Targeted Attendance Promotion

Appealing to a wider variety

By Rayna Skolnik

• Targeting 50 separate attendee groups for A/E/C SYSTEMS '90, Michael Hough, Principal in the show-organizing firm, sends 31 mailings in the 10 weeks before the show. The mailings are so carefully tailored to the recipients' interests, he says, that "architects think it's an architects' show, engineers think it's an engineers' show and contractors think it's a contractors' show.
• FOSE, going into its 15th year, "has done well, and the key has been attendance promotion," says Gerald Lewis, Vice President of Marketing for show sponsor National Trade Productions. "We've segmented our audience based on application interest."
• This year's International Lawn, Garden and Power Equipment Expo is being marketed with two different brochures. One promotes the complete show and conference, and one is aimed specifically at commercial users of industry equipment, including landscape contractors and golf course superintendents. The reason for the change, says Show Director Warren Sellers: "The commercial side of this business is growing, and we haven't had a large part of it. But we feel we could draw more if we marketed the commercial segment separately."

For Hough and Lewis, targeting is already the answer. They have identified audience segments and market specifically to them. For Sellers and others, targeting is the wave of the future.

Not all show managers feel the need for tailored promotions. Many use a one-size-fits-all marketing plan, and say their exhibitors are satisfied with the audience quality.

But show managers who think targeting can help, and want to give it a try, can pick up tips from those already practicing the art.

A word of reassurance: Creating tailored marketing plans doesn't mean that if you have 50 audience segments, you need to produce 50 brochures. You might customize a brochure with a special cover sheet or insert. Or run ads with slight copy changes in different publications. Or plan additional mailings for only a certain segment of the audience. Or use different radio stations to reach different groups. Or place posters where a select audience will see them. The choices depend upon the demographics of the audience, their needs and interests, and, of course, your budget.

Michael Hough targets three broad groups for A/E/C SYSTEMS: architects, engineers and contractors. But within each group, there are subsegments -- for example, civil engineers, mechanical engineers and so on. In terms of job function, he wants the person in charge of the computer system.

The three basic groups "don't talk to each other, but we must get them to the show," says Hough. Which means that it's important not to let people in one group perceive the show as being exclusively for the others.

The first mailing, three months before the show, is a tabloid-size 32-page, full-color brochure that is sent to 150,000 people in all the market segments. Of those 150,000, "there are about 3,000 that I really want," says Hough. The brochure includes information on the exhibits and conferences, but with an emphasis on the conference because, he says, most of his prospects won't come for the exhibits alone. Also included are housing and transportation information and a registration form.

The targeting starts here. The table of contents lists "Conference Highlights" page numbers for five separate audiences -- architects and designers; engineers; contractors; owners and facility managers; and mapping professionals.

Turn to the "Highlights" pages and you find, interspersed in the full conference program, color boxes listing the specific sessions, with page numbers, that are of interest to that group of people. Thus, people who might not go through the entire program to see if any sessions appeal to them, are pointed in the right direction.

Now Hough begins what he calls his "water torture": "I keep hitting them with different messages that promote the same thing. "The second wave of mailings are tailored to nine different groups, such as people interested in advanced CADD management or in the Apple Macintosh, interior designers, contractors or home builders who want to learn about CADD.

Each of these groups gets a packet with a specific cover letter, a two-color mini-brochure highlighting a special part of the conference and a third piece -- possibly an overview of the show, an admission ticket or a flyer listing reasons to attend.

Hough even targets messages on the outside of promotion envelopes. For one mailing, for example, the return address reads "Value-Added Computing for Building Engineers c/o A/E/C SYSTEMS '90." The cover letter is then addressed to "Mechanical, Electrical and Other Building Engineers." It begins, "If you are involved with designing any type of building system, then Value Added Computing for Building Engineers is where you should be on June 14." It then lists the topics of interest that will be covered at the conference for this group, and offers an early-registration discount.

Other mailings include a full-color, six-page flyer that focuses on one segment of the conference and includes a registration form, and a reminder post card in Day-Glo orange that is mailed about two weeks before the show.

