Top 5 strategies to make your trade show booth successful
For companies like yours, trade shows are an excellent way to get your products and services seen by scores of qualified prospects. It’s also an opportunity to have meaningful conversations with people you want to do business with or customers you’ve already served. Either way, this is a good time to focus on proven, effective, marketing strategies.
Being an exhibitor at a trade show can be both exhilarating and exhausting. It’s an intense experience. To make things more manageable, and to keep you focused, we’ve compiled five top strategies to help you get the most from your trade show investment.
1. Identify how you’ll measure your success
You should establish your goals, identify your target audience, and decide how you’ll measure success before going to your trade show. This tip mirrors our approach to video marketing, so check out our blog post dedicated to this topic.
2. Let people know you will be at the show
We know this seems obvious, but this gets overlooked in the hectic weeks before a big event. Access registered attendee lists and curate this list; identify attendees who are part of your target audience and send them information about your business and booth number. Arrange meetings with key people ahead of time. Use your website, blogs and social media to tell people you’ll be at the event and to help create buzz around you and the trade show.
3. Consider video before, during and after the show
Post teaser videos about the new products or services you’ll be showcasing at the trade show and post them on your website and social media to create pre-show buzz. Send an email blast out to a curated pre-show list with video about your company. Use video as part of your exhibit. A well produced video on a large screen will draw attention to your booth, while also showing attendees what your business is about (see an example at the end of this post). People will come to your booth ready to engage with your business. No budget for a flat screen? No problem! Many businesses are finding success using tablets for their portability and ease of interaction (playing video, pulling up a contact form, showing other products) with participants that come into their booth. And after the trade show, video can be used in follow-up emails or posted on your web page as a recap of the event.
4. Create opportunities for interaction at your booth
Use of technology like tablets is one way of engaging with potential clients, but the real point of trade shows is the opportunity to meet with a lot of people in face-to-face conversations. Don’t underestimate the importance of simple conversation skills like listening. Engage with potential clients and get to know them. Get to know what people are doing and what their businesses need.
5. Make giveaways useful
There’s a lot of advice about giveaways extending your reach at trade shows. Sure a neon arm band will stand out in the crowd and let your brand be seen beyond your booth, but if your giveaways can be useful while announcing your brand, that could extend your reach way beyond the show. That neon arm band will come off and probably get thrown into the garbage in a couple of hours. But a mini flashlight key chain with ARM SECURITY is a better bet for a security firm. Or how about a pre-printed CD with the printing company’s price list and a print job coupon? Or a metal key chain for a metal fabricating company?
With these 5 strategies in mind, you can make your trade show exhibition experience more exciting for your visitors and more effective for your business!
Here’s an example of a trade show video we created for Accurate Perforating and Metal Fabrication in Chicago
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