Other People's Money

By Michael J. Flynn and Linda Kephart Flynn

Michael Hough sums up his show promotion philosophy in three words: Other People's Money. Every time you're tempted to spend valuable resources to advertise and promote your event, says the Connecticut-based principal of A/E/C SYSTEMS, get a tight grip on your purse strings, use your show business savvy and partner with those who can pass the word far more effectively and inexpensively.

If this sounds like a chapter straight out of Show Production for Dreamers, think again. When Hough and his partner, George Borkovich, put their first show together in 1980, Hough used his background as a newsletter publisher to convince three participants to help promote the event. Fourteen years later, A/E/C's '94 show had 143 groups pitching in on the publicity, to the tune of more than half a million dollars in promotional value. "We can document between $500,000 and $600,000 in advertising and promotions," Hough claims. "That's $600,000 we got without paying for it, and that's not bad."

A/E/C is hardly the sole practitioner of this marketing magic. Increasingly, show professionals around the country are developing innovative ideas to leverage small promotional budgets into massive attention-getting programs. To do it, they use already prepared promotional materials, extra booth space and existing in-house resources to capitalize on everything from local newspaper editorial coverage to U.S. embassy and consulate promotions around the world.

Strange bedfellows
As in all partnering relationships, the foundation for promoting through other organizations is determining a) what they need and have to offer, b) what you need and have to offer, and c) what sort of joint arrangement will provide the greatest payoff for everyone. "The key is finding a win-win situation," says Haidee Calore, Senior Vice President, Conventions & Exhibitions for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Washington, D.C. "If a show organizer is only looking at 'What can I get out of this?' then that's the wrong way to approach the situation."

Launch your promotional leveraging by looking at all parties involved in your show. Who are your exhibitors? Your attendees? How can you subdivide them by interest? What influences those subgroups? What other associations do your exhibitors and attendees have? How do participants receive information? How do they work and with whom? "You have to understand exactly who your participants are," explains Hough. "We work hard at making those connections."

Among the easiest ways to answer such questions is to ask your exhibitors and attendees directly. Use pre- and post-show surveys, either in person, written and/or over the telephone. And don't forget to ask other show professionals about what affects involvement in their events.

Cutting a deal
Your research will produce a large pool of promotional opportunities, everything from trade publication advertising to word-of-mouth recommendations from industry peers. Then you must evaluate those options to determine which will produce the best results. Consumer and trade publications, broadcast media, your exhibitors, governmental agencies and industry-related shows and associations will be among your best sources.

Publications deserve particularly close consideration because of their free-promotion potential. They often offer widespread circulations, contents targeted to a specific audience and publishers who understand the advertising/promotion relationship you're after. Publications also give you three avenues for show publicity: advertising, editorial coverage and supplements -- a combination of advertising and editorial directed at a defined readership niche.

Advertising represents one of A/E/C's prime focus areas. "Last year, we had 92 ads that promoted our show," Hough says. "At $5,000 average cost, you're talking about more than $400,000 in free advertising. Image plays a part as well: A successful show advertises a lot. We advertise without having the associated costs."

Hough establishes his basic advertising program by trading a 10X10 booth for one full-page, four-color ad; 10,000 mailing list names; or a 1,000-piece mailing. He extends this offer to a pool of publications with comparable ad rates and circulations of about 60,000. The deal amounts to a fair trade -- extra space in his show for extra space in their pages.

"Using other people's money is not necessarily getting them to spend something," Hough says. "A magazine is going to publish anyway, and they won't print another 16-page form just to get my ad in. But they almost always have extra space, and they can use it to both of our advantages."

Similarly, A/E/C won't give up revenue-producing booth space. "We've sold out before, but we usually have the space or can make room for a publication," says Hough. "We figure it costs $150 for the booth, carpet, a table and chairs, and a sign. It cost us something, but it's minimal for the return it provides the show."

From the publications' perspective, the trade-off also works well. In addition to gaining visibility in the industry, the magazine gets the chance to sell future advertising. Architecture Magazine, the official publication of the American Institute of Architects, looks for one thing in its A/E/C deal: "The free booth," says Nancy Perri, Assistant to the Publisher. "A lot of our advertisers are at that show, and it gives us a chance to be there with them. We do it for the exposure, and it works out well for us."

Occasionally, Hough admits, a magazine fails to grasp the benefit it will receive. But when the publisher or marketing director quibbles, Hough holds his ground. "They'll say, 'You're trading a $3,100 booth for a $6,700 ad, so we'll give you a half-page instead,' but I don't accept anything less than a full-page, four-color ad.

"We explain that they can't look at it as a straight trade,' Hough says. 'If they come in and sell just one ad at the show, then they've made money. The smart ones know that. The ones who can't see it will just come and walk around the show and wonder why they aren't getting the same exposure as the others."

Special-section connections
Equally alluring to show managers are magazine special sections. These supplements and features are a combination of show-related ads and solid, industry-driven editorial material which either appear as part of the regular magazine or as separately distributed publications. Usually, these won't even cost you booth space.

"Our exhibitors love a supplement because it's a cost-effective way to advertise to a targeted market," says Julie Peterson, Project Director at Convention Management Group (CMG) in Fairfax, VA. "Publishers love it because they get another chance to sell ads, and we love it because it gets more exposure for our shows."

In fact, CMG has found supplements so successful that the company now uses them for several of its events. Last year's American Meat Institute show, for instance, was promoted with 88 advertising placements, four special supplements and six special features within industry publications -- all free. The group's International Dairy Food Association event last year was featured in 155 ads and eight supplements, and Peterson expects the upcoming American Mining Congress show to achieve even greater results in terms of publication interest.

To promote your show through special sections, find out what magazines your industry reads. Look at your own trade journals, survey your exhibitors and attendees, and meet and stay in touch with publishers and key advertising salespeople.

Arrangements vary with the deals struck. Generally, however, the show manager acts as an event liaison for the special section, while the magazine's publisher, director of sales and editor handle project details such as the advertising/editorial ratio, sales efforts and the specific editorial content. Show professionals can sweeten the deal by providing editorial support in the form of story ideas, floorplans, photography and access to sources. They may also arrange for additional distribution of the supplement, using their own extensive mailing lists and their exhibitors' lists.

"Publishers will easily see these advance issues as an additional revenue source, but you must convince them editorially as well," cautions the NAB's Calore. "It's not going to fly without editorial integrity. We try to provide them with legitimate, newsworthy information about the exhibitors, the conference and the industry, then let them make editorial decisions. The more editorially sound the information, the more credibility the show receives."

Local heroes
Such supplements attract significant attention, especially for trade shows, but public events often find that newspapers are the way to go. That's the case for Charlotte, NC-based Southern Shows, producers of 22 events on topics ranging from women to home remodeling to the holidays. Nearly all shows are preceded by press releases to daily and weekly newspapers, many of which use them as the basis for stories within their pages.

"One of the most effective things we do is look down the list and see where our exhibitors are from," says Joan Zimmerman, Southern Shows President. "Then we send out a press release -- to the Des Moines Register, for example -- that says, 'So-and-so will be participating in a huge show' in wherever the destination. We get more ink from that than from anything else we do."

Zimmerman stresses that internally generated releases should be only four or five sentences; contain the name, background and telephone number of the local contact; and provide a phone number so editors can call the show management company.

"Many times the releases have resulted in full-blown articles about the person or their company," Zimmerman says. "A 15- or 30-inch article in a local newspaper is read probably 70 percent more than any advertising you could pay for. Our responses then come in two ways: First from inquiries from others who want to be exhibitors, and there's also a surprising increase in attendance from the city where the story ran." Zimmerman estimates Southern Shows receives hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of exposure for its 22 events, all for the cost of collecting exhibitor information, writing releases and sending them to the appropriate media.

Southern Shows further promotes through area television and radio stations, contacting all media within a 100-mile radius of its events. The company often trades show tickets for air time, a low-cost way to gain widespread interest near the shows' opening dates.

