How To Make Your Trade Show Exhibit Count
by MGB2B
For manufacturers looking to get their products and/or services in the hands of company decision makers and buyers, there’s no better forum than a trade show. Attendees show up in droves specifically looking for new ideas or investments to improve their business. Because of their large scale, trade shows can often be hard to prepare for, especially in the limited timeframe given and the number of moving parts involved. But don’t panic. We’re here to help prepare you to put your best foot forward.
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Research & Prep
The first step to any successful trade show exhibit plan is research. You need to know the audience that will be present, and then compare that to your target audience. Once you’ve determined that a show will benefit your brand, begin making plans. Try to see if there is an opportunity to speak at this event or sit on a panel. If not, create your own. Host a dinner or cocktail party, and invite potential partners or customers. Reaching out to these potentially valuable people to set appointments is another great way to get you onto their contact lists and build relationships. Finally, work on your plans for the trade show itself. Look at your current booth and collateral materials to see if they’re up to standard and accomplishing everything they could be.
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Materials
This is the most crucial aspect of your trade show experience. What you feature at your booth is vital to your success. First, your booth itself needs to be memorable and engaging. If you don’t feature something to entertain and inform your audience, you’re missing out. Most people don’t want to listen to a big general speech. They want to find what they need by themselves. Giving the crowd the ability to do that (and recording their information with the system that does that) creates the best experience for your brand. With this, having a microsite present is a safe and strategic decision. If you can even connect to the internet, being around so many people will most likely produce very slow services. Have an offline tablet preloaded with all the important information makes you ready for anything. Old mainstays are also important. Having meaningful signage, banners, flyers, and pamphlets increase the audience’s awareness and interest in your brand. Finally, everyone wants to take something home with them. Make it something more useful and memorable than a pamphlet. Keep it related in some way if possible, or have something everyone uses.
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Follow-up
Once you’ve used your trade show floor time to interact with potential customers, build relationships, keep notes, and record personal information, you need to get in contact with those people. This study suggests that the quicker contact is made, the better. Replying within an hour is best, and within a day should be the outer limit. And now that you’ve used your materials to see what someone is interested in or what problems they have, use your follow up message to show interest in them. Directly address their concerns or discuss the benefits of what they had shown interest in. This personal touch greatly increases the chance of retaining this lead.
Trade shows have extreme potential for generating needs. Your success relies on your ability to engage an audience, which isn’t easy to do. There will be a ton of companies vying for attention, so your brand needs to be prepared. Otherwise, you’ll be lost in the crowd. If you need any tips or help with your materials, reach out to us.
Tags: B2B lead generation, B2B lead nurturing, booths, brochures, lead generation, lead retention, materials, pamphlets, tradeshow, tradeshows