Exhibiting at life science events makes up a significant percentage of the industry’s marketing mix and proper preparation for an event often makes the difference between a successful venture or an expensive failure. Exhibiting success can be achieved through a combination of the following:

* Effective exhibit display design
* Effective pre, during & post event promotions
* Effective printed materials & promotional
collateral
* Effective event booth staff coaching

To make things simpler, you can think of the above four as: Display, Print, Promotion and Visibility.

Display.

Display can be broken down to three important parts: Graphic, Hardware and Staff

Graphics: Next to your staff, your graphics are your most important communications tool. You have a maximum 3 to 5 seconds to communicate your message. A common mistake people make is thinking design is decoration.

Hardware: When dealing with trade show hardware, buyer beware. There are many things to consider before buying and inexpensive products on the market are often inferior. It can be difficult to know what is the right choice.

Staff: The staff you choose to represent you is very important. A good trade booth staff member will understand and practice the 80/20 rule. Listen 80% of the time and talk 20% of the time. Seeing how the staff is only talking 20% of the time, it’s important they use the 20% correctly. The staff member asked the prospect effective questions to determine if they are a quality lead. An effective staff member will also have the correct body language and booth etiquette. Like any team, success starts with good coaching.


Print

Print can be broken down into the following categories: Marketing & Collateral, Advertising, Packaging and Reports & Publications. No matter what category, the goal is to make a lasting impression. There is no point spending money on print if it doesn’t impact your prospect. A way to make an impression is to focus on prospects solutions. In one way or another, prospects are looking to solve professional problems. The way to achieve success with all your printed materials is to have a professional design and produce them for you. This will ensure that your brand is competing at the highest level.

Unfortunately making an impact is not enough. You also have to a “call to action.” A call to action is an advertising and marketing concept, a request/direction to “do something”— often the next step that a consumer could take toward the purchase of a product or service.

Finally, it’s important to make sure the visual component is professional and pleasing to the viewer. Again, this is a great reason to leave the worry to a professional. A professional well ensure that your visual design is consist throughout your exhibit.



Promotion

Promotion is done at three different times: Pre-Event, During the Event and Post Event.


Pre-Event

A common mistake is relying solely on walk by traffic to fill your booth. Pre-event promotion will ensure that your booth is a must see at the event. The goal is to increase traffic to your booth with quality prospects rather than just draw a crowed. Pre-event incentives is one of the many ways to increase quality prospect traffic.


During the Event

The first rule of promotional giveaway spending is; it’s not how much you spend but how wisely you spend it.This is another great reason to leave your trade show worries in the hands of a professional. www.lifesciencecreative.com is a good example of a specialized professional that can maximize your budget’s effectiveness.


Post Event

Leads are highly perishable. Following up is very important and urgent. It’s a fact that few event attendees place orders on the spot. proper follow is key to capitalizing on leads. Follow up preparations begin before the trade show.


Be Visible


The three main ways to stay visible is E-mail, personal contact and direct mail.

E-mail contact will ensure that your organization is top of mind with clients and potential clients. I good tip to ensure people read your emails is offer something of value. E-mail is an integral part of sales effort today. It can be a time consuming to manage a e-mail campaigns, luckily there are agencies that can handle that for you.

Personal contact is key in building a professional relationship. (Needs More)


Direct mail contact is another effective way to keep your organization top of mind. When setting up a program, it’s important to set up one that gets results. A good to rule to remember is that targeted mailing reduce cost and increases results.

Those are the basic rules to archiving succus at a life science trade show.