Dos & Don't's of Exhibition

Dos and Don’ts of Exhibition

DOs

·         Check the other participants. This will give you a fair idea about both the competition you are going to have and whether it is the right exhibition for you. If your competitor who caters to similar target audience and similar segment, it’s the right exhibition for you.

·         Work on literature. In most cases, even if there may not be hot leads, but your literature (brochures, catalogue, CDs, visiting cards) create a comeback point which will help when any prospective consumer decides to get in touch with you. If possible, have three sets of literature: leaflets for casual visitors, brochures/catalogues for hot leads/post-conversation callouts, possibly with CDs.

·         Have the best of your staff on the ground. In case of international exhibitions, it is crucial to have English speaking middle or higher level staff to communicate with visitors. If exhibition is in non-English speaking country, do emphasise on either staff with capabilities in local language or translators.

DON’Ts

·         Assume. It is essential to keep an eye out on smallest details of the process. Most of the times, the agency will work towards setting up stalls and providing supplementary facilities, but it is important to stay in loop as it not only keep you updated but also give you enough time in case any complications arise.

·         Take the importance of the smallest elements lightly. Exhibitions are very unique in terms of the little interaction time and it’s a one-time interface. Many exhibitors take elements like lighting, literature, stalls, staff lightly which ultimately harm the overall image of the brand, on a platform where success or failure of the activity is depended on one-time brief interaction with prospective consumers.

Jewellery Exhibitions

Exhibitions for Jewellers

In last 10 years, the way Indians shop for jewellery has changed, and changed radically. Earlier, people used to have loyalty for local brands who managed direct and constant touch with customers through birthday & anniversary wishes, heads up for new collections, etc. But after the arrival of national & multinational brands, internet shopping and change in buying pattern has radically changed the way jewellery business functions. 

Today, old loyal clientele is not enough. Today, four or five letters a year is not enough. In today’s highly competitive world, where the pie is split hundreds of ways, it has become highly important to not only retain old clientele but also aggressively expand the consumer base. Today, a birthday card is not enough. Today, it requires personal relations, which goes much deeper than pre-scheduled post cards.

That is where exhibitions come in for rescue. Exhibitions provide a platform not only to create a new consumer base, but also establish a personal, face-to-face connect with prospect consumers which has a potential to be carried to the point of sale and beyond. Jewellery exhibitions help also as a research point where opinions and feedbacks about brand and products can be gathered from a large group of potential customer which would not be possible in the show room. 

Rules of participating in an exhibition

Once the stall is booked and the agency is given a brief about the stall, its turn of internal preparation. In sectors like jewellery it is important to choose the right collection to exhibit and in the industrial or B2B exhibitions, if you have a lot of products, it is works to make one product a flagship product and emphasize on it while the other products too can be displayed  on the side. Although, it is highly advisable to have a limited set of products in the stall so theres no clutter of products in the limited space of the stall. Agencies like Fresh Lime  which come with creative capabilities also advise the customers about choosing the ideal way to display a product and the amount of products to display.It is also important to pick the standing staff for the exhibition and train them a little for the exhibition. Basic points like eye to eye contact, talk less, listen more, proper attire, etc. can go a long way towards enhancing your prospects in the exhibition. 

Exhibition selection principles

After zeroing in on the exhibition, comes the real part: Booking a stall & stall design. While booking a stall in an exhibition, there are a few important things one needs to keep in mind:

·         Study the floor plan. The floor plan of the exhibition usually gives a fair idea as to how the exhibition will progress on the ground. Certain exhibitions have a deliberately made flow in the exhibitions so all the stalls get similar coverage. However, that is  not universal practice. So, it is important to opt for the stalls near the centre or the entrance of the exhibitions as to attract first or most attention. In case of unavailability or financial restrictions, floor plan can give the guidance towards choosing the stall in optimum possible position.

• Consult the creative agency. Agency like fresh lime can help you choosing the best stall, but also relieve you off of stress of participating in an exhibition. Fresh lime comes in with not only sophisticated execution facilities which take care of eveything from designing a stall to building it on the ground, but also highly capable creative power to enhance your presence through better representation of your brand amidst the barrage of brands in the exhibitions

A to Z of participating in an Exhibition - 2

As discussed in part 1 of the series, once the objectives and expectations are clearly defined, the exhibition activity becomes highly effective.

After defining parameters, the next stage is to look for compatible exhibitions. In any product / industrial segment, there are multiple exhibitions happening over the year. The key is to find the right one.

The exhibition needs to be in sync with the brand stature and identity. It is highly possible that there can be many exhibitions, yet it will be imprudent to participate since they dont match the stature of the brand. It can be tested on various areas, such as venue of the exhibition, location of the exhibition, sponsors of the event, etc.

 If it is a niche brand, or placed on high position in the spectrum of brands offering similar product, it will be highly inadvisable to participating in an exhibition where there are no brands sharing the similar stature.

 The exhibition needs to be catering to the right target audience. For example, there are more than ten exhibitions of pharma industry yet all ten have different audience, as some exhibitions get more vendors, others get more people looking for business partners. Depending upon which segments we have been targetting, it is crucial to know the kind of audience the exhibition attracts.

Participating in an exhibition part 1

 

A to Z of participating in an Exhibition - 1

First step towards partcipating an exhibiton is home work. Clarity on the objective and direction are key requirements. Since exhibitions are platform that can be used for multiple objectives, one needs to be clear about the individual objectives first. For example, exhibition can serve as platform to find new customers or to get in touch with old ones. Much of these things are dependent upon present position of brand or business, direction planned, and immediate result expectations.

Objectives can be one or more of below:

Brand awareness.

Sales.

Consumer interface.

Research.

Support for distribution chain.

Once overall objective is worked out, then the position of brand on product life cycle curve comes in (newly launched, growth phase, established product, etc). Depending upon broader objectives & brand position, more specific question needs to be answered such as:

Who are our target audience?

Who are we trying to attract, new customers or existing customers?

Sales conversions or enquiries?

Once the objectives are clear, the entire exercise of participating in an exhibition becomes highly rewarding, as not only the objectives but expectations too are precisely defined.

Why Exhibitions

Why exhibitions

In today's world, when there are a million marketing activities to choose from, the question often arises: Why exhibitions?

The answers can be in so many words, but the core idea is simple: All other marketing activities remain 'intrusive marketing', i.e. marketing communication forced on the audience, through television or newspapers, whereas exhibitions remain the only 'permission marketing' i.e. those who visit come on their own, they choose to receive your communication about why he or she should buy your product.

Though they may seem like a huge investment, exhibitions remain the most cost effective way to reach the prospective consumer. In the times of escalating media cost and yet unproven effectiveness of digital media, exhibitions provide the rare and most significant opportunity: Face to face interaction with the target audience.

And because of the face to face interaction, leads generated at exhibitions take half as much efforts as leads generated by other conventional or even digital media. Most prominent exhibition boast of as much as 30% conversion ration on the leads generated at the event, which itself is significant. To top that, since the starting point of the transaction with consumer has been a face to face interaction, it takes much less effort to retain the consumer over longer period.

In high value products categories such as industrial products, jewellery or real estate, exhibitions create high quality leads that is often out of reach by conventional media. Exhibitions are also the best platforms to launch new products and catalogues at much lesser cost and provide much better awareness at much lesser cost. Also, there is extensive media converage of famous exhibitions which can become vehicle for much wider awareness and reach for the new product or catalogue launch.