In my two most recent blog postings I described how the crowd at a trade show resembles the traffic that streams past your businesses’ web page. Then I discussed the trade show booth, its appearance, signage and location on an exhibit floor and how they too related to web pages. Today, I will discuss the ethical bribes trade shows use to draw you to their booth and how you should be doing the same thing on your web site.
By ethical bribes I’m referring to the candy dish that might be on the front table, or perhaps the miniature golf putting green, or other features exhibitors use to get you to approach their booth. When I was a kid, you used to be able to get a wooden yard stick at the state fair. Such premiums now cost a buck or more, but in the old days it was a big crowd attractor.
The most common attractor at fairs and trade shows though are prize drawings. Fill out your name and address and/or phone number to win Free Siding, or a free set of encyclopedias or what ever.
It’s this last idea, that should be part and parcel of your web page. The fact that you were interested in winning that free siding suggested you might be a candidate to buy free siding. By filling in the drawing form, you were no longer part of the crowd at the trade show or fair. You were now a “Lead.” A lead is a valuable commodity.
The odds that you would win the grand prize were pretty slim. The odds that you would be called or mailed to were 100% For the business in the booth, it made a lot more sense to call you, than to call a random page out of the phone book. You had indirectly indicated that you could use new siding.
And that is the primary purpose of your web site if you are in business. Your web site’s primary goal should be to transform web site browsers into Leads. And you do that by offering ethical bribes.
It may be possible to offer candy or a coupon for candy from your site. You could perhaps treat a visitor to a virtual game of golf on your web site as well. In fact, there are a lot of things you could do online that resemble or duplicate virtually any idea you have seen in the trade show or fair arena.
But the most common tool online is to offer free information. Not on your web site, but down loadable in exchange for interested people’s name and email address.
This is such an important concept, it should be on the above the fold portion of your web site, so anyone who visits your site will see and understand that they can readily get this valuable freebie.
(There are options that don’t require redoing your entire web page, if this is an issue for you. I’d be happy to discuss these with you, if you want to drop me an email at
Now what you offer need not be difficult to create. A simple report of 5-7 pages is adequate. But it should be “sexy.” It should offer to meet your prospects every desire for appropriate information relevant to their decision making process when considering a product like yours.
Last year I did a comprehensive review of the Home Staging Industry. These small business people help their clients get faster sales and often better prices by applying their specific skills to create a positive impression on prospective buyers when they first enter a house and in each room they see thereafter. As I learned in my surveys of practitioners, most were crackerjacks at what they were doing, but often lacked marketing expertise. I suggested to them as I am to you now that they needed to add an “opt in form” on their web sites to draw in clients.
I suggested they create a little report such as, “7 things to do before you call the Realtor,” or “How to De-clutter your home.” You will want to so something similar relevant to your business. Tips and “How to’s” are excellent places to start when thinking about what you can offer.
I will spend more discussing the all important followup process in a future posting. But prior to that I will talk more about the people manning the trade show booth in my next edition. They have one advantage your web site might not. It’s important to understand their function so you can replicate it as much as possible on your web site.
Till then…