Crushing It at RSNA 2021

My annual pilgrimage to Chicago the day after Thanksgiving came to an end a few years ago for radiology's biggest event of the year, RSNA. For almost a decade I was primarily responsible for all lead generation for various companies including GE Healthcare Radiology IT and I was very successful at it.

In fact, RSNA was a major reason that I started my own business. When I was walking the perimeter of the show and I started talking to the small-to-midsized vendors I realized very quickly how many of those businesses had no idea what they were doing. Except throwing $10-20K of their money away because they thought they had to be at RSNA. I figured I could bring the knowledge I learned at Big Blue and bring world-class marketing to the little people.

I did in fact have a couple of horses (post-GE) in the race for several years and we very successfully got the job done...If you want to maximize your RSNA experience, follow these recommendations below.

Develop a Plan

It's not too late, even though it's already November to jump on a plan to leverage your investment into RSNA, if you don't already have one.

Lead Follow Up

The #1 part of your strategy that you should have worked out prior to going is the who, what, when, why, and where of following up with leads and connections that you are going to make at RSNA. Are you going to phone, email, text, invite to get LinkedIn? Every organization is looking to do the same, how are you going to stand out in your follow-up. I'd also tell you that the majority of those investing in a booth or heading to the big show will either NOT follow up at all, give up way to soon after 1 or 2 touches or wait too long.

Social Media Domination

If you are a small business, located on the perimeter. And you are not one of the 30,000 square foot booths, with an army of marketing and PR people you can win the social media game. You can absolutely dominate Twitter, I've done it...Be a volume operator. The big boys and girls have to get everything cleared by their regulatory and legal departments. They cannot be agile enough...I set up 100-Tweets a day, live podcasting to discuss where the industry is headed, leverage stories, tag your location and hashtag #RSNA #RSNA2021

Pre-RSNA Content

Prior to RSNA, I'd host a webinar, either talk about industry, products or all of the above. Use that as an opportunity to engage people going and not going.

Set Goals

You got to have goals for the number of leads, opportunities and sales you want to shoot for at the event. If you are starting from the sum of we've never gone or measured in the past, start with an arbitrary number like 10 leads per day. You can also figure out how many hours there are at the event during the week. I.E. Say there are 28 hours of exhibit time over a four-day span. Now you can be realistic and say we are bringing 3 employees. How many leads can we cover in an hour or a day? Additionally, I would also tell you to set a goal on the number of pre-arranged meetings, demos, etc.

Proactive Prospecting vs. Serendipity

RSNA is a zoo, people are everywhere and even attendees want to talk with people. Some don't want to be bothered but even though at its height 50,000-60,000 people in attendance it can be a lonely place. As an attendee when I'd walk the floor I was always interested in talking to people in the industry, you naturally share that common bond. I know it's cool to act like you don't want to be there, but it's a cool, fun experience and should be treated as such. Set up as many meetings prior to RSNA as possible and don't leave it to chance!!!

Always Be Opening - Networking...

Whether you are in the cab stand, sharing a cab, riding a bus back to your hotel, in line at a coffee shop, happy hour, or an over-priced lunch at the McCormick Place be on your game. I made so many more connections off the exhibit floor than on it.

Advertising

I would geo-fence RSNA and McCormick Place, especially on Facebook. So many people will be taking selfies, posting content on their social media feed. Whether you are going to RSNA or not. You can easily target the trade show by geo-fencing the entire facility so that either on the web or social media your content shows up in the feed and grabs someone's attention. It's a great play!!!

Also just a couple of pieces of advice...RSNA is a grind, the show is extremely long with long hours. Drink a lot of water because there are a lot of late nights, great dinners and opportunities for consuming a lot of adult beverages. Try to skip the food in the McCormick, it's horrible, eat healthily. Get away from your booth, enjoy yourself, clear your mind. And nothing good comes from going to Excalibur late at night!!!

Public Relations

Figure out a way to get into one of the many trade publications that will be covering the event. Sure they want the latest and greatest from Siemens, Hitachi, GE, etc. But there's an interesting story about the small-time players too.

If you want to talk about your marketing strategy and need help hit me up, either send me a direct message or email me at [email protected], I'm here to help!