Web/Tech – SHOT Show Blog

Getting Social—Social Media, That Is—#SHOTShow

The mantra “If you build it, they will come” just isn’t enough these days. The good news is that the mileage potential on your marketing effort has grown exponentially in recent years, and you can now reach hundreds, thousands, millions of customers with little effort. No one knows this better than renowned trade show industry consultant and thought leader Traci Browne, author of “The Social Trade Show,” who offered these valuable tips for 2015 SHOT Show.

I’ll be giving away free copies of Traci’s book to the first two people who share this blog post on Twitter. Be sure to include #SHOTShow! Ready. Set. Go!

How To Find Potential Customers On Social Media

Before you can decide which tools you are going to use in your social media strategy, you have to find out where your customers are and what tools they are using. Where are they going to be receptive to your messages? And by messages, we don’t just mean advertising and product pitches. Your customers are looking for support and helpful information.

Facebook – The SHOT Show has a very active Facebook page where they post, not just news about the show, but valuable industry information. This is a great place to meet members of your community and see what they are interested in. Just remember, you want to participate in the conversation…not force your marketing messages on the community.

LinkedIn – If Facebook is a casual party, LinkedIn is all about business. The SHOT Show has its own LinkedIn group, but do a group search on LinkedIn for “sport shooting” and you’ll see there are more than a few groups. Some have just a few members and others have thousands.

Start by observing what members are discussing and jump in when you can offer information people are looking for. This is a great place to bounce around new ideas for products and services off enthusiasts.

Twitter – Do you think Twitter is just a place for Justin Bieber fans? Think again. The SHOT Show (@nssfshotshow) has more than 41,000 followers and the official Twitter account of USA Shooting (@USAShooting) has more than 31,000. Start connecting to their followers and share valuable information with them, as well as the companies you do business with or with which you want to begin a relationship.

Remember, on Twitter you want to practice the 80/20 rule. Spend 80 percent of your time talking about others and 20 percent talking about yourself. In no time, word will get around and you’ll develop a good following of your own. Also be sure to stay up-to-date with show information by following the SHOT Show hashtag #SHOTshow. Twitter is great during the show, because it’s quick and easy to use when you are on the move.

What’s in it for you?

It’s important to remember that it’s not only potential customers that are part of your community. The media is spending a lot of time in these online communities as well, and they are on the lookout for a good story and/or experts to interview.

Social media gives a voice to many who would never have been heard from before. Someone in your company could be the next industry thought leader just by participating in these social media communities and putting people in touch with valuable educational information.

When the SHOT Show rolls around attendees will know you as more than just a brand, but a provider of valuable information.

Don’t forget to share this blog post for a chance to receive a copy of “The Social Trade Show” by Traci Browne. Good luck!

Traci Browne  Author of “The Social Trade Show – Leveraging Social Media and Virtual Events to Connect With Your Customers”;  TheSocialTradeShow.com.

Chris Dolnack is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDolnack.

SHOT Show Mobile App Now Available

The 2015 SHOT Show mobile app is now available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. It is also available as a web-based app for Blackberry and Windows devices at shotmobile.com.

On iOS and Android devices, simply search for “SHOT Show” and download the app for free.

The mobile app is greatly enhanced this year, with many new features for attendees to navigate the show floor and schedule appointments with exhibitors.

Download the mobile app here.

A big thanks to Daniel Defense for sponsoring this year’s app!

Exhibitor’s SHOT Show Webinar Streaming Live Thursday, Nov. 20

A brief reminder that NSSF’s first 2015 SHOT Show Exhibitor’s Webinar will broadcast Thursday, Nov. 20.

“On Target Marketing for the 2015 SHOT Show,” NSSF’s first webinar of the year provided specifically to enhance exhibitor’s experience at the 2015 SHOT Show, will provide insight and tips for attracting the buyers you want to see at your booth. The webinar will examine ways to market your company and products both before the show and on-site, and will provide answers to many questions exhibitors have such as how to attract buyers to your booth, how long will a buyer stay at the show and other valuable information about buyers and their show habits. The webinar will also help exhibitors identify their objectives for the show and work to map out a path to achievement.

The webinar begins at 2 p.m. EST. All exhibitors, both NSSF members and non-members, may stream the webinar for free.

