, you need to be more strategic before...and duringâ¦the conference (more on this is a minute).
Think of your display like a billboard. The conference attendees are like speeding cars passing by. How will you get people to slam on the brakes and stop off for a bit?
Hint: 400 words of text in a tiny font won't do it. With your booth display, LESS is more!
In a less than two months, we'll be headed to Staffing World, the biggest conference in the staffing industry. There will be close to 150 companies exhibiting along with Haley Marketing, and about 90 percent of them will send an email to every attendee with a generic message to "meet us at our booth."
Here's the problem. 135 emails that scream "meet us at our booth" equals a lot of deafening noise that results in few, if any, people planning to visit your booth. When it comes to preshow marketing, email alone won't do.
Why do so many "sales people" go to a tradeshow, and then just sit in their booth? Don't they care about selling? Didn't anyone teach them what to do?
At any conference, sales happen outside the booth. At breakfast. During lunch. Over cocktails. And even in the wee hours of the evening with the diehard bar hounds.
No, you don't have to be a raging alcoholic to succeed, but you do have to get out and mingle, especially during the early parts of the show. And when you are at the booth, you have be the one to engage people wandering the aisles.
Something like 60 percent of tradeshow leads never receive a follow-up call. 60 percent!
That's nuts.
If you've invested to go to an event, made the effort to collect cards, have a damn follow-up plan. Call. Email. Connect on LinkedIn. And be sure to give people a reason to want to talk to you again.
When following up, put the message in context. Ideally, be specific about what you discussed at the conference. Be clear (and concise) about the value you can offer, and then schedule the next call or meeting.
And don't limit follow-up to one attempt. Have a plan to nurture prospects over several months. For our team at Haley Marketing, we track the results of a big conference over 6-plus months because that's how long it takes to get leads to convert.