Before you finish packing for an end of summer getaway, take 10 minutes to review your fall marketing plan especially if you’re headed to EuMW. Ten minutes now can save thousands in rush charges and missed opportunity costs.

By mid-August you should have already set your final quarter tradeshow schedule, especially for major events like European Microwave Week (EuMW, Oct. 5-10). But before one more t-shirt hits your suitcase, make sure the major to-do’s are properly sorted because rush charges for major exhibits can run 50 percent or more compared to early-bird rates.

But let’s say the event is scheduled, hotels are booked and the exhibit property is on its way to the advance warehouse. Good job! But what about the rest of your plan? Remember this simple approach: P-R-I-M-E.

Promotional focus

What product or service will be the centerpiece? If not one star attraction, do you plan a series across the quarter? If you have no major event scheduled, what will keep your company name front and center? If you are counting on social media to carry the load, what’s your calendar for blogs, Tweets, Facebook updates and so forth?  How does advertising figure-in? Remember having an innovative idea go viral is great when it happens, but don’t bet it will happen like clockwork.

ROI

We all know measuring success is key to proving that marketing budgets are helping drive sales. How you measure ROI depends on the industry, sales cycle and other tangibles. If you’re planning a fall trade show campaign, be sure your stakeholders have agreed on the ROI yardstick. Common denominators typically include qualified sales leads, sales derived from new/special activities, a jump in sample requests over a focus period or book-to-build ratio jumps. New at this? Consider a consultant to get the ball rolling.

Image

A company’s image, and most importantly brand image, is what customers envision when they think of a company, its products, reliability and customer service. When you innovate, how do customers know it’s your idea? In taking a quick look at the very big issue of image, consider what has changed since the last time you exhibited. Whenever new products, new markets, new services, new capabilities, new competitors or new partners enter the mix it’s time to flex your image.

Media

At 60 days from distribution your media release should already be in draft. If you’re not there yet, here’s homework for the plane: draft that news release. Send your draft to first-pass reviewers as soon as you have a Wi-Fi connection again. Once that’s done, go stick your toes in the sand with a smile. For the extra ambitious: start calling/emailing your top 5 editors once the PR draft is in review. You’ll be at the top of media lists and not somebody with 12 back-to-back meetings and Doritos for lunch.

Engagement

Every truly productive marketing program seeks to engage customers and prospects in multiple ways over the longest period of time; they build understanding, affinity and finally loyalty. Sales are a deliberate and direct result of great engagement. The E-Word used to be about pre-event mailers and post-show thank yous. But truly effective engagement today involves creating relationships with customers. I’ll dive deeper in a future post, but for now be certain you have an updated close contact list and then plan to conference with key stakeholders over P-R-I-M-E plans.

 How was your 10-minute marketing check-up? I bet you were more on track than you thought. If not, now’s the time to plan for a successful, no-surprises fourth quarter. Call a marketing consultant if you’re worried that mission scope exceeds time available. Then pack some peace of mind along with your favorite sunglasses; come back refreshed and ready after Labor Day.