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How to Maximize Your Trade Show ROI

Authors: Jess David Spark
Posted Under: The Content Experience Show
Content Experience Show Logo
Hosted By
Jess

Anna Hrach

Convince & Convert
About The Content Experience Show:

Welcome to The Content Experience Show where content experience is the new content marketing. It’s not only about reaching our audiences where they are, but engaging them with a personalized experience of meaningful, useful content that they’ll take with them over time. The guests on the Content Experience Show share strategies, tips, and real-world examples of how they’re taking their content marketing to the next level and providing their current and prospective customers with a true content experience. This isn’t just a trend. It’s a movement.

Apple Podcast Reviews:

It doesn't get any better for content marketers. They present a balanced, insightful discussion of current trends and ask all the right questions. Their guest list is a "Who's Who" of content professionals. Outstanding.

Jared Johnson Piano

I love listening to marketing podcasts and this one is on my must-listen to list. Very knowledgable hosts and topical discussions.

The Marketing Book Podcast

David Spark, VP of Marketing and Founder of branded journalism and media consulting firm Spark Media Solutions, joins the Content Pros Podcast to discuss the power of using personal stories and everything you need to know about successful trade shows.

David Spark - InstagramThe Power of the Personal

David Spark began his career as a touring stand up comedian. He eventually made the switch from writing comedy to writing content after tiring of the always-on-the-road stand-up lifestyle, and founded Spark Media Solutions shortly thereafter.
One of the goals of his brand journalism firm is to help clients be seen as leading voices in their field.
David offers his valuable insight into how comedy experience can improve your content creation and why sometimes getting a beer thrown in your face can make you a better marketer. He cites a powerful example from his own blog as to how personal stories can reach people in more powerful ways.
David also shares some of the wisdom gleaned from his new book, “Three Feet from Seven Figures,” which focuses solely on creating the most leads from trade shows. He discusses everything from how to set up for a trade show and who to send to your booth, to how to most effectively grab the attention of your audience at a trade show.
David’s sense of humor and advice make this week’s episode of Content Pros well worth tuning in for.

In This Episode:

  • The power of sharing personal experience
  • The best employees to send to trade shows
  • How to make trade shows worth the investment
  • How your behavior reads to others at trade shows
  • Trade show tricks to get your audience interested and create content for your brand
  • The value of influencer relationships

 

Quotes From This Episode:

“I have found anytime I tell real word experiences on my blog, it does very, very well as opposed to when I write—and I write these a lot—’Five Tips to This,’ ‘Ten Tips to That,’ ‘Here’s My Generic Advice on Doing X.’ When I tie it into real world stuff, it just does a lot better. You can reflect that in the headline. That’s key.” —@dspark
“The common sense things tend to come back in marketing. It’s really weird. We kind of jump the shark for a while. Everyone is trying to figure out the next big thing and the next social network and the next place to be. Life experiences, it works. There’s no other formula.” —@cnmoody
“I would go so far as to say don’t ever put salespeople in your booth, and here’s my main reason: Salespeople are disincentivized to work a trade show booth. It is not their job to get leads. It’s their job to follow up on leads.” —@dspark
“We use content as a means to form relationships with people. It’s far easier for me to say to you, ‘Chris, Can I interview you?’ rather than, ‘Chris, come back to my booth for a 10-minute demo,’ or, ‘Chris, come meet my CEO and listen to our big announcement.'” —@dspark

 Resources:

 

What did you want to be when you grew up?

David vividly remembers feeling a calling to an unexpected profession at a very young age. “I wanted to be a rabbi. But I don’t know why. I guess I liked my rabbi at the time. He was a great guy. I still like him very much. I just kind of liked the idea that there was a guy in control, presiding over a group of people. Maybe that was my interest in going into stand-up instead of being of rabbi. He was kind of a funny guy, my rabbi.”
Reflecting on David’s faithful following, it seems that, in his own way, he may have followed through on that childhood instinct.

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