The company will also buy broadcast time, but with a twist. When buying radio time, for example, Zimmerman provides "an expanded promotional opportunity" that doubles the event's exposure. "We might give the station a chance to sponsor a celebrity kitchen at a show," she explains. "They can develop that into a promotion-within-a-promotion, and invite the leading local chefs to do demonstrations. Every time the station talks about the chefs, they also talk about our show."

Exhibitor incentives
Getting exhibitors to talk up your show is another key way to promote it at little cost. Nearly everyone exhibitors know, do business with or hope to sell to in the future should hear about your show by word of mouth. And key prospects should receive targeted promotions from exhibitors. The trick is to get exhibitors' staff to pick up the promotional ball and run with it.

Too many booth holders feel once they've committed to the space, the rest is up to you. Instead of telling them how their promoting will help the overall event, explain how their own show experience will improve when they help you publicize. "Exhibitors have a self-interest in bringing attendees to their booths," says Hough, who distributes an extensive Buyer Promotion Manual that outlines numerous ways for them to become involved. "We tell them, 'It's in your best interest to have more people come to the show. Help us do that.'"

Provide your exhibitors with camera-ready show logos, photography and show-specific information they can incorporate into their own advertising and direct mail campaigns. Set up a promotions hot line to answer their questions. Send out a monthly show newsletter that includes new and different ways to promote their exhibit. Include forms, examples and basic how-to information for communicating their role in the event. Always try to see your show from their perspective. The better they understand the merits of self-promotion, the more the entire event will prosper.

To help its exhibitors, NAB produces a four-color mailer with an attached guest pass, which includes a blank space so exhibitors can add their own logos. The guest passes are also coded to track customers' ticket use. The mailer gets results. Eight weeks before an upcoming show, NAB had received more than 290,000 ticket requests. "Basically, our exhibitors do a lot of legwork for us," Calore says. "We market to a relatively small number of broadcasters and multimedia professionals. But thanks to our exhibitors, over 72,000 attended our last show."

Harvest Festival, the Petaluma, CA, producer of 17 local artisan shows throughout the U.S. and Canada, sweetens the promotional deal even more. The company prints more than 100,000 exhibitor discount cards, offering $1 admission discounts to its public shows, then gives exhibitors a reason to pass them out. "First we code them, so when Joe's Glass orders 1,000 passes we can track which of his customers came to the show," says Kim Fischbach, Harvest's Advertising Director. "Then, for every pass turned in, we give the exhibitor money off the booth space. That gives them a built-in incentive to promote the show. The savings has to be in the tens of thousands of dollars."

Beyond promotional tickets and material, Hough also aims to get exhibitors' salespeople spreading the word. "We target certain exhibitors, like Apple, whose CEO will speak at our next show," he says. "I want them to promote us in every way they can, and that means getting their salesmen out talking to their clients about seeing them at the show."

It's also possible to tap some exhibitors for even deeper promotional involvement. Identify related associations and other market segments that haven't formed their own events, for example, and you can reach new audience niches as the groups promote themselves through your show. Approach these parties as co-sponsors of the entire show or, perhaps, for only specific portions of the event, say a networking party or an educational workshop series.

Hough's A/E/C show includes one association that reserves a 10X20 booth, mails show tickets to its membership and holds a show luncheon. "They typically mail promotional material that includes mention of our show to 4,000 members, and we may get 350 more attendees from it," Hough says. "They also send an endorsement letter -- which I write -- from their executive director, that says something like, 'We feel this event will help you keep up with the latest industry technology.' That statement, and the association's involvement overall, is an inexpensive way to attract a market niche we might not normally draw. It's works out well for everyone."

Remote promotes
While media and exhibitors make prime publicity sources, you may be able to find more obscure -- but still highly effective -- ways to promote your event. Consider, for example, the federally sponsored International Buyer Program (IBP), designed to increase international attendance at trade shows throughout the country.

