Miningworld Russia

Asia

Overview

MiningWorld Russia 2008 - Planning For Success

Top Tips From The Experts

Deciding To Exhibit? Exhibitions are one of the most powerful, versatile and cost-effective tools available. To get the most out of them, you need to understand the unique benefits they offer, both to the exhibitor and the visitor.

Part Of Your Strategy

Consider Exhibitions As Part of Your Overall Sales And Marketing Strategy - Exhibitions, like advertising, direct mail, PR and direct selling, are a strategic weapon in your sales and marketing armoury. They should be used as part of an overall marketing strategy, not in isolation. Only when you have established broad-based objectives should you consider the role exhibitions can play in achieving them.

Consider The Specific Benefits Exhibitions Offer - Exhibitions, when used properly, are a powerful, versatile and highly cost-effective sales and marketing medium. To maximise your investment, and make the most of your participation, you need to understand exactly what benefits they offer:

Highly Targeted - With their carefully focused profiles, and highly targeted audiences, exhibitions allow you to direct your sales and marketing effort accurately and cost-effectively, with minimum wastage.

The Buyer Comes To You - Exhibition visitors are pro-active rather than passive recipients of your sales and marketing messages. They make a conscious decision to attend, and set aside valuable time to do so. Many are specifiers and influencers who it might otherwise be impossible to identify. 3D Sales and Promotion - Nothing beats the impact of a live demonstration. At an exhibition, buyers can see, taste, touch and try your product for themselves.

Face To Face Contact - The most persuasive form of selling, and of building customer relationships.

Neutral sales environment - The buyer feels under no great pressure to buy, while the seller is not intimidated by visiting the buyer on his home territory.

Fast Market Penetration - You can reach a large proportion of the market in a short space of time. Whether you are looking to raise your company profile, change market perceptions or generate sales leads, you can achieve more in four days at an exhibition than you might otherwise achieve in months.

A Powerful Combination - Exhibitions combine the mass-reach of advertising, the targeting of direct mail, the persuasive power of face-to-face selling, and the networking benefits of the Internet, to create a unique environment in which a wide range of sales and marketing objectives can be pursued, either singly, or side by side.

Compare These Benefits

The benefits listed are not unique to exhibitions. What is unusual is their combination in a single, highly flexible promotional tool. Exhibitions combine the mass-reach of advertising, the targeting of direct mail, the persuasive power of face-to-face selling, and the networking benefits of the Internet, to create a unique environment in which a wide range of sales and marketing objectives can be pursued, either singly, or side by side.

Prepare Some Preliminary Costing

Costs vary enormously depending on the type of presence you want to have. A shell stand/pipe and drape can cost you as little as €1000.00 (US$1600) - less than you might pay for a page of trade press advertising, but you will need to spend at least the same amount again on equipping, manning and promoting the stand.

Visitor Motivations

By understanding the needs and motivations of exhibition visitors you can dramatically improve your chances of doing business with them.

Buyers visit exhibitions for three key reasons:

* To source new and existing products.

* To meet current and potential suppliers

* To keep up to date with new technology and industry developments

They also value the role exhibitions offer in allowing them to:

* Talk to an expert ie. someone they perceive as being more knowledgeable than their sales representative

* Discuss their needs in a neutral environment, without feeling obligated to make a purchase.

* Examine the products for themselves, and question the claims of manufacturers

* Make brand-to-brand comparisons, quickly and easily

* Meet the people behind the products. eg. Product designers, sales directors etc.

* Network with industry colleagues and associates

Be Realistic About Your Expectations

Exhibitions generate millions of pounds worth of business every year - but it is unusual for exhibitors to do so during the event. Companies selling low-cost, low-tech products may take orders on the stand. But for most companies, those orders will come in the weeks and months after the show. You must be prepared to pursue your leads vigorously, and to track them on an on-going basis, so that they can trace as many sales as possible back to source.

Remember - Exhibitions Require Time and Effort

Underestimating the amount of planning and preparation required to exhibit successfully is one of the biggest reasons for disappointment and failure. If you are going to invest in a stand/booth, you must also be prepared to invest the necessary time, effort and resources to see it through. Effective planning and follow-up can mean the difference between a bad show experience and a good one. But it can also mean the difference between a good show, and a truly exceptional one.

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