Exhibiting at a trade show is a fantastic way to showcase your business, a chance to interact with customers, generate leads, find new suppliers, allowing businesses and customers to come together and forge new and hopefully profitable relationships. It is important therefore to maximise this opportunity and ensure as much traffic as possible is attracted to your stand. Here are some tips to make sure your next trade show gives you value for money and maximum customer exposure.
Let people know you are there…
The work of a trade show starts before your set up, you need to let your prospective clients know that you are going to be there, make sure you are featured on the exhibition’s literature and social media channels, link in to your company’s social media, announce a special feature, giveaway or any incentive to encourage traffic to your stand, to raise awareness you are going to be there. You want them to come looking for you.
Presence is everything…
You may have the best product but if your stand does not appeal to customers then you will never have the chance to demonstrate this. To create a show stopping stand, that is unique and generates the right image is important. A well planned and thought out trade show booth design can generate more business that the cost of creating it. You may have the best in house creatives for your marketing campaigns, you may have amazing sales staff that have the product knowledge but a trade stand is a different skill. This may be where you decide to invest in outside help in a professional service, that can design and create a unique stand for you that can surprise and delight your customers and put fear into your competitors.
Know your audience…
Like every good marketing tool, effectiveness is down to knowing your target market. Trade shows attract a wide span of people who have an interest in your industry, what you need to know is who do you want to target, this can then allow your sales team to develop a suitable strategy and for the team to focus and interact with the correct prospects. For example, is your show all about sales on the day or is it about long term relationships. If you have multiple targets make sure your team is briefed on their strategy for the day, providing a more slick and professional result on the day. Make sure your supporting materials are reflective of this and that they cover all basis.
‘Swag’
Everyone loves a freebie, whether it is a pen, a bag (often the most useful giveaway) the client can takeaway your literature and collect ‘swag’ from other stalls and all the while they are displaying your brand as they do so, effectively working the trade show for you. Tune in to what is popular and get some branded ‘swag’.
Trade shows can account for a large portion of a marketing budget therefore you want to make that investment pay. For a cohesive exhibition experience, consider the expertise of a company such as Contemporanea Eventi, they offer a unique and custom service trade show booth service, reneowned for creative designs and they are often reported to have the stands with the most traffic and most attention at tradeshows.
