I attended a major semiconductor industry trade show last week. It’s always great to see the creativity and passion that B-to-B marketers pour into creating a positive trade show experience for their customers and prospects. Cool displays, working demo’s, educational seminars, even the hospitality functions. They are all part of the experience.

We are big believers in the personal selling power of trade shows. Unfortunately, many of these marketers miss a big opportunity by failing to put the same amount of effort and investment into creating a great web site experience for their customers and prospects. After all, a major industry trade show typically takes place once a year and lasts just a few days. The web, however, is 24/7/365. It deserves to be as creative, functional, educational and engaging as any trade show booth.

We go through an exercise with marketers where we walk through all of the elements of a successful trade show, and then apply them to the web. The exercise is especially effective with non-marketing or non-web-marketing people. They know and love trade shows but aren’t as tuned in to what makes for a good web experience. As we go through the exercise, it’s gratifying to watch them realize what they could be doing every day of the year to engage their customers and prospects more effectively.

Typically, the exercise touches on elements such as:

• Promotion to attract visitors (vs. build it and they will come)
• First impressions of visitors
• Overall theme; overall layout
• Professional presentation
• Displays (use of interaction on site)
• Information available (literature, manuals, downloads, etc.)
• Technical content (parallel to presenting a paper at a technical conference)
• Interaction
• Lead capture, fulfillment, etc.
• Post-visit follow-up; cultivation – you got them to the show or to the site, don’t lose them!

For example, for “first impressions,” you might spend a lot of time making sure your trade show booth is designed and laid out to capture attention and invite visitors inside. What about your home page? Do you force your visitors to watch a Flash movie before they can enter? Is your virtual storefront focused, visually appealing, with a clear message and easy navigation structure?

What about “interaction?” It’s a natural in the show booth, where humans interact with humans. What about on your web site? Do you offer easy ways to find expert help? Are you using blogs or live chat to help your visitors solve problems or get help?

If the group doing the exercise is into role playing, it’s really instructive to take their web site and map its features to the trade show arena. For example, do you greet visitors in their language? Do you let them go where they want to go or force them along a path of your choosing regardless of their interest? If they are really interested in your product or service, do you tell them what to do next or abandon them with no obvious next step? You wouldn’t do any of these things at a trade show; do you do them on your web site?

It’s a fun exercise plus it's extremely helpful in changing perceptions about where marketing time, effort and resources can be allocated to year-round effect.