Hough sends a total of 800,000 pieces, yet he doesn't rely solely on them to pull in the attendees. Mailings are also distributed by the various associations to which the potential attendees belong, such as the American Society of Civil Engineers. "If the ASCE mails something, the recipient is more likely to open and read it because he's a member of the association," says Hough.

Associations are given a booth at the show in return for sending two exhibit tickets to each of their members. "They're mailing things anyway," says Hough, "so it costs them no more, and they get a free booth."

Even the tickets, which are actually registration forms giving an individual free admission to the exhibits, are tailored to different groups. One reads, "CMC 90 -- The computer and management show for contractors." Another reads, "Facilities '90 -- The one and only high-tech event exclusively for facility managers/owners!" This works well for A/E/C because even the exhibit floor is segmented, and attendees walk into a section specifically for them.

Press releases and ads support the mailings. Targeted releases go to publications that cover all the market segments. The releases contain an 800 number and generate up to 100 inquiries per day. Ads, which are also traded for free booths, are meant to generate inquiries, not registrations. Everyone who inquires gets the tabloid brochure, with a "The information you requested..." cover letter and a follow-up mailing.

Hough says that printing the tabloid brochure now costs $77,000. The total budget for printing and mailing alone was $500,000 for last year's show. But he considers the money well spent. He stresses that his operation is "for profit, so we must look at the returns we get. We must mail early and mail often."

Direct mail also figures prominently in promotion for FOSE -- 1 million pieces were sent for the last show. But the marketing plan also included radio and TV ads, posters in the subway, ads and editorial in the trade press and telemarketing.

FOSE, formerly known as the Federal Office Systems Expo, is held at the Washington Convention Center, in Washington, DC. It is billed as "the computer and information systems conference and exposition for the Federal Government." FOSE '90, held in March, drew 66,500 attendees for its 500-plus exhibitors. Exhibitors are vendors of information systems that range from desktop computing to high-end systems, and include software, hardware and computer graphics.Nearly half of the attendees work for the government. "People exhibit because this is the best way to reach federal customers," says Gerald Lewis, Vice President of Marketing for National Trade Productions in Alexandria, VA, the show producer.

Although the same 24-page brochure is sent to the entire list of potential attendees, the mailing contains material that is tailored to the individual recipient. A cover letter mentions the person's title or job function, and a one-page flyer addresses his or her area of interest, as indicated by NTP's database. For FOSE '90, there were six different brochures.

Developing the separate brochures is not a daunting task. Each uses the same heading and blocks of basic show data, but on the left side is a subject heading, such as "Supporting the end-user in the '90s" or "Software for the '90s. " The lead paragraph begins with the same conference overview, and offers, in one instance, "the best possible education on supporting the end-user" and, in another, "the best possible education on software."

Next is a list of sessions geared to that area of interest. Each list is, of course, totally different. The final paragraph reads "The FOSE '90 exposition features 8 acres of exhibits from over 500 companies including...." The companies listed are appropriate to end-user support, software or whatever is the focus of that particular brochure.

About two weeks later, everyone on the list receives a smaller folder offering free admission to the expo for those who pre-register. The brochure lists exhibit categories, exhibiting companies and the sessions and presentations that are open to all registered attendees.

Various mailings continue until six weeks before the show. The number of times individuals are reached "depends on the likelihood of their attending," says Lewis. "Past attendees will get more."

But Lewis uses much more than mail. Regional TV, for example, works well for this show. "Information systems users -- the people who attend our show -- are the kind of people who watch the news," he says. "So our strategy is to sweep the news. They can't watch it morning, evening or late night without seeing a FOSE commercial." George Plimpton, who has been the FOSE spokesman since 1985, appears in the commercial. Says Lewis, "He's recognizable, and he's identified as credible and knowledgeable about lots of things."

Radio is also used heavily. And although some people do find out about FOSE through radio or TV, those media "serve primarily as a reminder," says Lewis, "to create a sense of urgency."

Many people who work in Washington ride the Metro. For a full month before the show, subway cars are saturated with posters bearing a photograph of Plimpton and a promotional message.

Even people who don't ride the Metro can't escape. "It's a targeted market, and we know where they work," says Lewis. "We blanket the government agencies with posters." On each poster is a plastic pocket containing information flyers.

