Friday, November 19, 2010

How to Attract More Leads From Trade Shows

A consulting client is attending a trade show in March, and wants to know how to get the best marketing results. Most companies have a box or fishbowl where you can put your business card in for a drawing, and hopefully win a valuable prize. The ultimate goal is to get a qualified prospect's contact information, follow up with them after the show, and make a sale.

It's more difficult today than it used to be to follow up and connect with qualified prospects, get a meeting with them... then make the sale. Sometimes weeks or months can pass by before someone returns your call or e-mail, which makes it a really frustrating and long sales cycle. However, I thought of a solution that makes it easier to get prospects into your marketing funnel.

What is it?

It's mobile marketing. Someone can text a phrase, words or numbers to a text address, and they've opted-in to your list. If you're exhibiting at a trade show, place a big banner in front or elevated above your booth, with large-font, readable copy that tells how they can opt-in to your text list. It's a copywriting challenge, but it should also tell them what they'll receive when they opt-in to your text list (chance to win a free prize, free info, etc.).

It's fast, easy and can give you better results than the old fishbowl. If someone can't get to your booth - or doesn't have time to stop by - you've made it easy for a trade show attendee to opt-in to your list.

A great mobile marketing program is provided by a company called Text Cast Live.

Full Disclosure: If you click on that link and make a purchase, I will receive compensation for that purchase. I don't make many recommendations nowadays - and when I do, it's only for top-quality, reputable products, services or people.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, you'll probably see the next blog post in December - take care.

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