Trade Show Success Powered by SMS

SMS Marketing Here it is: your big chance. Next month the company will be co-sponsoring the industry’s largest trade show. Due to scheduling conflicts, your boss is unable to attend and you will be attending in his place. Your responsibility is to oversee all company events and booths in order to walk away with a hard list of qualified leads.

As you consider your next steps, you inevitably look to your right and see the crippling pile of business cards gathered from the last trade show your company attended. Of the 500+ cards collected, approximately 20 (being generous) belonged to individuals who even remembered stopping by the booth. We won’t talk about how many turned into a sale.

Knowing that there must be a better way for you to go about leaving this coming trade show having successfully and efficiently generated leads, you soon consider SMS. An SMS engagement and lead generation program is the perfect way to win the show. Leave the stack of business cards behind. Rather, follow these Trade Show SMS guidelines below and come back to the office on Monday morning ready to review your new, fresh list of qualified leads.

We’ll use fictional security provider Locked and Safe, Inc. for examples.

Outbound: Visitors to a Locked and Safe booth or seminar can opt-in to notifications, alerts and updates related to the company’s activities throughout the week. Messages can be sent out to notify where and when Locked and Safe seminars are taking place, tell attendees about limited-time offers at Locked and Safe’s booth, etc.
Inbound: Provide opted-in SMS subscribers with empowering keywords. “Text SCHEDULE to see where Locked and Safe is right now”, “Text LUNCH to learn about how you can join the Locked and Safe team for lunch today”, etc.
Alerts: Schedule meetings with top prospects and deliver SMS reminders 30 minutes before they are due back at the booth.
Voting/Survey/Contest: Interact with visitors at your booth. “What product is at the top of your security budget in 2012? Respond ‘1’ for surveillance or ‘2’ for alarms. Text answers to 12345.” Then, display the real-time results.
Text-to-Screen: Poll an audience during a Seminar. Display results on-screen during the same seminar.
List growth: Throughout all initiatives, drive list growth. “Respond with your email address to subscribe to Locked and Safe’s weekly newsletter and learn more about security options for your business.” This simple lead generation win can easily be tagged on to any successful SMS interaction.