Register for NSSF’s first 2015 SHOT Show Exhibitor Webinar here.

Diedra Cauley is the director of exhibitions and conferences for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow her on Twitter at @dcauley.

SHOT Show Exhibitors—10 Tips For Successful Press Kits

As an exhibitor at SHOT Show, your primary focus is, without a doubt, about selling. For just a few short days, you have the highest number of current and potential clients available to learn about what you offer in a face-to-face setting—and there’s no better way to sell. But wholesalers and retailers aren’t the only folks who need what you have.

I’m talking about the media. No, they don’t need 20 or 2,000 or 20,000 cases of what you’re selling like a buyer for a range or retail store would (though they might need a sample for testing and evaluation). What they need from you at the show is information—and they need it in a press kit.

Truly, the magazine staff, bloggers, photographers, radio hosts and videographers you’ll meet at SHOT are, perhaps, your greatest selling tool after the show. These are the people the consumer trusts to tell it like it is before they invest their next paycheck in a $35 duck call or a $55 box of specialty ammunition or a $2,500 binocular. But they can’t get the word out without you.

Press kits should be at the top of your show marketing tool lists. If you haven’t composed one before, and even if you’ve provided them in the past, here are 10 tips that can make this easy on you and have every media person there grinning from ear to ear and sharing your business all year long.

Digital is a must. Gone are the days when media returned home from with SHOT lugging cartons of catalogs and CDs. At the most, your press kit should sit on a collection of portable computer flash drives. Even better? Make it a website portal and put that website address on a media-only business card to hand out, eliminating annoying passwords and IDs media members have to remember.
At the very least, your products should be photographed on a white background. All photos should be hi-resolution, full-color and with a minimum size of 300 dpi. That said, writers appreciate it when they have a variety of images to choose from. Variety helps your products appear fresh and exciting in the many publications and websites they may appear—and most writers sell their stories to more than one place. Take photos of your product from varying angles, with different backdrops, and include realistic action photos with humans actually using them if possible. Not sure of your photographic abilities? Hire a local photographer to spend a day with you—it’s a few hundred dollars that could reap huge benefits for you when those pics get coverage by the press.
This may sound tedious, but rename your photo files with the product they are. Happyduckcall1.jpeg, 223bestboattailever2.jpeg, Riflemodellongrange2miler3.jpeg. When writers are working with editors and graphic artists to coordinate text and captions and photos, having a list of photos with file names like 987X$5nh123@#.jpeg can get very confusing, very quickly—and the last thing you want to see is your tack-driving wondergun Long-Range 2-Miler identified as a .22-caliber youth model.
Put photos of both your brand new products and all other current products you’re selling in your media kit. If you’re still making it, you’re still selling it. Remember, too, that media need material all year long, and the brand new stuff gets covered early and often.
Create a press release or at least a full specification sheet for each new product you’re introducing at SHOT or soon after. Help the press selling your product by selling them on it first!
Put your press releases in Microsoft Word documents at least of generation Word 97-2004 Document (.doc suffix). Most writers we talked with didn’t like PDFs, and don’t even think about using something weird like Google Docs or Microsoft One Note, or some other ancient typing foundation like Word Perfect or Text Maker.
Clearly identify exactly who your media contact person is and be sure to include their phone number and e-mail. One of the constant complaints we hear from press members is that all they often get for a contact is some media@whatevercompany.com general mailbox that never gets looked at, never gets responded to.
Clipart of your company logo and branding images are appreciated.
Most press members we talked to say they do not need your entire catalog PDF’ed in a press kit.
Keep it organized. Simple things like labeling product folders on a jump drive (or in a dropdown on a media-only web page) as “New Products 2015,” “All Current 2015 Products,” “New Product Images 2015,” etc., can go a long way toward making sure your products are correctly identified in the press.

One final tip. If you run out of press kits during SHOT and a press member asks you to mail them one, do it—and we do not mean months after SHOT Show is nothing but a distant memory. Magazines and other print media highlighting new products go to press within weeks of SHOT Show ending. Web, of course, is most often in real time. After the flurry of new product write-ups are over, the press is in the field, this time using and testing all those products so that they can produce more articles on them. Take six months to mail a press kit and you might as well just say, “I’ll catch you next year.”

