Anna Huddleston

As a follow-up to our April 2008 special report on word-of-mouth marketing we offer these handy links to help you get started building your own branded Facebook and YouTube pages. Check back again for more expert insights. We’ll post ’em as we get ’em.

Television has Nielsen ratings. Print ads circulation numbers. Even billboards in the middle of South Dakota can look to traffic patterns to help illustrate their value. None of these tracking units are a perfect science of course. (No matter what they tell you.) But based on sheer market maturity these disciplines have historically enjoyed more perceived measurability—and therefore more dedicated budgets—than word-of-mouth and experiential marketing programs. That is until now.

The demo in your trade show exhibit draws a crowd. Customers and prospects are mesmerized by what they see. They’re doing exactly what you want them to do: thinking about what your innovation could do for their business. Now what?

Too many trade show demos stop short. “You have to use the demo to segue to the next step or you’ve wasted your money ” says Emil Mellow visual merchandising and trade show director at Armstrong World Industries. Use these five tips to help your demo close the deal: