Latest 2012 SEMA Show Mailer Hits 100,000+ Qualified Buyer Mailboxes

	Brochures were mailed to more than 100,000 qualified SEMA Show buyer attendee prospects last week.

With less than five months to go, plans for the 2012 SEMA Show are well underway and all indications are that we’re on track for another memorable event.  More than 60,000 buyers are expected to attend the event, October 30–November 2, in Las Vegas. The following is a quick update on SEMA’s attendee marketing efforts to draw qualified traffic to exhibitors booths.

A comprehensive marketing campaign began this past April that utilizes many innovative elements designed to educate industry professionals about the benefits of attending the SEMA Show. Here are a few examples:

• The self-mailers in the adjacent photo were sent to more than 100,000 qualified buyer attendee prospects last week. Like the brochure mailed to exhibitors in March, they provide a unique personal URL (PURL) bearing the prospect's name. The PURL will link to one of five landing pages, customized by product category interest and based on the prospect's name, giving the potential buyer an immediate opportunity to make plans to attend. There were five versions of the mailer, one each for powersports dealers/buyers, collision repair shop owners/buyers, tire dealers/buyers, mobile electronics installers/buyers and buyers who were interested in more than one product category.

• Online advertising: Display ads on more than 30 trade websites, a Google AdWords campaign and an aggressive re-targeting campaign combining to make more than 1 million impressions.

• Print advertising in more than 120 leading industry publications with a combined circulation of more than 500,000.

• Bi-weekly e-mails to more than 150,000 qualified prospects.

SEMA took gold twice last week at EXPO Magazine’s E.X.C.I.T.E Awards for “Best Marketing Collateral,” shared with SEMA’s attendee marketing partner, the Marketing Design Group, and for “Best Innovative Sponsorship Idea” for the SEMA Cruise.

According to Dan Hobgood, SEMA’s senior director of marketing, “Awards are great and recognition is nice, but more important is making sure we get the best exhibitors and highest-quantity decision-making buyers to the 2012 SEMA Show to do business.”

Attendees: If you haven’t signed up to see more than 2,000 of the latest innovative products from new and veteran SEMA Show exhibitors, visit www.SEMAshow.com/register.

Exhibitors: If you’re a specialty-equipment manufacturer, good space is still available. To buy a booth, visit www.SEMAshow.com/buy-a-booth.