SHOT Show Exhibitor Concierge App—You Need This

concierge phone Yes, there really is an app for everything and everyone, including today’s SHOT Show exhibitor. Witness the Concierge Elite app, available now from the Apple App Store, Android Google Play or Windows App Store. Offered by Freeman Co., NSSF’s Las Vegas exhibition partner, this app allows exhibitors instant access to:

Service request submissions
Current and previous order listings
Freight tracking and delivery notifications to you and other staff members via e-mail, text message, or both
Ordering additional furniture or other booth accessories, resolution of missing order items and scheduling of booth cleaning services
Shipping labels
Express checkout from the show; set up your outbound freight care—your material handling agreements—before the show’s even over.

As most exhibitors know, coordinating getting your booth materials to the Sands Expo Center and set up, then tearing it down and moving it off the show floor once SHOT is over, is often more work than actually being at the show. That can be exacerbated when show setup logistics require you to spend your time on the phone or running to the show’s customer service desk—time you’re losing that could be better spent on things like networking with customers and closing sales. The Concierge Elite app simplifies and streamlines those necessary behind the scenes facets of putting on and having a successful show experience and, best of all, this app is free for our exhibitors.

For more information on the SHOT Show Concierge Elite app from Freeman, click here. A demo of how the Concierge Elite app works is also available on that page. To download the free app, visit your smart phone, tablet or PC application store and search for “Concierge Elite.”

Diedra Cauley is the Director, Exhibitions and Conferences, for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow her on Twitter at @dcauley.

Tweetup Brings SHOT Show Twitter Followers Together Once Again

For the second straight year, the SHOT Show’s Twitter following came together for a Tweetup sponsored by Sportsman Channel. Held at V Bar in The Venetian, the event allowed the attendees to match faces to handles and discuss in person the 36th running of the SHOT Show. Many thanks to Sportsman Channel for supporting what was a great event. Some photos of some attendees from the Tweetup include @studentofthegun, @Mia_Anstine, @skullboundtv, @Amanda_Furrer, @gearsofguns and @gunguides.

Exhibitors: How To Live Stream Your Booth Presentations

Social Media Spotlight: Final of a Four-part Series

Some folks aren’t so lucky as to be able to travel to Las Vegas this month for the SHOT Show. You can reach more prospects in real-time and continue to reap the marketing benefits of a video. Leveraging live video to increase market share requires a serious plan of action, though. No one knows this better than Traci Browne.

The author of “The Social Trade Show” has graciously provided us with a series of blog posts that we’ll be posting each week for the next four weeks prior to the 2014 SHOT Show.

I’ll also be giving away the final free copies of Traci’s book this week. The first two exhibitors (and you need to be a SHOT Show exhibitor to qualify) to send me an email (be sure to include your mailing address) requesting a copy will receive one. Ready. Set. Go!

How To Live Stream Your Booth Presentations

You put so much effort into planning your in-booth presentations, why limit who is able to participate? Your biggest potential customers might be sitting back in the office wishing they were at the show. Well, invite them in and turn your presentation into a hybrid event.

Two Different Audiences

It’s not enough to stick a camera in front of your demo area and hit record. That’s not an engaging demo, that’s C-SPAN. You want to deliver an experience to your audience watching from their home or office that keeps them engaged. You do this by enabling your two audiences (the ones sitting in your booth and those who are at their computer) to participate as one.

You need to provide your in-booth audience with a comfortable place to view your presentation. You also need to design your environment, so that everyone can see what is taking place and hear and interact with the speaker.

Your virtual audience is no different. Of course you cannot choose their seating but you can make sure they are comfortable by providing and easy to use viewing platform, a way to interact with the presenter (chat function which is monitored by someone in the booth to relay questions for the speaker), and a camera that that follows the action.

Technical Requirements

You’ll need a streaming provider. These are the folks who capture your video feed, compress it, and stream it over the Internet to the viewing platform. There are free services available such as Ustream. A low cost option is Livestream. After that there are many different providers in the higher-end range.

You will need a viewing platform. A viewing platform is basically the website that your audience goes to view your presentation and interact with your presenters and other virtual attendees. Ustream and Livestream provide both the live stream and the viewing platform.

