Exhibiting at a trade show gives you the perfect opportunity to put your business front and centre. But simply turning up is not enough to guarantee success! Follow our tips to make your next trade show the success your business desires.
Be the first to book!
Location, location, location… Make sure you get in touch with the organisers as far in advance as possible to ensure you grab that prime spot for maximum visibility with plenty of foot fall. Waiting for the organisers to contact you could result in the popular spots being snapped up leaving you with a less desirable location.
Stand design & layout
If you don’t pay careful attention to the design and layout of your stand then it doesn’t matter if you have the most traffic passing your stand because an unattractive and uninspiring stand will not grab the attention of your visitors and encourage them to come and see what you have to offer.
Your first task is to capture the attention of your audience then you can convert the customer into a sale. Remember a trade show is packed with competition so you want to make sure you stand out. Do your research, be bold and different, offer a unique experience that makes it easy for them to be drawn to your stand and for you to convert to a customer.
Freebies
Everyone loves a freebie and at a trade show word travels fast about a stand with great merchandise more so than one that offers great business. You have invested in attending the trade show so why not invest in good quality merchandise to direct traffic to your stand? It’s a wise investment and you can source many great branded products to suit your budget from pens, USB sticks to drinks and snacks or a competition for a higher value giveaway. The right items provide a consistent marketing opportunity with the potential to increase your brand visibility on the desks of your target audience for many months after the event has taken place.
Consistency with your branding
With many brand messages being voiced at the show you it’s important for your brand to be consistent and concise with your message to make it easy for visitors to remember you. This includes everything from colour schemes, logos, fonts, taglines as well as staff uniform and marketing material.
Effective use of your time
Find out who will be at the show on the day and arrange some meetings or demonstrations in advance with customers and prospects. This is an effective use of your time and gives you an opportunity to cultivate a meaningful client relationship. If visitors see others on your stand, they are more likely to invest time in you if they see others doing business with you. So, plan and don’t simply turn up and hope for the best.
Communication
Speak to the organisers of the event to find out the different ways you can reach out to visitors before the event starts to communicate what you have to offer on the day such as freebies, competitions, live demos interactive games etc. Don’t forget to use social media too – post regularly in advance to tell people you will be there and how visitors can find you. Ensure you continue to post throughout the show it may be an idea to post pictures of winners of your competitions and tag them in too – this will help boost your following! Use a hashtag so your visitors can easily find content about your brand and bespoke show offerings, ensure you tap into the event organisers social media too to ensure you cover all bases for reaching out to visitors.
We hope you find these tips helpful and if you would like to discuss further how we can help make your next trade space a success then give us a call today to maximise your brand potential at an event.
