Next up in the Marketing Bullhorn Series is Trade Show Marketing

Planning for a trade show doesn’t start a month in advance. To execute it properly, it should take anywhere from six months to a year of planning. Your trade show marketing strategy and messaging needs to relate back to your business goals. It’s no simple task and not every trade show is the same.

Your marketing campaigns should help your business achieve specific goals and metrics. Trade shows are no different. Trade shows present an opportunity to generate quality leads, spread brand awareness, and meet other objectives. The goals of trade show marketing can include:

  • An Increase in New Leads and Sales
  • An Increase in Organic and Direct Traffic
  • An Increase in Social Media Following
  • An Increase in Email and/or Blog Subscribers

Create a call to action – While you are creating your strategy, make sure you are thinking about what your call-to-action (CTA) will be. What are you asking them to do? Consider the CTA’s role in everything, including your signs, landing page, booth, goals, and metrics.

Be Unique – Start with the booth. Do you need to have the typical booth structure? Or can you create something that stands out? Maybe you can have a lounge or activity area that completely ignores the normal booth structure. You can create a more memorable experience and lasting impression.

Next, think wardrobe. The majority of people at trade shows will be in business suits. Integrate your wardrobe with your messaging. Anyone walking by the booth area may ask you why you are dressed differently: that’s just another excuse to talk about your theme and message!

Be a speaker – Having a booth is great, but the platform that being a speaker provides is tough to beat. Speaking on a topic of expertise to a targeted audience provides instant credibility. It also provides a great opportunity to cross promote your booth. 

Post-event follow-up – This is critical and where many companies drop the ball. Follow up with the attendees that visited your booth. Send them an email to thank them for stopping by, offer them a free download of your presentation and try to gauge their interest. Don’t try to sell them right away. You’ll find out pretty quickly who was interested in your company and who just wanted that free iPad giveaway.

Debrief the sales and marketing team – After you return from a tradeshow, it’s critical to promptly set up a debrief meeting with members of your sales and marketing teams. It’s important to get a complete view of the show: successes, failures, and shortcomings. This is very helpful in identifying lessons learned and action items that need to be taken to improve the success of the next trade show.

 

Trade show marketing is a great way to get one-on-one face time with potential clients but be sure to prepare well in advance and get professional help to execute your plans. It will take more than a pretty brochure or a flashy pen to truly experience the benefits of trade show marketing. Plan accordingly.

We Can Help

3D Studios helps businesses grow their influence and their brands. As a boutique brand management agency, we begin with a thorough analysis of your needs and partner with you to develop and execute a marketing plan that will help you take your business to the next level. To learn more about how 3D Studios can help you, visit us at www.3Dstudios.net or call 914-304-4229.