You will need an A/V or production provider. These are the people behind the camera and those directing the production. This can be an outside company who specializes in this service or Joe from accounting who videos the Pop Warner games on the weekends.

Fine Tuning With Backgrounds, Lighting, and Speaker Tips

The two most important things you need to make sure are covered are sound and lighting. Run a test over the live stream to make sure your virtual audience can hear the speaker clearly and see everything that is happening. All your efforts will be wasted with a video that is too dark and sound that is garbled.

Beyond that pay attention to the background. The cleaner the backdrop behind your presenters, the better for your virtual audience. They are seeing the presentation as a flat two-dimensional image. So that logo positioned behind the presenter becomes a distracting growth coming out of the side of his head. The seam that is barely noticeable to the face-to-face audience becomes a distracting line projecting from the top of the presenter’s head.

Let your presenter know what color the backdrop will be so they can dress appropriately. If they match the backdrop your virtual audience may be frightened by what appears to be a floating head and hands doing the demo. Also, let them know a white dress becomes washed out on camera and is hard to look at. Navy blue and black suits lose their detail and become blobs. Fine patterns like herringbone and checks produce a wavy effect on camera.

And if you are shooting in HD it is considerate to let your presenter know. They may want to apply a bit of cover-up and dab some powder on oily skin, which is enhanced in high definition. Be sure they understand they have an audience online and remind them to look into the camera every now and again so the virtual audience does not feel ignored Especially when they are taking a question from the virtual audience.

Internet Connection

Plain and simple you are going to need a dedicated T1 line in your booth if you want to create a professional, clear broadcast. You cannot depend on the show’s wireless connection to get you through a broadcast. The bandwidth is not intended for uploading video and your live stream could drop in and out.

Live streaming your booth presentations may seem a daunting task and does require a plan.

Virtual Emcee

To create an interactive experience for your online viewers you may want to have a virtual emcee. This person is present at the event and not only introduces your presenters, but also represents your virtual audience as a whole. The virtual emcee becomes the voice of your virtual audience as well as your virtual audience’s eyes and ears in the room.

She is the bridge that connects your virtual audience to the face-to-face event. She’ll be the one taking questions from your virtual audience and relaying them to the speaker. This can be a professional or someone with an outgoing friendly personality from your company. A good virtual emcee is friendly and easygoing and also able to multi-task.

Instructions On How To Use The Platform

Make sure your virtual audience has all the information they need to participate in your live-streamed presentation. They should know what time it starts and when it will end. Also include instructions for the viewing platform including who to contact for technical problems and how to use the chat function. If you are using a Twitter hashtag be sure to let the audience both in your booth and at home know what it so they can participate that way as well.

Include the presenters’ names, titles, bios and contact information. If the platform has the capability you may want to include a graphic called a lower third that runs at the bottom of the viewing window and tells the audience who is speaking at any given moment. Don’t just flash it at the beginning of the presentation. Include it throughout intermittently.

What To Broadcast

An easier question would be what not to broadcast. The world is your oyster; don’t be afraid to try something new. In-booth presentations that can go virtual are (but certainly not limited to):

Product launches
Product demos
Industry education and interviews with thought leaders
Q&A sessions

I hope you can see an excellent way to get more bang out of your trade show budget is to expand what you are already doing for your face-to-face audience by including the virtual audience.

But this is not something you just tack on at the last minute. This audience must be considered throughout the planning process. Presenters need to be prepped and the environment needs to be designed to accommodate extra equipment while not taking away from your in-person audience.

Traci Browne
Author of “The Social Trade Show – Leveraging Social Media and Virtual Events to Connect With Your Customers
www.TheSocialTradeShow.com

Chris Dolnack is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDolnack.

INFOGRAPHIC: How Big is the SHOT Show?

Did you know there are 12.5 miles of aisles at the SHOT Show (a little less than a half marathon)? How about that the show’s 630,000 square feet of exhibit space is the equivalent of 10.9 football fields as well as the size of the New Orleans Superdome? These other fun facts about the show are packed into an infographic released today by NSSF.

