#009: How to Maximize Your Trade Show ROI with Megan Ledford of the NAPE Expo

The Oil & Gas Digital Marketing Podcast

Reading Time: 25 minutes

Megan Ledford from the NAPE Expo joins us to discuss strategies you can use to maximize your trade show investment. We also cover how to use content to shorten up your sales cycle and close more business in this week’s Pay Zone Power Move. Lastly, we touch on Megan’s awesome Twitter handle. (see below)

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Sooey! – @JamesHahnII (tweet this)

Give away items that help people to attract attention to your company and booth. – @MegoLeggo (tweet this)

Maximizing trade show ROI is all about continuing relationships after the expo is over. – @MegoLeggo (tweet this)

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Links Mentioned

NAPE Expo
Follow NAPE Expo on Twitter
Follow NAPE Expo on LinkedIn
Follow MegoLeggo on Twitter
Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help Not Hype
Free 90 Minutes Digital Coaching Session
The Top 5 Marketing Mistakes Oil & Gas Operators Make – And How to Avoid Them

Transcript

James Hahn II: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of the Oil and Gas Digital Marketing Podcast. I’m your host, James Hahn II of triberocket.com, and this is the podcast for marketers in oil and gas and B2B marketers across the globe.

This episode is brought to you by the number 9, which according to Wikipedia is a natural number following 8 and preceding 10. So it’s just amazing what you can learn out there on the internets these days.

But enough of that silliness. We have a wonderful show lined up for you today. Ms. Megan Ledford from NAPE is here and she is going to talk to us about how to maximize the return on your trade show investment. A lot of us invest plenty of money to go to these trade shows all around the country each and every year, NAPE being a fantastic one if you haven’t been yet. But how do you get the most out of what you’re doing there not only at the trade show floor, but how do you build on those relationships beyond the card flip that happens on the floor, the trade show floor, that is?

Before we get into all of that, we got to get over to the Pay Zone. But we also give the shout outs. I have no choice — no choice but to start with my man Marty out there at H Town, Houston, representing, who not only discovered the show, listened to every single episode and even made a brand-new Apple account just to give us a review. So that’s an encouragement to you because I know you got an Apple account, and you could just go to triberocket.com/review, give us five stars, four stars, something like that, whatever.

Also shout out to Joseph out there. He linked up with me on LinkedIn. He is doing some great work out in Scranton with the fine folks at Energy in Depth as well as probably being annoyed anytime everyone wants to talk to him about how the office is based in Scranton.

Lastly, Teresa who really enjoyed last week’s Pay Zone Power Move and is making a career transition. Shout outs to you, Teresa, and prayers up for a smooth transition. And big, big shout outs to everyone hitting us up on Twitter. Way too many people to thank for all the tweets and retweets and all that stuff going on out there. So to all you all giving us all, we give you one big “Sooey!” Thank you very much.

Let’s get over here. Let’s move on. Let’s do it. Another Pay Zone Power Move. Let’s get into it.

Pay Zone Power Move

All right. If this is your first time joining the tribe for the podcast, the Pay Zone Power Move is a digital marketing technique, tactic or strategy designed to help you move the needle forward online in your business. Last week we went offline because we were talking networking.

This week let’s go back online and let’s talk about how to incorporate content in the sales cycle. So what do I mean by that? All right, so here’s the deal. You’re selling things out there; you know how it goes. You have a good discovery call. You know all about all right, we’ve got this is the pain; this is the business problem, whatever you quantify that as. Here is the budget they’re working with. Here is their cycle, all that stuff. You get all that stuff out there.

Things seem great. You’re all happy, best friends. By the end of the call, they say, “Man, we’re all fired up about this. Thanks so much for your time. If you don’t hear from us by next Wednesday, reach out to us.”

What happens? Well, inevitably, when in your sales life has a prospect actually gotten right back to you? I mean this is the sad part and I say it’s the sad part because it has cost me so much pain and emotion in my own personal life and sleepless nights and all that.

But anyway, the truth is that prospects are busy. They’re like you. They don’t have time. I mean think about it in your personal life. When was the last time you were able to send a friend a message on Facebook, say, “Hey, if you got any time to talk on Thursday,” and you give them a call on Thursday and they don’t answer, and then they get back to you on Saturday and then eventually you talk sometime in the next two to four or six weeks. That’s in your personal life with your best friends because we’re all so busy.

