4 Ways Magalogs Help You Stand Out At Trade Shows

Over the years, I’ve been to a number of trade shows in various capacities.

At the end of the day, after walking the aisles and talking to people, I look at the collection of handouts I received – flyers, brochures, inexpensive trinkets – and find a lot of it lacking, or not much different than everything else I’ve dumped on the hotel bed.

I can partially understand why most material is the way it is. There’s a thought that you have to hit the high points fast before the prospect moves on to something else.

But if you’re at a trade show that is really targeted to what you do and your audience, I think there’s a better opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

So let me tell you why magalogs work in these situations.

1. A magalog stands out because it’s different than about 90-95% of the printed material you get at a show. You can test this for yourself with your own mailbox at home. If you subscribe to magazines, don’t they stand out from the other mail you get when you look in your mail box? They’re larger and thicker. For a trade show, that extra bulk stands out even if the physical height/width is the same as other flyers or sell sheets. Standing out in the pile is half the battle.
2. A magalog lets you tell your story better than you can with other marketing material. Brochures, flyers, and sell sheets have to take a more “bullet-point” approach and hit the highlights because there’s not room for much more once you toss in some photos. Having easy to read bullet-points is great, but you can include that in a magalog. That’s the best of both worlds… easy to read bullet points for those who want it, and a deeper story for those who want more.
3. A magalog continues the brief conversation you probably had with the prospect as they walked past your booth. Because of their nature, trade show conversations are often brief. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a business card to follow-up on after the show. But why not have your magalog do some extra sales work for you as well? By the time you get to that call, your prospect will have a much better feel for you and what you offer. And if the prospect doesn’t want to give you any contact info (that happens a lot), your magalog may have to carry even more of the sales load. Try putting that sort of pressure on your single-sided sell sheet. The other printed material simply throws some facts and figures at people. A magalog tells a story and makes a deeper connection, while still having plenty of room to include those facts and figures.
4. A magalog makes you stand taller than your competitors who aren’t using magalogs. I’ve mentioned this point a lot in the past and I believe it 100%. Magalogs take effort… effort that a lot of your competitors simply won’t do because they feel it’s too hard, too expensive, too… whatever. Perception counts for a lot. If you’re perceived to be the leader in your niche, you may get the call that your competitors won’t. Magalogs give the perception that you’re a successful and confident company. Any company can run off a bunch of homemade brochures and flyers. That’s not the case with a magalog.

Is a magalog perfect for every trade show? Not always. I’ve been to some consumer trade shows in the local mall and my general, gut feeling is that a lot of stars would need to line up before I’d use a magalog in that environment.

But industry or B2B trade shows? That’s a different story. The right trade show will likely have your ideal prospect. That being the case, you don’t want to let those opportunities go to waste. You want to put your best foot forward with those folks.

And let me mention another option for trade shows: Publish a book. (Or a bookalog, a variation of the magalog idea.)

I do book layout for some of my clients who have them professionally printed. But these days, you can do some small-scale self-publishing for an incredibly reasonable cost.

You’d only print the number of books you’d need. So you don’t have to worry about buying a huge number and then being stuck with a lot of extra copies.

Think how that would go over at a trade show when you’re handing out a book while most other vendors are handing out a tri-fold brochure and fridge magnet.

As for book content, you probably already have it. For my book, Increase Sales & Build Deeper Connections: How To Get Prospects To Pay Attention To The Story They Want And Need To Hear Before They Buy, the basis for part of the material was articles I wrote for my blog.

If you have a blog or great case studies, re-purpose that material for a book.

Again, it’s a matter of finding ways to stand out so you’re getting the first crack at prospects, not your competitors.

If you haven’t done so already, take advantage of the free magalog resources I offer. They’ll explain why magalogs can be so efficient as part of your lead-generation and sales process.

And if you have questions, contact me so we can setup a time to talk about where you’re at right now and how we can get you to where you want to be with your marketing material.