NTP has used pre-show telemarketing to promote attendance for about five years. "We start a month before the show, using our best list and a professional telemarketer," says Lewis. "We don't work from a script, but try to be as individual as possible. We ask what people are interested in, and then say, 'Oh, then you should see thus and such.'" Telemarketing is used again after the show, "to learn what people think about the show, and sell them on coming again."

And management practically leads people by hand to the site. Although the Convention Center is easily reached by Metro, shuttle buses go to all the government agencies, and the service is well publicized.

Meanwhile, there is year-round contact with newspapers "to maintain relationships with editors and writers," Lewis says. "We send news releases to computer editors, business editors, and feature writers who write on computer issues."

NTP is "even more selective" in its dealings with trade publications, says Lewis. "We contact the editor of a computer publication, of course, but the software editor or microcomputer editor might be targeted for specific products."

Lewis volunteers that "all this is very expensive. We spend over $1 million for promotion, and you can't do that for every show. But everything we do works -- not always on its own, but in the aggregate; there's a certain synergy."

In Michael Gallagher's opinion, "The worst mistake show managers make is to have a broad show, segment the audience and then market it to each segment as a generic show." Gallagher was recently named Director of Marketing Communications for the National Printing Equipment & Supply Association one of three owners of the Graphic Arts Show Company in Reston, VA, which produces Graph Expo. The marketing plan for Graph Expo is his responsibility.

For the next Graph Expo, to be held in New York City's Javits Center in late September? Gallagher has segmented the audience into three main groups. The first is the printing and publishing industry, which includes printers, publishers, manufacturers of printing and publishing products and people who work for commercial or in-plant printers.

Another group includes creative directors, graphic designers and art directors. People involved with electronic and desktop publishing make up the third group.

This is the first time the audience has been segmented in this way, Gallagher says. The reason: "The nature of the printing industry is changing -- it's becoming more electronic." What that means to him is that "as we have to branch out and segment the industry, we must become more sophisticated in our direct marketing efforts.

Gallagher's first mailing piece, in late June, was an eight-page, two-color brochure in three versions, one for each major group. The common elements of the brochure, he says, are information on the seminars to be presented by the Graphic Arts Council, the list of exhibitors, and travel and hotel information.

But each of the three brochures has a different list of who should attend and how they will benefit. Gallagher explains, "We have to make it say to the attendee immediately, 'This has something to do with what I do.'" For example, for printing and publishing people, who buy machinery, "it's important to keep up with evolving technology and be able to evaluate the offerings." The benefits list stresses that Graph Expo will help them do so.

In late July, a 32-page, four-color combination catalog and buyer's guide will be mailed to every printer east of the Mississippi. The other two target groups, which attend the expo more to be educated than to buy, will receive a smaller, two-color mailing piece that lists reasons to attend the expo and includes an advance registration form.

And in mid-August, a customized mailing will go to the top l00 or so commercial printers in the New York City area.

Because of the new, segmented approach, Gallagher says, inquiries in response to print ads will have to be tracked more carefully than in the past. It will be important to identify the source of the ad in order to know what materials to send.

An incentive program encourages industry groups to promote attendance. Pre-registration forms that the groups mail are coded, so they can be tracked, and the full $5 fee is rebated for each registration that the group generates.

The International Lawn, Garden & Power Equipment Expo, held annually in Louisville, is in its seventh year. Warren Sellers, who is the Show Director and also Executive Vice President of show organizing and management company Andry Montgomery and Associates, says his audience -- 15,000 attendees last year -- is composed of two segments: consumer and commercial.

On the consumer side, manufacturers of both power and non-power equipment aim to reach mass merchandise buyers, servicing dealers and distributors, and manufacturers' reps and agents. The target groups for the commercial side, which Sellers wants to broaden this year, are landscape contractors, lawn-servicing companies, grounds maintenance contractors, irrigation contractors and designers, commercial dealers and distributors and golf course superintendents.

In addition to the eight-page brochure for the total audience, this year a six-page piece has been created specifically for the commercial segment. The travel and housing information are the same in both brochures, but the remaining text and some of the illustrations differ.

On the cover of the commercial version is a block headed "Special invitation to," followed by a list of the six groups that are being targeted. In the master brochure, the spelling text is headlined "The industry's marketplace for new products." In the commercial version, the headline is "EXPO 90... expanded to meet your needs in the commercial marketplace."

