Exhibiting your business at a trade show is one of the most personal and potentially successful forms of marketing there is. Nothing beats word of mouth, and one of the best ways to do that is by getting out there and meeting and greeting attendees at an exhibition. Not just locally but internationally too, which is why it’s so important to work with international promotional staff.
Don’t just take our word for it. Data published in EXHIBITOR Magazine’s 2017 International Exhibiting Survey shows the problems that companies with international growth ambitions face when they want to find promotional staff to represent them abroad.
According to their research, the ability to outsource promotional staff is one of the biggest challenges they face. Just shy of 23%, for instance, say they hire multilingual booth staff while 38.1% say that, when they exhibit abroad, the sales cycle is typically longer than at domestic shows.
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That in itself is a worry for international exhibitors, especially when considering that only 25.6% say they have no plans to exhibit abroad over the coming three years. Most are heading overseas; with 34.8% saying their trade show spend will increase slightly and 9.5% saying it’ll increase significantly, it’s interesting to see where that money actually goes over the coming years.
Amazingly, for instance, only 17.6% say they have their signage translated while only 28.4% invest in having their collateral literature translated. We’ve already seen how little is spent when exhibitors look to outsource promotional staff; with trade show marketing such an incredible way to meet new leads, it’s astonishing that more aren’t putting money toward their front lines to properly engage with new international attendees.
That lack of investment in promotional staff is even more baffling when considering exactly why companies look to exhibit abroad. 42.1% want to increase sales and leads as the primary reason, while 29.5% want to build relationships with clients and new prospects.
If exhibitors aren’t going to put money toward breaking down the language barrier with the right promotional staff, it’s fair to assume they’ll likely fall more often than not at the first hurdle.
Working with multilingual promotional staff comfortable in overseas territories
Exhibitors may feel that they’re happy exhibiting with internal people at the company due to their product knowledge and connection to the business. That’s fine in theory, but they may not be especially adept at building and executing a lead generation strategy.
They may lack the personality to approach people, lack stamina to work the show floor consistently and be unsure of how to collect the right data. That can be made worse when exhibiting abroad in foreign markets where there’s a language barrier, and can make companies look amateurish.
It’s possible for exhibitors to work with multinational, multilingual promotional staff who are available globally, who will work with you to learn as much as they possibly can about your company and its services to work to a strong lead generation strategy that can boost your ROI and represent you professionally to the international audiences that matter to you most.
Expo Stars is particular about the booth staff we work with. We have access to more than 2,500 multilingual staff worldwide, ready to represent you at a moment’s notice. Contact us today to find out more.