When we’re not acting like we’re working, we’re checking our Facebook page or taking care of our kids, so we don’t have time for talking to people. Well, your prospects are the same way. Your prospects, your clients, whatever the case might be, they are the same way. They’re stupid busy with the things that they have going on in their business.

So when they don’t get back to you — and this is the mistake that like I said, I have personal experience and I speak with great passion on this because of the fact that I was that guy for so long that say, “Oh, my goodness, they didn’t get back to me. I have to send them this email.”

[0:05:06]

And then you send them the email and then it’s like the heartbroken little puppy dog saying, “How come you didn’t get back to me? And when can we talk again now? Oh, I hope I can get you back on the phone and that you don’t hate me and everything,” and you start taking it personally. But again, it makes no sense. It makes no sense to get emotionally wrapped up in these things because think about your own best friends and how hard it is to get them on the phone.

So enough psychology on James Hahn II today. What do you do in that situation? Well, this is where the Power Move comes in.

The Power Move is that instead of at that time sending that email that’s “Hey, Joe, we were supposed to talk on Wednesday and you told me to get back to you and now when we talk?” You don’t do that, right, because you wouldn’t do that to a friend, would you? No. It would be ridiculous. It would be absolutely absurd.

So this is always the strange thing, and it’s funny because marketers do this too where they think something is really strange and weird to do offline, but somehow they think it’s okay to like do it online. I don’t know if you ever noticed, I don’t actually say, “Hi, Jacob.” I don’t have people giving me their first names because I don’t want to send people personalized first name emails because the truth is I’m not just emailing you; I’m emailing everybody.

Anyway, I’m getting off on a tangent there. But again, you’re not going to do that. You’re not going to treat your friends like that. So why would you want to go ahead and act that way in your professional life? It makes no sense. So what do you do instead?

Well, what you do instead is you look for things throughout the week, whether it’s sports, maybe you had a really great bonding and rapport with that client or prospect and you found out about a team that they like. As you can tell, I’m not a football guy; I’m a hockey guy; so I don’t know. Maybe you email them about the new nickel dime defense that the rotary chain fell off the zone thing, and then they slam dunked it on the goal, you know, whatever. All right, I’m trying to be Chris Farley. I’m definitely not as funny as him.

But my point is that you need to be you and talk to your prospects like they’re friends. So instead of sending that robotic email that says, “Hello, Howard, this past week we had a lovely conversation about how you would be interested in our products and services, and I have not been able to…” Sorry, it’s very annoying to me too. So if it’s annoying to me and you listening, why would your prospects want to put up with that?

So what you do instead is you just him them with an email, right? I was just joking about the football thing but hey, man, let’s say they’re an Aggie, Johnny Manziel. Boom. There’s always something about Johnny Manziel, and maybe he killed it at the Combine. I guess he did. I don’t know too much about football. But whatever the latest is, “Hey, look, looks like Johnny is doing this.” “Hey, I heard about this campaign or whatever.” And you send them that link and you don’t even talk about how you need to get back together. You just don’t even talk about it. You just say, “Hey, what’s up, man?”

This is the best thing because that can work really well when you have that good bonding and rapport. But even over and above that is when you go out of your way to help them. What do I mean by that? Well, let’s say in that call they express a certain frustration with part of their business or with not being able to get a certain group of people to do a certain task or whatever the business problem is that they’re dealing with.

Maybe it’s not even the main thing that you’re trying to help with them with, but it’s something that you have resources on or something that is maybe you listen to a podcast, maybe you read a certain blog, whatever it is, and you come across something that speaks to that exact issue. The best thing is when you publish a blog on your website that speaks to that exact issue so that when that communication happens — and this is the thing, you have to make sure again that you’re you, that you’re a human being, that you’re just a person talking to his buddy or her girl or however that goes.

So when you send that email, if it’s from your website, it’s a fine line because you don’t want to make it promotional. You don’t want to go into that same annoying voice that I was just doing of “Hey, Howard, we did this thing on our blog and aren’t we great?” No, you have to make it about them, all about them. It’s them because it’s WIIFM, what’s in it for me.

[0:10:05]

They don’t care about you. They don’t care about your company. They don’t care about any of that stuff. They want to know how you can help them. So if you come forward with solutions and you’re giving them to them for free before they even ask for them, then how much faster is that sales cycle? How much are you going to shorten up that sales cycle if you’re providing that much value before they are even a customer?

