21st Century Marketing Strategies Using Technology
Technology is great and so much of it exists around us we’ve become blind to its constant presence. When it comes to the trade show floor, technology can help us improve ROI by several orders of magnitude, but here is where we also want technology to be “seen” and not just “used.”
A savvy operator will use technology as part of their sales pitch, a feature of their service which means that the customer benefits from faster responsivity, closer alignment of services and products to their needs and increased ROI through decreased costs and improved productivity.
The sales readers will already have picked up on the phrase I used, “A feature which means that…” – doesn’t that mean it’s a benefit – and benefits are what we are looking to use to sell, not features.
Top Technology Sales Tips
Barcode Scanners – many trade show venues are moving over to a barcode being attached to the id badge worn by a visitor. This will include the name and contact information for that visitor and all you need is the scanner to capture the data and a means of storing the data. This means less time worrying about capturing a name and contact number with a prospect and more time to talk business with them, or see more prospects.
Social Media Engagement – it is de rigeur to have a constant stream of tweets put out on the day, but you should be making sure this is relevant and tied directly to your event schedule. This is especially true if you are speaking or holding presentations/demonstrations during the day, and you should be using social media to tell prospects what will happen, when and where it will happen, when it is happening and after you have concluded.
Basically, tell them what you are going to sell them, tell them what you are selling and then tell them what you’ve sold them. This is a great way to reinforce your sales message throughout the day and helps retention of you and your company after the event.
Digital Signage – audio-visual messages scattered throughout the venue are very effective. Within the trade this is known as “digital signage” and we are seeing more of this outside the trade show arena too. Basically it comprises of short presentations or ads for your company being either continuously looped or activated either automatically when a prospect’s presence is detected or by the prospect themselves. Each monitor is an extra pre-sales team member, warming up prospects for your sales closers.
Audience Response Touch Screens – touch screens are a fantastic way to engage with your audience, whether individual prospects or in group situations, such as at a seminar. Frequently insert response prompts into your presentations and ask the prospect(s) questions in a multiple choice format or “yes/no” – this will provide you with both overall market feedback and individual response information which can be tied to a specific prospect depending on how sophisticated the system is you choose.
sales@monsterdisplays.com
