“Get 2 really top pieces of new business rather than 100 minor orders”

illy Caffé, established in 1933 in Trieste, Italy is a global leader in premium espresso coffee, available in over 60 countries.

While a favorite with home espresso machine users, illy has built a successful multi-channel food service business. From the very beginning, they developed a simple, effective, and unique trade show strategy built around their equally unique brand.

illy Trade Show Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics:
Objectives:

1. To be visible within the marketplace
2. To demonstrate illy’s success and leadership within its own marketplace
3. To meet and retain existing clients
4. To identify new leads that will generate long-term business
5. To maintain consistency against competitors that exhibit sporadically or infrequently
6. To occasionally launch new products – launching at a show is best

Strategies and Tactics

1. Get 2 really top pieces of new business rather than 100 minor orders
2. Have a well designed booth presence at the show
3. illy’s booth and presentation simplicity always overshadows the competition, most of which try too hard
4. Prior to the show Illy invites people they know to visit them at their booth
5. illy uses the trade show as an opportunity to target the big prospects and would expect to convert three or four into long-term clients – that’s one of their objectives for participating in the trade show
6. illy advertises in the coffee trades and utilizes email marketing, blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin
7. illy runs an ad in the show guide because it has shelf-life and can be used for reference purposes
8. illy researches trade shows thoroughly before deciding to take part, there being only a couple of trade shows worth doing each year
9. illy sees who else is there and checks out their competitors
10. illy takes a close look at the quality of the attendance figures and prefers shows that can provide genuine statistics and research
11. illy staff follows up on show leads within a short period of time and builds on the relationship that was started at the show
12. illy would expect to convert a new lead to new business within about six months or sooner

While illy is an established global brand, all the things they do can be done by any brand. However, most coffee companies are too busy with technical details to fully grasp the importance of a strong brand identity that not only looks good but communicates brand uniqueness and values…what the brand stands for in a confident, clear and simple way.

SOS Knows Trade Shows
SOS works to help specialty coffee industry clients make their trade show efforts more effective before, during and after the show.

Contact us:

SOS
Specialty Coffee Industry Business Development Marketing
760.345.5069
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