-mail’s ability to attract new prospects, turn them into customers, and keep them happy is quite astonishing on a price / performance basis. Generating enough interest in your products to get prospects to your trade show booth is a challenge that e-mail is ready, willing, and able to meet.

But just like direct-mail marketing, e-marketing is an art. From crafting the subject line, to writing the body copy, to dodging spam filters, pre-show e-mail campaigns can prove tricky. The following tips and advice will help you plan, execute, and measure your next e-marketing campaign, adding value to your program, driving traffic to your exhibit, and providing insight into your target market.

Hitting the Bull’s-Eye
Once you have obtained a list of pre-registered attendees for your upcoming show, the first step is to identify which attendees to target. At some shows, you’ll want to target the entire list, but at others you might want to target specific groups — only those attendees with buying power, or only representatives from regionally based companies. Once you’ve identified which groups will receive your e-mail, consider crafting different messages for each of them. For example, send audience-specific messages to media representatives, executives from large companies, and small-business owners.

In addition to the list you obtained from show management, consider sending your promotional e-mail to current clients and prospects who may consider attending the show.

While We’re On the Subject
Now that you’ve identified your targets, you have to get them to read your message. Start with a killer subject line. Do not resort to hyperbole — it sounds like spam. DO NOT USE ALL CAPS — it looks like spam. Do not use exclamation points, dollar signs, or smiley faces — they smell like spam. Do not use deceptive subject lines that look and sound personal but are just a ploy to get people to open the message. That’s the most common trick used by spammers, and you do not want to be tarred with that brush.

The best way to create a compelling subject line is to consider your target audience. Your challenge is to grab their attention in a single phrase or sentence, so play around with different options; don’t just slap the first thing you think of in the subject line and click send.

There’s an old saying that nobody wants a quarter-inch drill bit; they want a quarter-inch hole. If you’re selling drill bits, focus on the end game — and that’s not the hole, it’s the entire project. In fact, nobody wants a quarter-inch drill bit or a quarter-inch hole, they want a bookcase or a cabinet or a chair. So think about what types of projects your clients are trying to accomplish and let them know you can help.

Intrigue them with a subject line like the following:
Our bits won’t bite — the right tool for the job
The right bit for the right job — shipped overnight
Save 25 percent when you get all the drill bits you need

Then, in the body of the e-mail, help them rather than sell them. Educate them on why they need one bit over another, and they’ll thank you. They’ll also read your next e-mail because they know they’ll learn something in the process. (See sidebar above for more examples.)

Massaging Your Message
The same things that make a direct-mail campaign successful also apply to e-marketing campaigns. Giveaways, promotional offers, and in-booth contests will drive interest via postcard or e-mail. The benefit of e-mail is that you can use the power of the Internet to set recipients’ interest in stone. Just as with direct mail, you can make your offer enticing (Visit our booth to win a vacation), or topic specific (Make an appointment for a full needs analysis), or even appealing to their sense of self-importance (Meet the CEO). But with the Web, you can lead them through the persuasion process via clickthroughs, as the recipients click the link to your Web site, interact with your brand, and take the first step toward acting on their interest.

If they like the subject line, they’ll open the message. If they like the opening, they’ll likely read the whole thing. If there’s a call to action (click here!), then there’s no end to what you can persuade them to do in advance of the show. You can get them to register to win that iPod. You can get them to identify the three most important benefits your product has to offer to them. And if you’re really good, you can
get them to make an appointment for a meeting or demonstration. Your e-mail is the hook, and you have an entire Web site at your fingertips to reel them in. Question is, how do you craft an effective message?

When writing your messages, create something very direct-response oriented. Offer them a solution to some known or unknown problem.

For example, if your company sells launderable nuclear-protective clothing, your prospects can guess that you’re going to live up to myriad rules and regulations. Send them a message promising the expected, and your clickthrough rate will be a complete bomb. Instead, tell them how you understand their needs and how you’re going to lower their costs, reduce their storage requirements, and limit their liability.

E-mail is most effective when it can accomplish four things:
Solve a problem.
Solve that problem quickly.
Solve that problem for what appears to be a small or
reasonable amount of money.
Create intrigue.