That’s the thing. So that’s a multiple-layer Power Move going on there where we’ve got just the general “Hey, what’s up? Saw this link and it’s about something you’re interested in.” But the big, big Power Move is when you’re going to be helping them and delivering something of value that speaks exactly to the problems that they’re dealing with in their business, and it’s even better when it comes from your website, and it’s even better if it’s written by your president, your CEO, some top level executive because that shows your prospect that this company is serious. They mean business. They are out to solve problems. I bet they can solve mine.

So that is this week’s Pay Zone Power Move. I hope it helped you in your business. If it did, feel free to hit me with an email, [e-mail], or you can tweet me anytime @JamesHahnII.

But okay, enough of the Power Move and enough talking about how you can get a hold of me. Let’s get over to this interview with my girl, Ms. Megan Ledford from the NAPE Expo.

Megan Ledford from the NAPE Expo

Joining the tribe this week is Megan Ledford. She handles marketing and PR for the NAPE Expo, one of the largest upstream oil and gas expos in the industry, which annually brings upwards of 17,000 plus people to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. She plays a big role in that number by handling all of the NAPE’s digital content and strategy, including their website, social media outreach, all online ads and all PR efforts. She handles their public outreach, handles the company’s news relationships including the content that they deliver.

On top of that, she also represents marketing efforts for the AAPL, the American Association of Petroleum Landmen. They represent landmen within government industry and community efforts to educate the benefits landmen bring to the industry. They also educate on best practices and codes of ethic to better serve E&P companies.

Megan Ledford, thank you so much for joining us on the program. Do you ever sleep?

Megan Ledford: Thank you for having me, James. I do sleep when I get a chance. Between these two, we’re pretty confident and we’re pretty busy constantly.

James Hahn II: Yeah. Whenever I go out there to the NAPE Expo and see you all running around, with the million moving pieces that are happening all at once right there, I just don’t know how you do it, but you all pull it off. So it’s always impressive.

Megan Ledford: Well, thank you very much. It’s definitely a team effort. We definitely have to all pitch in together and work as a team. So I appreciate that compliment. Thank you very much.

James Hahn II: My pleasure. So let’s just get right into this because we were talking before and trying to figure out which direction to go here, and I think the first direction is always what everybody is thinking about in business, which is the bottom line. When you go to the NAPE Expo or really any of these expos that are out there, you see just there’s a great sort of chasm of investments happening there. You’ve got Pemex, Chesapeake and all these guys with these huge booths and a lot of investment going into that. And then, obviously, there’s plenty of people that can’t afford that level, and so they just have their setup showing the prospects they are shopping or whatever it is they came to the show for.

So at every level, no matter what it is, how do you get the best return on your investment out of an expo like this?

Megan Ledford: Well, I think you’re absolutely right, James. We definitely have attendees ranging from the larger companies all the way down to family-owned companies who are really there to get business done. And really, I think the bottom line is just getting there and coming there with the intention and knowing what your message is, knowing if you’re there to sell a certain service or are you trying to sell a prospect, just what is your mission.

And then also, I think another key essential part to that is really the networking and then following up after the event. So I think it’s just really essential to go there and smile and meet people and definitely have your business cards ready, and then definitely be rigorous after the event about connecting with people, whether it be LinkedIn, Facebook or any other social media effort.

[0:15:04]

Also, it’s always nice to send just an email to say, “Nice meeting you as well.” So I think it’s kind of a twofold onsite and also a post-show follow-up as well.

James Hahn II: So when it comes to that onsite part, and you talked about having business cards and everything like that, how do you stand out though? Because everybody is there with their business cards. Everybody is there in their suit and tie. I remember I snapped a picture and posted it on Twitter at the summer NAPE because it was so funny to me to look at the escalators going up and down and it’s just suits. It’s just thousands of suits at once.

So how do you stand out? Because, obviously, exchanging business cards or bidness cards as I like to say. So how do you stand out on that show floor?

Megan Ledford: Honestly, that’s a really great question. With having 17,000 plus attendees, that’s definitely the golden question for everyone. I really think it just goes back to having your mission in mind and really understanding what you’re coming there for and then really actually utilizing some of the tools that we have onsite. We actually have a mobile app that we provide onsite at these shows that has a whole index of attendees and exhibitors and contacts for those companies. So you’re actually able to stake out who you would like to meet and kind of get your mind wrapped around some of the initiatives and some of the things you would like to address those in.

