9 Hacks for Hardware Start-ups at Consumer Electronic Show
The Consumer Electronics Show is probably the biggest exhibition to see the coolest consumer gadgets on planet Earth. It is also becoming the biggest automotive exhibition with the prime event reserved for the latest electric cars and self-driven cars. CES is growing every year and is now spreading to multiple locations in the Las Vegas.
The event is overwhelmingly huge and it is easy to get lost in the noise. Big companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get flashy booths showcasing the might of their brand. Two-storey booths with conference rooms are not that uncommon.
How does a young small unfunded start-up stand against that? Well, we at NexGear got a chance to experience it first-hand this year. We announced our soon to be released adventure camera Frodo. And I must admit that a start-up has as much to gain from the event as a giant company.
CES turned out to be a great learning experience so much so that we are making changes to our original crowdfunding campaign and revising our launch date.
I strongly recommend anyone building a global hardware product to visit/exhibit at CES and make the most out of it. Here is a quick cheat sheet to hack CES without spending much. The tips are as relevant to any other show, as they are to CES.
1. Eureka Park — This is where you need to be!
Outside of the glitter and bling of Tech East & Tech West Halls is this amazing universe in CES called Eureka Park. This is where young entrepreneurs are launching new innovative products. It’s a good mix of starts-ups exhibiting products which have just hit the market as well as the ones with 3-D printed prototypes. Stop having cold-feet and show the world what you are building!
Eureka park is the place where you get the most cost-effective booth. But there is a catch, bare 10ft x 10ft booth typically costs USD 1000 but if you want electric power-points and internet then it would cost you USD 2300. Now, that is a tough one! We decided to opt for the cheaper one. Our neighbors EzeeCube & Orbii went for the other one but had very poor review of the internet speed.
Whichever you choose, book early and find a spot close to other good products. You don’t want your booth to be next to a country pavilion which has no product to show but only posters (Sigh!). Visitors hang around cool products. Some areas are always more crowded than others.
2. Have a cool live demo
Nothing works better at pulling a crowd than a cool live demo of your product. Some products just have the inherent coolness (e.g. Drone, Levitating speakers) but even if your product is not flying; plan to show it in all its glory.
Grab attention by highlighting the most differentiating unique aspect of your product in the most visually appealing way. Once a person starts conversing, use your charm to take him deep into the details. Let people use your product. A quick personal experience goes a long way in building rapport with a potential customer.
3. Frugal differentiated giveaways
Don’t spend on expensive freebies! Put your creative brains to figure out a giveaway which:
- is cost-effective
- has a good recall value
- has a specific ‘Call to Action’
Freebie should have a very specific use and are not given as charity.
Our collateral consisted of — A small brochure highlighting the product, business cards, press-kit, a slap bracelet mentioning our crowdfunding campaign details and a call-to-action for backing us.
Quick tip: Always staple your business card to the brochure.
4. Carry your booth merchandise with you
Do yourself a favor and carry your booth set-up (backdrop, standee) with you. At first, it may seem a lot of trouble and you may get tempted to use one of those service providers who start contacting you as soon as your register for CES. Doing it yourself can save you insane amount of money, help you avoid quality issues and give you a confidence of having everything in your own control. No logistics issues, no delays!
For a small booth like ours — a backdrop, a standee and table-front are more than enough for branding your product. A backdrop should always have the clear big picture of your ‘product’ with a ‘short tagline’ explaining your product. That is the first thing that a visitor walking past your booth will notice and he has 3 seconds to comprehend it. Make those 3 seconds count. Avoid any clutter on the backdrop design.
5. Engage with your real customers
A wide variety of visitors come to CES. Not everyone is your customer. Spend your energy in talking to your real customers. The only way to know that is by initiating a talk with the people going by your booth. A simple “Hi” goes a long way. A quick one-line intro to your product will show the person’s interest and you can take a call to go deeper or say “Thanks! It was pleasure meeting you”
If you can engage with 250 real customers during the event, it is a big ‘win’! The number looks small … eh? Try it.
