15 Attendance Boosters

  1.  Take a holistic approach to attendance promotion — the direct mail piece is only 10% of the total effort needed.
  2. A successful show brings the right number of qualified attendees to the show floor. Work on all three elements and you will have a very profitable event.
  3. If you manage the expectations of your exhibitors, you will not need to produce huge numbers of warm bodies. Under promise and over perform.
  4. Rule of Thumb: budget $50 per verified attendee for all marketing expenses. This is for direct costs only and does not include staff salaries.
  5. Focus on power buyers as attendees vs. users. Power buyers buy (for example) 1000 units whereas users buy only one unit.
  6. Be sure the community of interest is large enough to support your show. On average, 1% of the community (or universe) will come to the show.
  7. Rule of Thumb: plan to generate 10 verified attendees per stand. To illustrate, if your show has 300 stands, you should have 3000 verified attendees.
  8. Take it as your responsibility to be sure your exhibitors get a ton of quality leads.
  9. Focus your public relations on those magazines (and associations) who actually influence your industry.
  10. Open the show to all associations and publications serving your community of interest –not just the sponsor.
  11. Direct mail is a preferred medium – but use it effectively by concentrating on the 20% of the universe that generates 80% of your attendance.
  12. E-marketing is a preferred medium – but be sure your understand “permission marketing,” specifically what true “opt-in” means.
  13. Telemarketing can work, but make “warm” (rather than cold) calls to past attendees and inquirers.
  14. No shows (those who pre register but don’t show up) are very costly. Have a separate promotion plan to convince them to come.
  15. Finally, measure the results of each promotion effort so you know what improvements tomake next year.

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