Events can be a good place to meet a focused, select audience in one place. For example, if you are creating a HR system – no better place to go than a HR Managers conference and talk about your new, cutting edge solution with 50 people in 1 day. Sales is a lot about numbers. The more people you try selling to, more your chances of success.
An inexpensive way to do events for bootstrappers is to just become an attendee. Putting up a booth is a lot of time and effort. Sometimes cost of travel, accommodation and booth deco may become more than cost of participation. Bootstrappers should either just attend and then network with people, do sales, gauge competition. Or even better try to get a speaking opportunity at the seminars going on the side of the show. This projects you as a thought leader in your space, making people come over and ask you questions after the talk. This is so much better than trying to peddle your visiting card to 100 people.
Our company actually ended up putting a booth in a few events, but then we are no longer bootstrapping. I wrote an article for IT-BHU Chronicle on the experience. With permission it is reproduced below:
As a young software company we are learning marketing on the job. Recently, we learnt that trade shows are an important place to meet prospects and get business. Friends told us of anecdotes of how they landed a customer at CeBIT (one of the largest IT trade show) and marketing experts told us that attendees at events are increasing every year. Many people do want to meet vendors face to face even in this virtual age.
The way we chose our event is not a model to repeat! We simply decided we wanted to participate in New York. There is only one respectable convention center in NY which is the Javits Center. So from the Javits Center website we ran through the list of shows and picked outsource world because it sounded like the right trade show for us.
The show was not what we expected (a place where buyers will come to evaluate multiple vendors in one place). It was poorly advertized and had low turnout from actual clients. Most of the visitors were people trying to sell us services (like lawyers, marketing consultants) or service providers gauging the market. However, I will not write off the event in three lines. Most of what made the show useful was what we did not expect.
First thing you realize after coming here is how global the competition is. There were companies from China, Latin America and Eastern Europe apart from the ones from India. It really opens your eyes and resets your benchmarks. Secondly, it was a good networking opportunity with fellow exhibitors and a chance to exchange notes. One thing we learnt is that it is better to attend events focused on an industry such as: an HR event, Mobile technology event etc.
Finally, they say a visit to the show is successful if you end up with even one additional client. Luckily, we did. One of the local service providers wants to tie up with us for offshore development. Not the business we went looking for, but we are not complaining.