And then also reach out to them. Know which group number two go to. Know which email to use to follow up after the show. So I really think that utilizing all the tools onsite and being able to use them to your advantage. I think that it’s really hard to stand out in the crowd, but I think that if you can use everything provided — social media, mobile apps, all of these tools that we provide onsite, I think it really gives you an upper hand to really following through and making sure the message is delivered.

James Hahn II: Yeah. I like that point that you make right there. In both of what you’ve said so far, it’s just about really being intentional and knowing exactly what you’re going to do and what you’re going to execute upon.

I love that you brought up the NAPE app because that was one of my favorite things because I said to everybody, “Have you seen this app?” It’s hard for me. I’m a big tech snob especially in our industry, and I’m like, “Oh, my goodness, I can’t believe it. Look at this website. Look at this app.”

But when I opened up the NAPE app, I’m like, “Wow! This thing is amazing. I don’t have to leaf through this huge book. The whole book is right here in this one little app.” And for me, it was perfect because who are the people that I want to talk to while I’m at NAPE? They are the people that are doing things digital and are interested in thinking in that direction.

So what I did, I just posted up on one of the sidewalls there and had a seat for maybe 20 minutes really, and in my browser on my phone, I opened up the hashtag on Twitter and then I just looked at every single hashtag. And then I just jumped back and forth between Twitter and the app and Twitter and the app and Twitter and the app, and I was able to use who was on the hashtag to go ahead and decide who are the people that I need to go and talk to and then map that out once I had that in place.

So you provide everything that we need to be successful. It just seems that it’s just a matter of taking advantage of those.

Megan Ledford: Absolutely. I think you nailed it. I think it’s just really being intentional with your messaging and your goals onsite because NAPE really is a networking event. We are there to bring people together in a room who have a common goal which is to get business done within the oil and gas industry.

Once we get there, we’re able to provide these tools and, exactly like you said, it’s intentional. It’s utilizing these tools, it’s following up, it’s using the hashtag on Twitter to join the conversation, it’s using the mobile apps to kind of identify the key contacts to our very target. So absolutely, I think you’ve summed it up beautifully with that word. Intentional is exactly, I think, the thing that helps you stand out on that show floor.

James Hahn II: I wrote a follow-up blog post after the summer show that I think there’s a huge opportunity for people at expos like these is to think about how they can be helpful in their own certain ways. Actually, I don’t think I shared this story on the last podcast that we had where I’m sort of OCD because I travel with all of my podcasting equipment as you know and with my 60-pound backpack. But in that backpack is a power strip.

[0:19:59]

So when I was at Social Media Marketing World, I was the most popular guy in the room because everyone is looking for a place to charge their phone. Of course, at NAPE, you all have the phone charging stations, but I’m sitting there looking at all these booths going, “Why doesn’t anybody have a charging station in their booth? That would be so useful and so many people would just flock to you. Go over there and talk to those guys.” Could you imagine the crowd that you would attract if you told everyone to come?

Megan Ledford: They’d have to form a line and take it.

James Hahn II: Yeah, exactly. I think I shared the post with you, but what are some ways that you think that are some opportunities out there for oil and gas, for anybody in the industry that is attending expos like this? What are some things that you think are ways that they could be helpful at shows like this?

Megan Ledford: Well, I think charging stations are a very god point of view. I think that also anything that helps attendees with their traveling needs. A lot of people come to the show from all over the country, so everyone is taking a plane or staying at a hotel. I really think anything that they can use not only within the show during that time but also something they’re going to take away and use as a tool.

So I actually saw a company at one point playing off of the charger topic that you just said who actually had a retractable charger that had an input for almost single type of device you can imagine. There was a USB in port. There was an iPhone 5 in port. It was actually pretty amazing and they had that brander with their name. I was very impressed by that. That was something that users can definitely walk away and take it home in the office and just have continued branding offsite.

So I really think that we are transitioning into being more of a tech and mobile society and also industry. I think that oil and gas has really come a long way when it comes to social media and technology and different types of smart and mobile devices. I think that things along those lines that can really help the user just on a day-to-day effort is really going to attract attention to your company, help people come to your booth that maybe might not had come to your booth anyway and just start really helping you get your company’s message out. You never know who you’re going to meet. It always just takes that one person. You just never know.