The longer version lists all exhibit product categories. Because some of those would not appeal to the commercial visitors, they are told to expect "new consumer and commercial products from 550 manufacturers," but no list is given. The master brochure also includes a full page highlighting features of general interest.

The commercial brochure includes pictures of heavy-duty equipment, but skips the garden tools shown in the other version. Some of the illustrations do appear in both brochures, making it possible to use the same color separations twice. Thus, "the added cost isn't enormous," says Sellers.

The two brochures contain different promotional quotes from satisfied attendees. In the master brochure, the quotes refer to the overall breadth of the show, but in the commercial version, they stress, for example, that EXPO is the only commercial mowing show that really covers all the bases for commercial operators."

About five months before the show, the two brochures are mailed; the longer version is also bound into industry magazines. But the "real strength," says Sellers, is the exhibitors, who mail about 150,000 brochures to their customers.

A four-page, multilingual brochure is sent to international visitors -- about 1,200 attend the show -- 10 or 11 months in advance.

In exchange for free booth space or meeting rooms, industry associations mail brochures to their members. But the associations support the show in other ways too. "They sponsor features we do at the show," says Sellers. "This year we'll have two model stores set up and sponsored by the North American Dealers Association. And the Engine Services Association sponsors an engine-repair championship. When associations announce that they'll be there, that gives validity to the show."

A show announcement usually precedes the brochure. This year it was a poster-calendar, eight months in advance, with the show dates highlighted on the July block as well as at the top of the poster. "We're pushing the dates this year because we changed to Sunday-Tuesday from Monday-Wednesday," says Sellers. "We point out that people can save on air fare if they come in on Saturday. Also, people don't want to miss too many days of work, and this way they can walk the show on Sunday."

One or two press releases per month are sent to the trade, consumer and local press. This year's show will include a separate area for hands-on demonstration of commercial equipment; a press release highlighting the new demo area will list the participating companies and what they will demonstrate.

"This is the first time we've targeted the commercial segment, so we don't know how effective it will be," says Sellers. But judging by the experiences of other show managers he's moving in the right direction.

You can target-market public shows"There's a misconception in this industry that you can't use trade show promotion techniques with a consumer show," says P. Stephan Phelps, President and CEO of American Expositions Group in Louisville. "But I did a local garden show and targeted the east end of town, where 80 percent of the landscaping is being done. Sixty days in advance, I did direct mail to 30,000 people with a mean income of over $25,000, and a reminder card two or three weeks ahead. In its first year, the show drew over 15,000 paid attendees, and the majority were from the east end of town. I took the trade show marketing strategy -- direct mail and a special invitation -- and applied it with tremendous success."

Tom Reno will be pleased to hear that. Reno, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations for Expositions, Inc. in Lenexa, Kansas, is planning his first direct mail campaign to attract people to his new show.

Drawing exhibitors from its established home shows, Expositions, Inc. is planning a fall home and lifestyles show including products and services for senior citizens and the physically impaired. Reno needs to identify and reach the audience for such products as exercise equipment, security systems, activity groups and hearing and vision aids.

"Every golden age group or organization, such as AARP, will have some interest in our products," Reno says. "So we're finding out the purpose of those groups, to be sure they're appropriate, and gathering names and addresses for a targeted mailing." Reno is also asking managers of retirement communities if they have organized groups, if those groups have a spokesperson and if he can send information to that person.

The direct mail pieces will offer special admission rates, and there will be discount coupons in newspapers and stores.

"Hospitals and rehabilitation centers all promote wellness and fitness programs in their newsletters," he continues. "We're sending news releases to the public relations or community relations person at every one of those places in Kansas City." And he'll be writing to the editors of in-house publications at corporations such as Ford, Hallmark and Bendix, which are concerned about health and productivity, to let them know about the fitness and health products at the show.

Reno will use radio, as he has in the past, but plans to add stations "with different types of music" to reach his new audience. He's also prepared 30-second and 60-second public service announcements to publicize the free seminars at the show. Radio talk shows will be important too.

Reno is exploring every avenue he can to bring in this new audience. His reason: "We've had some very successful shows, so we might as well go toward a market that's out there."