Doug Roberts is the CEO and Founder of Institute for Educational Innovation and creator of the Supes’ Choice Awards for edtech companies.
For many edtech entrepreneurs, snagging an exhibit booth at a trade show seems like a no-brainer to create buzz.
In just two or three days, you showcase your products in front of an endless parade of potential buyers, speak one-on-one with high-level decision makers, and generate profitable leads. The thousands of marketing dollars you drop at a booth are nothing compared to the millions you could potentially bring in.
At least that’s the hope. Instead, I think the most common is that your booth is lost in the black hole of the exhibit hall and attendees are often more interested in your promotional items than your pitch; you survive on cold coffee and dry hotel pastries to get you through the long hours ahead.
As someone who has attended countless edtech conventions and led events for a national think tank, my expert advice for startups considering an expensive trade show booth is simple. Find alternatives.
Think beyond the booth and outside the box.
When your budget is tight and your sales team is small, you need to maximize every dollar spent on marketing during the growth phase of your business. And no matter what some edtech show promoters tell you, exhibition booths don’t always provide the ROI you expect, even with a solid game plan.
In my experience, there are three essential tactics your startup should direct its resources toward instead.
1. Focus less on promotion and more on collaboration.
For many industries, such as manufacturing, trade show booths are ideal for launching a new product. This new machine displayed in the exhibition hall may be offered with different options to meet different price points, but essentially, businesses large and small benefit from the same technology.
The e-technology industry is unique in that entrepreneurs must tailor learning solutions to the specific needs of school districts that vary in size, demographics and budget. Standard digital platforms have helped curb learning loss during the pandemic, but today’s education leaders are looking for more robust, tailored solutions.
Decision-makers don’t want to be criticized: they want to have a say during the development phase of your product to ensure their students have the best tools for success. If you wait until your launch to talk to superintendents, it’s too late.
Rather than spending thousands of dollars on an extravagant booth, I encourage you to embrace emerging trends that provide higher ROI through collaboration outside of the convention hall.
For example, I have found that breakout sessions, where educators, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders share their challenges and find solutions together, can transform digital products into powerful platforms for learning. learning capable of disrupting the status quo and dominating the educational technology market.
Additionally, shift your efforts from a single national trade show to multiple regional industry events or summits featuring educational panels and interactive discussions that are more intimate and encourage audience engagement.
2. Instead of building a booth, make genuine human connections.
In interviews with several event organizations regarding the state of the industry, Corporate Event News reported that since the pandemic, networking has outpaced exhibitions as the top reason to attend a trade show, especially among millennials and Generation Z. It’s easy to see why; booths constitute a veritable barrier between a salesperson and a customer, allowing little more than a five-minute perfunctory conversation.
At superintendent leadership summits and workshops, networking can extend beyond traditional happy hours to include a variety of casual outings and wellness activities that meet attendees’ interests. Additionally, some of these educational leadership summits and workshops can provide an opportunity for Edtech solution providers and administrators to connect over an off-site dinner.
These shared experiences allow startups to initiate deeper, more meaningful conversations around a customer’s needs and foster long-term professional relationships. Students also benefit because both parties focus on a shared social mission: creating opportunities that drive learning and engagement in the classroom.
3. Stand out from the crowd.
I think trade show booths have their place, especially for established businesses who want to strengthen their brand and show appreciation to their customers. They have the capital to invest in all the features that capture attendee attention.
However, the pressure of being present in the exhibition hall can push startups to make decisions based on emotion rather than strategy. Unfortunately, if a startup allocates a large portion of its budget to trade show marketing, it can get lost in the crowd. Actually, 27% of marketers say their booths are often overshadowed by larger players at major conventions.
Even when the metrics don’t match the investment, many startups continue to insist on traditional trade show marketing for the same reason: “If I don’t have a booth, my business will be conspicuous by its absence.”
I’m here to tell you that for businesses in growth mode, this is not the case. Edtech decision-makers rarely search for suppliers from a range of exhibition stands. In fact, in different sectors, only 6% of exhibitions at trade shows are confident in their ability to convert leads into sales.
A prospect probably won’t remember whether you had a booth or not, but they will remember the person who spent time asking thoughtful questions about their district and students, understanding their obstacles, and incorporating their feedback into edtech solutions that lead to student success. .
As with every other aspect of the education sector, business owners are rethinking how to meet today’s changing challenges. We can finally admit that the traditional trade show model doesn’t always work for edtech startups, especially when compared to the opportunities offered by professional organizations that create communities and introduce new spaces that spark innovation and collaboration that improve education.
By thinking smaller and smarter, entrepreneurs can create new opportunities that benefit their business, their district leaders, and today’s students.
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