James Hahn II: Yeah, that’s so true. Just at NAPE this last time, I was kind of floating around the parties and sort of using my intuition saying, “No, don’t go back to your hotel room yet. Go check this place. Go check that place. I ended up making this phenomenal contact down from Louisiana and we had a great time talking down south because I did go to XU and people from Louisiana listening will understand how strange that sounds.

But you bring up a good point about helping people with their travel and it makes me think of who I perpetually quote on this show and in my blog and everywhere. That’s Jay Baer, the author of Youtility. “The difference between selling and helping is just two letters” is his catchphrase there on the book.

But he has this case study in there of this guy named Taxi Mike and he is up there in Banff, Alberta, Canada and it’s this yellow — everywhere you go in Banff, there’s these little fliers. They’re a tribe full of fliers. It’s clearly that this guy is a taxi driver. He goes to the local copy company and has these things printed out in handful. You could just tell there’s just a handful of it. He does that every quarter, and he just fliers them all, puts them in every hotel and everybody in town knows Taxi Mike.

So what he is saying in the tri-fold folder has nothing to do with his taxi business. It’s all about where the best restaurants, where are the best places to go for sightseeing. And he has everything rated and everything. It’s kind of like a paper version of Yelp that only this guy curates.

But it’s genius because at the end of the night, if you’re in the bar and at your hotel, you picked up this yellow thing and so you’re like kind of coming out of the bar at 1:30 and you reach in your pocket and you look down and you go, “Oh, Taxi Mike.” And he comes over and he does that.

So I would think, man, what an opportunity for if you did have a company blog to say here is everything to see in Houston; here are some great things to do if you’re going to stay for the weekend or whatever like that and really being of service to those people that are traveling from afar because they certainly do.

Megan Ledford: Absolutely. That’s a beautiful example of just going outside of the box and also just expanding on some of the knowledge that you can provide, not only on the service directly that you’re giving but also just some of the knowledge that you pick up along the way.

[0:25:07]

I think that applies to all industries. I think that’s a wonderful example. Way to go, Taxi Mike!

James Hahn II: Yeah, he kills it. He kills it. I got to get up there and meet that guy somebody.

So then moving on because okay, we’ve had this show, we’ve made the contacts, and you talked about this before about follow-up. But let’s maybe give them the specifics of what that looks like because we have LinkedIn, we have Twitter, we have all these things. Not everyone is on everything, email and so forth. How do you keep that relationship going and how do you build on that over and above just shaking a hand and getting a business card and feeling like you might be able to do something together?

Megan Ledford: Well, I think it could not only be spending obviously a lunch date or something like that to nurture that relationship, but I also think it should be staying involved, staying in the conversation. Understand what maybe their company is going through or some of the benefits or wonderful goals that they’re hitting and just making sure to acknowledge that to that person or just reach out and say, “Hey, this is what’s going on. There’s an event. Thought you might be interested.” Or anything along those lines. It’s just really keeping that relationship going in a positive manner and participating and really trying to stay in the loop on what’s going on. It’s all about relationships, whether it be on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, face to face, anything. It’s really just about getting involved and actually wanting to grow that relationship.

So I think that you’re right. A lot of people aren’t on every single platform. I think it’s also about understanding your audience. I know for AAPL, we are on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, but our biggest return happens to be on Facebook. I think that a lot of people generally just get on there just in their personal life, but it’s also making that transition over into the professional world as well. So I think it’s just about wanting to be involved and putting in that effort to follow up and just keeping involved of what’s going on with that person and checking in and just really trying to nurture that relationship as it goes down the road.

James Hahn II: I love that point because I’m huge on email list building, email, email, email. And especially the way that Facebook has throttled down brand pages as far as who can see it without you paying Facebook. But if you can create an engaged enough audience that is reading and sharing your content on a regular basis on something like Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn, what you’re essentially doing is you’re embedding yourself into their daily life because the stream on Facebook is okay, there’s my cousin; okay, there’s my wife’s post; okay, there’s Krispy Kreme; okay, it’s AAPL, all right, and I’m stealing more from Jay there.

If it’s good enough, you can really start to penetrate someone’s daily life and not only stay top of mind but really be involved in their life at a much higher level than just some organization or company or whatever that you might have known one time because you happened to like it on accident or whatever.

Megan Ledford: Absolutely, absolutely.

James Hahn II: Well, this has been a wonderful conversation and I want to keep it going, but I just want to transition over to talking about the wonderful and exciting expansion of NAPE. I think we’ve covered this before, I think, maybe on Allen Gilmer’s podcast, the first one, which may be embarrassing to me if I go back and listen to it now.