In terms of structure, get to the point. People like to scan messages, so make use of headers, subheads, and bullet points to get your ideas across. What is your main benefit? Name it up front. What is your key differentiator? Don’t be shy. What is your price point? The key is to answer questions before they’re asked. If a prospect opens your message and can’t figure out what you’re selling, why they should buy it, and how much it’s going to cost, it’s headed for the trash bin. (See p. 77 for more on message content.)

Color Me Curious
Most pre-show direct mailers use high-impact colors and eye-catching graphics to attract attention. But when it comes to e-mails, color can cost you. Background colors, and even colored fonts, can make your message more susceptible to spam filters. My advice? Play it safe and use both color and graphics judiciously. Save the full-screen graphics for your Web site and focus your attention on writing a subject line and message that doesn’t need magenta type to generate interest.

Never be shy about throwing your logo into your message, unless it was designed in 1904 and looks like something the cat dragged in. Work with your graphic designers to see how small your logo can be and still be recognizable and have a positive brand impact. Place your logo at the top left, and your message looks like letterhead — a common touch that helps create credibility. Or place it at the bottom under your signature to remind recipients about which company you represent.

Pictures of products are welcome if they actually communicate more than your text, and a small image of your new product might be worth a thousand words. If company policy allows, consider a photo of whoever signs the e-mail. The personal touch ads a sense of warmth and accessibility.

Do The Math
The best way to establish an effective e-marketing campaign is to know what works. And in order to know what works, you have to test multiple messages and measure their results. That’s where the magic of the Internet comes into play. Everything is measurable.

If each message includes unique links back to your site, you can measure the clickthroughs to check your campaign’s success. But that’s just the beginning. Having been snagged by a specific e-mail offer, how deeply did each clicker dig into your site? That’s an indication of how qualified your new prospects might be. Did they take your survey? Download the white paper? Sign up for that promotion that they can only get if they come to your booth?

First, decide exactly what it is you want to measure. Do you want to measure the effectiveness of subject lines, message length, content, color, etc.? Next, send your test samples. For example, you can divide your list into three groups and send each group a different subject line to determine which approach works best. You also can write the body of your e-mail in three different lengths or styles. Or, you could send three completely different offers to see which generates the most interest. If you’re particularly adventurous, try sending three completely different e-mails, with different subject lines, body copy, and promotional offers. Then, examine which e-mail gets opened most frequently (successful subject line), which one drives the most traffic to your Web site (effective body copy), and which one results in the most registrations for in-booth promotions (interesting promotional offer).

Let’s say you sent 3,000 total e-mails, but you used three different messages. So 1,000 recipients received message A, 1,000 received message B, and 1,000 received message C. Simply track each recipient’s action according to the message they received:

This example provides a wealth of data. Each test cell got the same number of e-mails, but for some reason, message C seemed to get the most attention. Of those that were read, message B was most effective in driving people to your Web site (A = 10 percent, B = 11.25 percent, C = 8 percent). Of those who clicked through, recipients of message A were more likely to register for a booth appointment (A = 16.67 percent, B = 8.89 percent, C = 7.50 percent). Message C was opened the most, but message B drove a higher percentage to your site. Finally, message A was most effective in generating booth-visit registrations.

When you send out the next block of 8,000 messages, shouldn’t you send the one that brings home the bacon? Or, perhaps you might want to use the subject line from message C, the body copy from message B, and the landing page from message A.

Sign and Deliver
Possibly the simplest and most powerful traffic-driving e-mail tool is the signature file. Every e-mail software package allows for a signature that, once set up, is rubber-stamped at the bottom of every message you send.

Consider adding a smidgen of self-promotion. (Emphasis on the smidgen.) Concisely mentioning the next show you’re exhibiting at can be effective. Offer a link that takes interested recipients directly to specific information about your next exhibit.

Create a standard signature template for your entire company and stay in control of that last smidgen. Keep it current. If your company goes to several events, simply use a static link that says, “Visit us at an upcoming trade show” with an appropriate link to your events pages. As a result, every e-mail that goes out is another active tentacle of your e-marketing campaign.

So use e-mail for advertising. Use it for marketing. Use it to drive people to your site. You’ll find that it really can leap tall marketing plans with a single bound. e

Jim Sterne, contributor