Seven Ways to Keep Customers Coming to Your Booth

• Make an Offer. Give people a reason to stop at your booth. Answer the common question: What’s in it for me? You’ll begin to see results immediately. Incentives can include time-sensitive discounts and new product release(s)—anything that generates excitement and interest in your organization’s featured product or service.
• Get the Word Out. No matter what form your direct mail piece takes, from the simplest postcard to a full-color brochure, you can be sure it will have a favorable impact on your booth traffic by the mere fact that it gets your message out there. Don’t get too hung up on what to mail—your offer and the quality of your mailing list are much more important!
• Use the Phone. Combine direct mail with telemarketing for an integrated marketing approach. You’ll measurably improve the results that would be produced by using only one form of outreach—or by using telemarketing and direct mail independently of one another. High-volume telemarketing won’t fit everyone’s program, but it’s certainly worth investigating.
• Clean Your Lists. Keep your database up-to-date. A minimum of 15% to 20% of the information on a business-to-business mailing list becomes outdated within 12 months. A clean, accurate list is the best way to reach your intended target. If list cleaning isn’t practical, farm it out to a service bureau. (NOTE: Service bureaus now can clean international mailing lists, too.) Rent lists from some of the packaging press publications for comparison and update your own.
• Tap Into Multibuyers. If you use merge/purge software to “de-dupe” several mailing lists, pay special attention to “multibuyers.” The same name appearing on different mailing lists usually indicates a serious, interested, and active buyer. In fact, remailing to multibuyers is the second-most-used direct-marketing technique to improve response, according to the Direct Marketing Association.
• Cross-Promote. Contact other exhibitors to partner on product demos and displays, and cross-promote your products on-site.
• Bring Your Technical Experts. Potential prospects often are looking for specific answers to questions that require a technician’s expertise. Make sure those members of your team are well represented at the show.