So NAPE started in 1993 and it’s been in Houston since, right?

Megan Ledford: Yes. We’ve always had an annual show in Houston ever since the inception in 1993. Correct.

James Hahn II: And back then, Allen Gilmer saying, “Well, I got to brush over those stories from back in the day.” But it used to be a longer show, he said. It was something like four or five. I don’t even know if it was five, but it was longer and was it just once a year back then?

Megan Ledford: Correct. It was once a year and the success of that show has just grown and grown over the years. We actually now have four shows a year, two of them happening in Houston, one in February, another in August.

We also have two new shows that we added to our event scheduling last year. We have a show in Pittsburgh which we just finished up. It’s a beautiful city, wonderful audience. Absolutely loved going there.

[0:30:06]

We also have a show that happens in Denver in December, and that show also started last year. So yes, we are growing and expanding and loving every minute of it.

James Hahn II: And you’re just coming off NAPE East which is the one that you just mentioned in Pittsburgh, right?

Megan Ledford: Correct, yes.

James Hahn II: How did it go?

Megan Ledford: Oh, it was wonderful. The NAPE in Pittsburgh and the NAPE in Denver are a bit more targeted towards the region. Pittsburgh is definitely not as big as our NAPE show in February within Houston, but it is still such a wonderful show packed with content. It’s much more regional, dedicated to the Marcellus, Utica and to the Devonian and all of that. So people are really there to get business done in that region. It’s such a great way to bring those regional companies out to the forefront and spend some time with the big players who also attended the show. So I think everyone was smiling and shaking hands, and we really had a really good attendance. I think it was a very successful show.

James Hahn II: And I feel like those places that you mentioned, maybe not so much the Marcellus because everyone knows about the Marcellus and it’s in the headlines all the time and so forth. But for instance, like the Utica, it’s kind of like the dark horse because there have been some findings that came out initially that maybe didn’t actually portray the real opportunity in that area. So were there a lot of people there just excited about the opportunity and also trying to let people know what’s really going on the area?

Megan Ledford: Oh, absolutely. There was a lot of conversation around what’s actually going on with these projects that people are pursuing out there and actually sharing a strategy, some of the things that are working and some of the things that aren’t. I saw a lot of partnerships forged out of this show of people being able to show the benefit of what they’re doing and finding avenues on how to work together as a team to complete different projects. Maybe this company had some acreage and this company had the technology, and they were able together on the show floor and actually create a very lucrative partnership.

So yeah, it was a definitely interesting thing. All of these experiences come out of this show for the region that you probably wouldn’t get in a bigger national show. So that was very interesting. Absolutely.

James Hahn II: Yeah, that’s awesome. What about the Denver show? I haven’t been to it and you said last year was the first year so I’ll give myself a pass on that one.

Megan Ledford: Well, I’ll see you there this year. That’s for sure.

James Hahn II: All right, cool. I’m sure my plane tickets are in the mail. All the kidding aside, I don’t want to strike a somber tone here, but what is that environment like? Because they’re in a pretty — I don’t even know how to say it, but there are some serious oil and gas opponents in that state trying to essentially shut down the progress? Are there a lot of conversations at Denver Rockies about that, or is everybody just like, “Yeah, whatever. Don’t worry about that. We’ll be able to keep doing our thing”? What is that vibe there?

Megan Ledford: There were definite talks about that. We actually offered — the first day of any of our NAPE shows starts off with a business conference which has panels of speakers who just sweep the industry on policy, on regulation. Also, some E&Ps attend and just talk about some of the experiences they have had in the region. So that was one of the main themes of the Denver show in December.

And really, it’s just the meeting of the mind. They’re really trying to come together and figure out how to overcome the hurdles in a positive manner. So it’s really interesting. There was a lot of discussion but also a lot of partnerships forged, like I said, a lot of companies bringing their experience and a lot of companies bringing knowledge that some other companies might not be aware of.

So it was interesting to see it be such a positive turn on such a hard situation. Everyone was just having discussions on how can we help each other out? Everyone is trying to figure out how not to get upset about it but really how to find solutions in more of a positive way that’s not only going to address the concerns in the area but also help the companies along the way. So it was definitely interesting and it was really insightful to see the forum and the situation happening and all of these people talking on that dialogue. So it was actually a very positive situation.

James Hahn II: Actually, you’ve made me think about another point that I really love about NAPE is that of course it’s a trade show that you’re going there to generate leads and make partnerships and everything, but you all are so much a resource for the industry to come together. And like you said, how do we overcome these hurdles? How do we tell the people the truth and get that out there?

Certainly, I think Steve Everley was just on the show talking about how we need a much better effort in grassroots in those areas because otherwise, moratoriums are going to be the way of life. But it’s awesome to hear that you are providing a resource for those guys to come together and have those important conversations about moving the industry forward in areas which is really odd because it’s a very traditionally oil and gas-centric place, but I guess it’s the transplants that have come in and decided that they don’t want it anymore.

But I’m looking down here and thinking we’re almost at our time here, and this has been a wonderful conversation. I want to keep talking and asking more questions.

Megan Ledford: Absolutely. We could talk forever about this, couldn’t we, James?

James Hahn II: Yeah. Everybody knows I’m a nerd for all things marketing, so it really doesn’t matter if it’s trade shows, digital, online, offline. I’m all about it.

So speaking of online then, if someone wanted to learn more about the NAPE expo and what you all are doing, where would you send them?

Megan Ledford: They could find us on our website at www.napeexpo.com. They can also follow us on Twitter @NAPE_Expo, and they can also follow us on LinkedIn.

James Hahn II: And she didn’t mention it, folks, but you can also follow her @Mego_Leggo on Twitter, one of my favorite Twitter handles out there.

Megan Ledford: Actually, there is no underscore. There’s a correction. That’s @MegoLeggo.

James Hahn II: Okay, see. And it’s Mego, not Meggo, correct?

Megan Ledford: Correct, MegoLeggo.

James Hahn II: There is it. See, I get it backwards sometimes and then I’m like, “You didn’t see my tweet?” Okay, that makes sense.

Megan Ledford: No problem.

James Hahn II: All right, cool, cool. This has been awesome, Megan. Thanks so much for joining us on the Oil and Gas Digital Marketing Podcast.

Megan Ledford: Thank you for having me.

James Hahn II: Yeah, it’s my pleasure. I guess we will see you out there at the next NAPE Expo.

Megan Ledford: Absolutely. Thank you.

That’s a Wrap

James Hahn II: This brings us to the end of another Oil and Gas Digital Marketing Podcast. I’ve been your host, James Hahn II of triberocket.com.

I’m noticing a common theme here. Last week we had Jennifer on, Jennifer Valencia talking networking. She had phenomenal things to say. And it was basically all about being intentional, being authentic, building relationships; and that’s a lot about what we’re hearing from Megan really. How do you get the most, what’s the best return you can get on your investment is that again, you’re authentic, you’re intentional and you follow up, you follow up.

A lot of people go to these trade shows and they get mountains of business cards and go home and do nothing with them. There may be one or two or three people they really hit it off with. But you got to follow up, man. You paid money for them business cards. Use them! Use them! Even if it’s four or six weeks later like we talked about at the beginning of this show, they’re not going to be mad at you. These people are busy just like you. They understand. They’re not even going to think about the fact that they’re hearing from you a few or four weeks after the show. But that’s enough of that because we already had one Pay Zone and you already survived one soapbox situation from me. So I’m amazed you made it this far.

So if you want to find out more about triberocket.com, you can check us out over there. If you’re a free eBook kind of a person, we have one for you called The Top 5 Marketing Mistakes Oil and Gas Operators Make – And How to Avoid Them. You can get that triberocket.com/ebook.

We will also give you a free 90-minute digital coaching session where we open up the playbook, roll out the blueprint, whatever analogy you want. We will show you how it’s done, how you build your tribe, how you grow your brand online as much as we can in 90 minutes.

Many thanks again to Megan Ledford for all of her insights and time. Thank you, seriously, for real. Thank you. There are hundreds of thousands of podcasts out that you could be listening to and you chose to spend your time with me. I really appreciate that.

So big ups to you all. I hope you all just blow the doors. Let’s go out there and blow the doors off this thang this week. I am for real. Let’s do it for J. Paul Getty.

Like we always say, let’s go out there. Let’s rise early, work hard and strike oil.

Folks, we will talk to you all next week!

The post #009: How to Maximize Your Trade Show ROI with Megan Ledford of the NAPE Expo appeared first on Tribe Rocket Inc..