NEWS & UPDATES

December 4, 2007 In Archives By Advent

Grand Prizes Aren′t Always So Grand

Does your com­pany give away a “grand prize” at every trade show you attend?  Many com­pa­nies do but is that really the best way to spend your mar­ket­ing dollars?

I recently attended a sem­i­nar and the pre­sen­ter told a story about his first trade show expe­ri­ence.  He had just started a new busi­ness and wanted to pro­mote it by giv­ing away a brand-new tele­vi­sion.  After being at the show 4 days he had thou­sands of entries for the tele­vi­sion!  Seems like his plan worked!  But wait.….

When he called the peo­ple who entered the draw­ing, he found out that almost all of them had no need or inter­est in the ser­vices his busi­ness could pro­vide. What he found hap­pened was that he had a ton of entries for a tele­vi­son but lit­tle or no leads!    

Our pre­sen­ter learned valu­able lessons…target prospects before they even arrive on the show floor and no more grand prizes offered to every­one in atten­dance. Instead, con­duct pre-show mar­ket­ing to encour­age tar­geted prospects to stop by the booth for a per­son­al­ized, high-end item.  His response rates are now out the roof and his busi­ness is see­ing a growth rate directly related to his new style of marketing.

Before you offer that new plasma to the entire world, stop and think, “Is this the best way to grow our business?”

Authored By Advent

Advent partners with organizations to help them visually express differentiation.