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You would have to be muy loco to chalk up your hard-earned money to be a booth exhibitor at a conference. People gripe about cold calling, but conference booths are by far the #1 most archaic form of marketing.
Throw that booth application form in the trash bin. There are better ways to spend your conference-marketing dollars.
Booths are like a rainy Halloween
On a few occasions in my distant past I had the unpleasant experience of having to “man” the booth at industry conferences where my employer was exhibiting. I would liken the experience being the mom or dad who stands at the door when all the kids come trick-or-treating on a rainy, cold, miserable Halloween.
Remember what it was like when it would rain on Halloween? Your parents stocked up on the Reese’s Peanut Butter cups in the hopes some brave soul would ring the bell. But nobody does except for one or two families where the parents stop the car for three seconds while their kids jet up to your doorstep, grab the candy and shoot back to the car shivering. You end up having to eat all the candy yourself – a stomachache and cavities are that year’s Halloween memories.
Conference booths are the commercial version of rainy Halloween.
It’s just spooky. Most people would rather use someone else’s toothbrush than stop by and visit a vendor’s booth at a conference. Have you noticed how nobody makes eye contact as they walk by? How about when they walk to the other side of the aisle to avoid being in your direct line of vision? We’re not talking about the iPhone here – financial products are especially unappetizing. If people come over, it’s probably for the pencil sharpeners or mints you’re offering.
This is a relic, folks, of old marketing strategies that maybe used to work but now belong in the rag pile.
To quote my friend Scott MacKillop (who helped me originate this anti-booth idea one day over coffee), “It’s an anachronistic form of marketing.” Agreed. It’s the dog-and-pony show approach to sales. Nobody likes being marketed to that way anymore. How this exists in the present day is beyond me.
Hanging out all day waiting for someone to pay attention to you is just so desperate. What can you do to attract attention to yourself at this meat market? You may want to consider trying these catcalls:
- “Hey hot stuff, how’s your high dividend portfolio doing?”
- “Over here, honey! I can help you figure out the Sharpe Ratio of your portfolio. Just join my mailing list please please please!”
- “Can I buy you a drink? We’re making mango smoothies over here. Sign up for a free portfolio analysis and enter the raffle – we’re giving away the blender!”
Don’t forget to add at the end “And what’s your number? I’ll call you sometime.”
The one good thing that came out of conference booth marketing was meeting other vendors who were exhibiting near me. They were as equally bored as I was. Thanks to this experience I now have a full arsenal of people I can call if I ever need to mortgage a home or buy some accounting software.
The modern alternative to conference marketing
Booths stink. Here are some better conference marketing ideas. Throw away the order form for the booths and the trinkets. Instead of being stuck in the 1940s, use modern technology.
At a high level, a better strategy goes something like this:
- Buy two attendee passes for the conference, one for you and one for your social-media person.
- Have your social-media person walk around and film as you interview people about how the person is enjoying the conference. Ask the question in a funny way like, “Thumbs up or thumbs down on this year’s event? Tell the camera in three words or less.” Snap a picture together and give them a candy bar.
- Then get the interviewee’s contact information and add them to your email list after the conference.
- Connect with them on LinkedIn after the conference. Post the picture and video and tag them so that you get onto their network. Use the conference hashtag as well.
Sara’s upshot
If I ever get famous enough to run my own conferences, it won’t include booths. In the meantime, I advise all of you vendors to stop spending your valuable dollars on these archaic money drains and use other methods of prospecting that are less awkward, use modern forms of technology and are less akin to a rainy Halloween.
Sara Grillo, CFA, is a top financial writer with a focus on marketing and branding for investment management, financial planning, and RIA firms. Prior to launching her own firm, she was a financial advisor and worked at Lehman Brothers. Sara graduated from Harvard with a degree in English literature and has an MBA from NYU Stern in quantitative finance.
Read more articles by Sara Grillo
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives
