Whatever your company does for profit, there is likely a trade show that the biggest names and smartest minds in your industry attend. You probably go to one per year at minimum, or at least you should.
Trade shows can enhance the growth of your business, but the primary question is – how can you effectively promote you and your enterprise when you attend one? Fortunately, the odds are in your favor. According to a survey of expert marketers, 70% stated that promotion at in-person events tends to have the highest payoff – at least for B2B companies. In this post, we will discuss five different tips that can help you with this.
Select the right trade show
Before you begin with event-based promotion, you need to decide which one you’re going to attend. You don’t want to wait until the last minute for this since you won’t have enough time for effective preparation. Typically, you want to give yourself at least 90 days. Here is what to search for in a trade show that’s worth attending:
- Relevancy – Is a trade show in your industry? Will potential customers attend it?
- A website – The trade show’s site is the first indication of whether you should attend it. If it is low-quality, the organizers didn’t decide to put enough cash and time into developing it.
- Popular speakers – Big-name speakers create large media coverage, which in turn translates into better promotion.
Acquire customer data
Following up with clients is the key to receiving referrals and repeat business. Customers are overwhelmed with advertisements at large trade shows, so they easily forget vendors. Figure out an efficient, respectful way to gather contact information. Most people aren’t interested in listening to you speak about your business for 20 minutes, but they’ll be happy to leave a business card. If you sell to the public, try to gather email addresses and phone numbers. If you deal with B2B companies, team up with other vendors to trade new contacts. Select business owners who aren’t your direct competition.
Business cards
Business cards are still a crucial vehicle for promotion. Make sure that your business cards communicate your most important contact details in a way your target audience will find interesting and engaging. High-quality, effective business cards provide you with a way to stand out from the crowd and be remembered. Just remember to find local professionals for the job. Thankfully, there are companies that offer printing in Brisbane, Melbourne, New Jersey – basically, at any location you can imagine. Give out your new business cards during or following all the conversations. Make sure that you take business cards from the people you interact with as well. Write a couple of notes about the contact on the back of the card – this makes it simple to remember what to follow up on after the trade show.
Signage and banners
There are often hundreds or thousands of companies exhibiting at trade shows, so you’ll have to stand out. You surely need an eye-catching banner and other prominent signage that will instantly draw individuals to your booth. It can be efficient to have an original theme for your stand. If possible, select a theme that is both engaging and fun.
Take more photos, and then some more
If you have a booth, take photos of people interacting with your staff and using your products. There will be a lot of industry people at trade shows, and you should get pictures of and with them if you can. This is great for social media, but you can also utilize the pictures in blog posts and other marketing collateral. The point is to gather usable content, so take more pictures than you think you’ll need since you’ll notice later that some are blurry or otherwise unusable. You’ll be in for a surprise when you see how far a couple of great photos can go – but they won’t go anywhere if you don’t shoot them.
Promoting at trade shows takes practice. However, there is nothing to worry about – it gets easier the more you interact with the community. Be sure to have friendly staff working the event, as good energy gets remembered fondly. More importantly, concentrate on what makes your service or product special. When you have something original to offer, you’ll have no issue coming up with great promotional ideas for your business.
