Exhibitor Tips

Making the most of your time at The Baby Show

Remember, there will be other companies at The Baby Show all vying for the attention of the visitors. Below are a number of helpful hints which will help you to maximise your presence both before and during the Show.

Advertising

Attract interest in your stand at the Show and any special show discounts or new product launches by including references to them in your normal advertising. You could, for example, include “See us on Stand ___ at The Baby Show”. You can download The Baby Show Earls Court logo for your advertising and website here! Click here for Earls Court London 2007 logo.

Appearance

With your goals in mind, design your stand to attract your target market with colour, motion, sound, bold graphics and benefits statements. Reading newspapers, eating lunch, smoking and conducting private conversations on the stand is not conducive to a successful show!

Celebrities

If you have a famous customer, you have the makings of a great story for the press. You may even wish to invite celebrities to your stand. Let us know.

Competitions

Promotions and competitions are a great way to ensure you have a presence in the media during the run up to the Show. You can give away anything – although the more exciting and valuable the prize value, the better the media title and the coverage. The larger newspaper titles normally require over £1000 worth of product, and often national papers require more.

Database

The marketing team collect the data of all visitors from the Show. Exhibitors can purchase names on a per ‘000 basis for a one off mailing after the Show. Contact one of the sales team for further information.

Discounts

Visitors love to see special Show offers and are attracted to stands that are obviously discounting products and services. There are also opportunities for you to pre-publicise your discounts by including a voucher on the Baby Show website.

Email

The marketing team will be sending its own email newsletters to prospective visitors. You can do the same to your email database and let them know of your special offers, products launches etc and include a link to the Show website. The marketing team can supply you with brief wording describing the Show.

Goals

Establish specific and measurable goals BEFORE you plan anything else and this will determine the design and activities that take place on your stand. These goals will also help you to decide what type of people to have on the stand. For example, do you want happy, persuasive sales people, or experts in their field who will provide sound advice?

Leaflets

Recent research has shown that 83% of the most successful companies at a range of exhibitions (in terms of business generated and leads collected) were ones that took the trouble to mail their prospects and let their customers know what they were doing at the Show.
The marketing team can supply you with Baby Show leaflets for mailings, to include within product orders and/or for store display. Please contact Emma Reed or Emma Charter to discuss this further.

Posters

The marketing team has printed a number of posters that you can display in your store / nursery / community centre. Let us know how many you need – call Emma Charter on 0207 370 8175.

Press Office

The Press Office will be signposted from the entrance to the Show, and is open to exhibitors at ExCeL from the afternoon of 8 March 2007 and thereafter during the opening hours of the Show.

Press Packs

The Press Office will be the first point-of-call for all press visiting the event so please provide your press packs to the Press Office before the Show opens. Press packs can be as simple as a company brochure with a press release attached, informing the journalist of your latest news.

• Clearly mark the press pack with your contact name, telephone number, address and the exhibition stand number so that press can easily find you.
• Concise information, well presented, relevant to the Show, is what counts.
• Journalists are attracted to little freebies too!
• We recommend that you supply 15 press packs, but it is advisable to keep a daily check on your packs to ensure that a supply is maintained.
• Please remember to collect any remaining packs from the Press Office immediately after the Show closes on Sunday. They are undoubtedly valuable to your company and any left at close of play on Sunday will unfortunately be thrown away.

Press Releases

If you wish to issue a press release, one or two pages is most effective. It should be clearly dated (eg “For immediate release – 1 March 2007”). It should have an eye-catching headline, which leads into the release. The first paragraph should summarise the story with the next 3 or 4 paragraphs substantiating the story. The press release should end with a contact name, telephone number, address and stand number and the word “– ENDS –“, also include further information about photography/brochures, if available.

To make news of your involvement at the Show, consider the following angles:

• new product launches/introduction of new services
• unusual, innovative product news
• celebrity appearances – special events from your stand
• special give-aways or other promotions planned
• anything funny or quirky about the products or people involved

Showguide – Your Free Listing

The Showguide is produced independently by Eventful Publishing. It is a stand alone publication and will be given free to all visitors.

You have a free listing and company description, so complete the relevant form in the Forms section of your Manual to ensure you get this. There are also opportunities to advertise and sponsor.

Staff

Ensure that the stand staff are well trained – they need to understand your goals and how they play a specific role in achieving them. Thoroughly brief them on your products and objectives before the Show.

Stories

Make sure you let us know about anything you are doing which may be of interest to the press. Our team will be approaching national and regional print and broadcast media with feature ideas and offers of interviews – do you have a person who is an expert in a particular field, or a story which you think would be compelling?

Tickets

You will be allocated complimentary tickets according to the size of your stand.

You can use The Baby Show tickets in the following ways to drive visitors to your stand at The Baby Show:

• To invite your business partners.
• To reward loyalty of your top customers and invite them to the Show.
• To give away as prizes in a local newspaper, using the editorial to promote your presence at the Show, etc.

Complimentary tickets are strictly not for use in the following ways:

• They are not, under any circumstances, to be resold. Any exhibitor found selling complimentary tickets either before or during the Show may be subjected to legal action. Tickets will all be bar coded and are therefore traceable.
• They are not to be given away as prizes on your own website or through your own mailings unless agreed with Clarion Events.

The tickets will be sent to you nearer the time. These tickets are complimentary and should NOT, under any circumstances, be sold or legal action may be taken. Permission is required from the marketing team before using the tickets as prizes.

Website Advertising

You can have an enhanced listing with additional product photos on the website, which allows you to have your listing highlighted and add a company logo and product image. A highlighted entry increases the likely number of hits your website entry will get, and gives you an additional opportunity to present your product and generate interest. Contact Matt on 020 7370 8134 for details and prices.

Website – Company Listing

70% of advance tickets are sold via The Baby Show website, with the Exhibitor Listing being one of the most visited pages. Make sure your company name details are there. You can access your page via the Current Exhibitors section to add, FOC, a company description, discount vouchers, press releases, photograph and contact details. You will be given a unique log-in and password to access your page.

Your website

State on your website that you will be coming to the Show – include your stand number and any information on the special offers that you will be running. Include a link from your site to www.thebabyshow.co.uk.

If you would like some copy to include on your website next to The Baby Show logo (Click here for Earls Court London 2007 logo) please contact Emma Charter on 020 7370 8175.

If a site user wants to visit you at the Show, let them know that Show tickets booked in advance are cheaper!