Trade shows can be an incredible opportunity to showcase your company’s products and services to the public and network with other companies in your industry. However, you must craft a strategy to ensure you can make the most impact.
Here are five things you should do when planning for, attending, and evaluating the results of a trade show.
5 Tips to Make the Most of Your Next Trade Show
1. Set goals
Treat your company’s appearance at the trade show just like a campaign.
What do you want to gain from the event— closing leads, making sales, or increasing brand awareness? Be specific and include numbers: for example, your goal could be to gather at least 150 leads during the event or to sell 30 products.
Also, remember to share your goals with the team that will be at the event with you! 70% of people who share their goals with others accomplish them.
2. Create your booth and message
The biggest goal for a trade show is to attract customers to your booth and give them something to engage with once they stop by.
You can stand out from the crowd in different ways— through giveaways or handouts, eye-catching displays, and choosing a booth in a high-traffic area (near entrances or food stations).
The items and signage at your booth should also focus on the central call-to-action for your campaign that day.
- Pull-up banners
- Brochures
- Unique promotional products
- Table covers
3. Spread the word before the show
Make people aware that your company will be at the event!
This will help draw people to your booth once they arrive at the trade show. A great way to do this is through direct mail outreach prior to the show. Find the list of the registered attendees and booth holders, then send a mailing 1-2 weeks ahead of time to introduce your company.
Include contact information, photos, and your booth number so that attendees can come to find you!
4. Collect information effectively
Meet with the team running your booth before the show starts to discuss your method for collecting leads.
Popular methods for lead collection include paper forms, digital forms, a trade show lead app, business cards, and business card scanning.
Depending on the organizer of the trade show, you may have access to badge scanning technology, which even gives you the option to import the information directly to your CRM.
Whichever method you use, just be sure everyone on your team is on the same page so that capturing and entering the data is streamlined.
5. Help them remember you
Ensure that anyone you speak to during the event leaves with your contact information or at least something with your company name.
Business cards are classic, and brochures work well, but you can get creative too and use t-shirts, pens, notepads, or stickers. This will remind them to reconnect with you after leaving the event!
For help with show-stopping visuals, promotional products, memorable business cards, and expert advice, call Metzgers!
We are your local print marketing resource and look forward to helping you make the most of your next trade show.