Trade shows are great opportunities for networking and marketing your organization. But it’s a serious investment of your time, thought and money. To help make your next trade show performance profitable, we’ve broken down trade show strategies into an easy-to-follow timeline—from one year out to after the show. Join us every week as we release a new segment of our trade show timeline and enjoy your upcoming success!
Transcript
Budget is very important for a trade show. You need to know exactly how much money you have to spend, where you want to allocate those funds and to get your best return on investment. If you end up spending too much money in one area versus another, you’re going to end up wasting money and you want to get the biggest bang for your buck.
You really need to be selective when choosing the trade show, because you want to put all of your attention into something that’s going to give you a good return. Something that’s going to let you connect with people in your market, in your field, that are going to create potential business and help you network within all those areas.
The marketing at a trade show is very important. A lot of prep can be done ahead of time. And it’s important to drive those people to your booth. You can do that with emails, you can do that with mailing cards, you can send out promotional products as gifts and teasers to get people to actually show up at your booth. It’s an important element that can really increase your return on investment.
What your booth is going to look like is very important. You need to put some thought into it. I like to make sure your name is out front and center. Make sure people know who you are. Don’t hide who you are. If people are walking by and they can’t figure out who you are, you have a small amount of time to be able to attract their attention. Use the amount of space you have, the location you have, to grab people, get them over to your booth and want to figure out what you do. The backdrops to the displays, table throws, there’s lot of different promotional products that you can actually use to create a fantastic, appealing booth.