Last year, 22 trade shows were chosen based on criteria such as the subject industry's export potential, the show's stature and scope, and the organizer's willingness to focus on international attendance and promotion. The single largest benefit to selected managers was the chance to have nearly 70 U.S. embassies and consulates around the world promoting their event through foreign trade associations, chambers of commerce, travel agencies and other organizations.

IBP participants pay a $4,000 fee and must include features such as an international business center in their shows, but the chance for worldwide exposure, they claim, is nearly priceless. "The whole thing cost me about $25,000, but you get two big payoffs," says David Larkin, Vice President of the New York-based Larkin Group, which produced last year's Fashion Week in New York City. "The first is that it provided us with a university of learning about marketing internationally. The second is that you can't normally get all the commercial offices around the world to work promoting your show; when you're part of the program, though, they're spreading the word. That kind of exposure really can't be bought."

The Larkin Group, which will produce another IBP show in 1996, realized a 50-percent increase in international participation at the '94 show. "We had every country from Mexico to Kazakhstan," Larkin recalls. "One tiny Kazakh woman walked the entire show, touched everything and made thousands of dollars of purchases."

To promote an event through the IBP, show managers submit a relatively simple application which details their show's suitability for international exposure. "We just filled out an application and crossed our fingers," Larkin says. "It took one of our people a couple of days to do it. It wasn't hard at all." IBP applications may be obtained through the Commerce Department in Washington, D.C.

International exposure can be found outside of the IBP as well. You can launch alliances with foreign counterparts within your target industry, and affiliate with overseas sister associations and organizations that will spread news of your show. In exchange, you spread the word about them stateside.

You can also send promotional material to key travel agencies for distribution in targeted countries. "If you can send travel planners the information they need to package and sell arrangements, they can promote their products and your show at the same time," says CMG's Peterson. "It's easy and usually doesn't require more than you're already doing to get the word out."

Whether you get international exposure or local press, national advertising or exhibitor boosterism, it all points to greater rewards -- for minimal cash outlays. If you're willing to explore a creative promotional campaign, think hard about what your show offers others in the industry. Consider the value that extra booth space or an exhibitor mailing list might have, then bargain for all its worth.

Promotion and publicity are vital to any successful show. But instead of costing you dearly, they may pay off in more exhibitors and attendees, while your co-promoters come away feeling satisfied, energized and ready to help you make next year's event even better. "My experience is that if you give a little more, you'll get a heck of a lot in return," says Calore. "Do something extra for someone else, and the return on investment is great."

Bargain for the bestPromoting your event through partnering relationships with publications, exhibitors and international groups proves extremely effective -- but you, as the show manager, must closely control the arrangements. Veterans of the barter game offer these tips:

Get it in writing
"Every deal is represented by a letter of agreement that includes what we're offering them and what we expect in return. It's never verbal, and we always ask for confirmation that the ads have run or the mailing's gone out."
-- Michael Hough, Principal, A/E/C SYSTEMS

Keep the reins
"Show managers are show managers and radio programmers are radio programmers. You need to keep control of the situation -- what it's going to be, and what it's going to look or sound like. They have to come into the deal on your terms."
-- Joan Zimmerman, President, Southern Shows

Provide something extra
"When we strike a promotional deal with a magazine, we'll ask for a press overrun, then distribute to additional exhibitor and attendee lists. That way, the publication gets exposure to an audience outside its primary readership."
-- Julie Peterson, Project Director, Convention Management Group

Make it easy
"The easier you make it for someone else to promote your show, the more likely it is that they will. Give them a list of what's available. Send videos, information packets and whatever they need. We'll stuff envelopes for them if it helps publicize our show."
-- Haidee Calore, Senior Vice President, Conventions & Exhibitions, National Association of Broadcasters

Tap their strengths
"When our exhibitors pass out discount cards to attendees, the recipients are generally followers of that exhibitor. They naturally have an interest in hearing about the show. That makes more sense than an expensive advertising program to a broad audience that may or may not care about your event."
-- Kim Fischbach, Advertising Director, Harvest Festival