Five Tips on Using Video To Generate Excitement

Social Media Spotlight: Second of a Four-part Series

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the price of a moving picture? Some video is worthy of high-quality production but you can also get a decent bang for your buck with a smartphone and a quick upload to YouTube. No one knows this better than renowned trade-show industry consultant and thought leader Traci Browne.

The author of “The Social Trade Show” has graciously provided us with a series of blog posts that we’ll be posting each week for the next four weeks prior to the 2014 SHOT Show.

I’ll also be giving away free copies of Traci’s book each week. The first two exhibitors (and you need to be a SHOT Show exhibitor to qualify) to send me an email (be sure to include your mailing address) requesting a copy will receive one. Ready. Set. Go!

Five Tips on Using Video To Generate Excitement

With YouTube being the second most popular search engine just behind Google and 800 million unique users visiting each month, why wouldn’t you want to add video to your marketing mix?

1. Give SHOT Show attendees a sneak peek at new products or services.

Are you introducing a new product or service at SHOT Show this year? Give attendees a little taste of what you are going to present and get them excited about coming to your booth to see the real thing. Don’t give away too much on the video. If it’s a product you could just show the silhouette and leave them hungry for more.

Do you have a new service? Tease attendees with a few key features and invite them to your booth to find out how it can benefit them. The idea here is to present just enough information to leave them wanting more.

2. Use video to tell attendees about a big announcement you are making at the show.

Some companies only need to mention they are making an announcement at the show to generate excitement. Maybe you want to keep it top secret and even a peek at your product is too much to reveal. Create a video that lets attendees know where and when you are making your announcement and then be sure you’re ready for the crowd. For an idea how to do this, take a look at Samsung’s teaser video for their product launch at International CTIA Wireless 2011.

Just make sure your announcement warrants something so secretive, or it will backfire when attendees leave your booth having expected something bigger.

3. Create a video invite to your presentation.

Are you presenting as part of the SHOT Show educational program? Or even an educational presentation in your booth? Give attendees a taste of what they can expect by having your presenter share key takeaways of the presentation.

Keep it short. The object isn’t to give a condensed version of the entire presentation — just good reasons for why they should attend and what they’ll miss out on if they don’t. And don’t forget to include dates, times and locations for the presentation in your video.

4. Use video to live stream or capture in booth presentations

Not everyone is going to be able to attend your live presentation. Have someone capture it on video, so it’s available to attendees later. And not just attendees but once it’s online you have a nice piece of marketing the whole world can view.

Just make sure if you are shooting video of a product demo the camera should be focused on the product — not the speaker. Also be sure to zoom in on key features as they are presented.

5. Capture amazing marketing moments during the show.

You just never know when marketing gold is going to walk into your booth during a show. Have that video camera ready for impromptu interviews with customers who are excited about your company and or your products. No one can sell you better than a happy client.

Otterbox captured a great customer testimonial in their booth when one excited customer stopped by to see what was new. You can view that video, here.

A good video should be representative of your customer, engage the viewer, show not tell, and be shorter than 3-5 minutes. It should also have a clear call to action at the end.

Post these great videos on YouTube and start sharing. Just don’t forget to take the time to include keyword tags when you are posting to YouTube so people can find them when they are searching the Internet.

Traci Browne
Author of “The Social Trade Show – Leveraging Social Media and Virtual Events to Connect With Your Customers”
www.TheSocialTradeShow.com

Chris Dolnack is Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDolnack.

2014 SHOT Show Mobile App Now Available

Ready. Set. Install!

The 2014 SHOT Show Mobile app presented by ArmaLite is now available for download in the Apple App Store, Google Play and at shotmobile.com.

The 2014 app places everything SHOT Show at your fingertips: educational sessions, events and appearances, discounts and rebates, product showcase and floorplans. Its advanced features will provide you with a truly personalized experience: create shortlists in the Show Planner, plan your agenda, request appointments and callbacks, take notes, create a SmartRoute and more.

To help make using the app easier, the Sands Expo recently completed a $1.6 million WiFi upgrade across the convention center’s 2.2 million square feet of flexible exhibition and meeting space.

All-in-all I’m confident that you’ll like the 2014 SHOT Show Mobile app. We encourage you to download it and begin familiarizing yourself with it.