I would advise to have at least 3–4 members from your team representing your company. We were only a team of two and always felt short on catering to the people coming to the booth. Even genuinely interested people don’t wait much if no one attends to them. You would not want a real customer to go away like that. While it is important to be manning your own booth, you also need to watch out what your competitors are doing and what new technology is being launched. There is a lot to learn from others. Having more teammates helps you get more out of CES. We definitely missed out on this.
6. Be cheap and still look the best
- You don’t need to be staying at the Strip. Look for a motel close to the strip and book early to get reasonable rates. The whole of Vegas is booked during CES time. AirBnb worked for us.
- Public transport in Vegas is bad. Avoid taking regular taxis though. Uber and Lyft are way cheaper. We utilized the free ride offers going on both the apps on 2 of our phones. Renting a car for a few days is not a bad idea either. You can easily get free parking close to the event.
- Don’t spend a penny on dinner. After-parties dah! More in Point 8.
- Avoid getting any material printed or made during the event. One b/w A4 page costs $1 for printing in the event!
In the end, what matters is that you dress-up and show your product’s best side during the event.
7. Press — Keep your expectations real
Every young start-up comes to CES with a dream of getting ‘TechCrunch-ed’.
“A writer at the top tech blogs would be passing by our booth, would get really excited at our product and feature us!” — Starry-eyed Entrepreneur
Let me burst your bubble —that’s not happening!
Most of the press coverage is pre-planned. CES is just the place where it gets executed. Start engaging with the press a month or two in advance. Do some research and find out writers who cover a domain similar to your product. Email them, tweet them — if they find your idea interesting, they will respond and you can discuss the potential coverage in CES. Even if they don’t, there is no need to get disheartened. They will be after you when your product is a hit :)
Other than the ‘popular’ list of tech magazines and blogs there is a good variety of media visiting CES — English & foreign language who are more approachable and sometimes more relevant to your potential users.
‘CES Unveiled’ is the official media event of CES. It is a press-only event which happens a day before CES kicks-off. You can book a small stall for a price. There are definitely more chances of media engagement at this event and young companies could consider it, if the budget permits of course.
8. Dinner is on ‘After-Parties’
Apart from free food and drinks, after-parties are a great place to network with fellow entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, mentors & incubators. There are many organizations throwing after-parties on each day. Some are invite-only, while some are walk-in. Get to know them and pick the one that best suits your business needs. These parties also give you a chance to talk one-on-one with hot-shot entrepreneurs who have made it big and gone through the same ride you are about to jump on to. Learn from them. Exchange contacts, you never know when they can come handy.
Official CES app & unofficial Underground CES app are good resources for ‘Whats’s happening’ at CES.
9. Be active on social media
Before you go to CES, make sure you have the following in place:
- A working website with all the details that a potential customer may want to know.
- A press-kit/media page on the website
- Active FB/Twitter/Instagram handles. And a team back in the office , responding to people and engaging them in fruitful conversations in real-time. A big shout-out to the NexGear team for being super active online during CES 2016.
- Make sure your Website URL and social media handles are clearly mentioned on your merchandise and marketing collateral.
Tag/tweet people you meet. Nothing delights a potential customer or partner more than an immediate response & acknowledgement from you.
Bonus Tip: Don’t book a booth!
If you are working out of a garage and tight on budget then attend CES as a visitor. Carry your product or its prototype in style. Get noticed, make conversations with people, tell them about your product and how cool it is to use. Exchange contacts.
I saw several ‘visiting’ entrepreneurs selling their idea much better than the ones with booth.
From a budding entrepreneur to a giant company, there is something for everybody at CES. Take your pick.
Co-Founder, NexGear
We are developing an Intelligent Adventure Camera — Frodo. Visit www.frodocam.com for more details and follow our tech experiments on Facebook || Instagram || Twitter
