Trade Show Exhibitor Tips

The decision to exhibit at a show can be costly for your business in terms of time, money and resources. Planning strategically for the event will help you make the most of the trade show and get you more leads.

Establish Clear Goals Before you Attend a Trade Show

How many attendees do you hope to attract? How many people do you expect to visit your booth? How many leads are you hoping to generate from it? How many products are you hoping to sell? Do you want to focus on promotion, or launch a brand new product?

It is fine to have multiple goals, but you should be very clear on what your involvement in the tradeshow will achieve. Decide what your ROI will be. If you need one new client to justify attending the event, focus on acquiring that customer.

Do Your Research

Choose the trade shows which will provide your business with the highest ROI for your goals. If you want to increase your on-site sales then exhibiting at a big trade show with dozens of booths selling similar products is not the best option.

Choose a tradeshow that is most likely to target the audience you are trying to reach and that will best suit your participation goals. Investigate and evaluate the audience of the trade show.

Book your Space at a Low Cost

Discover everything about your space including:

• How much space is available?
• Location at the trade show
• Your biggest competitor is right next to you, at another exhibit
• It doesn’t matter if it is a low or high traffic area
• You may need to consider the physical conditions of your booth, for example, lighting and additional tables and chairs.

Consider your Audience when Planning your Exhibit

Who is your target audience for your trade show exhibit? Sole practitioners? CEOs? Tax managers? We offers demographics that can help you identify the best audience for your marketing plan.

Make sure that you provide the right information for each audience.

Advertise in Advance

Invite your customers, clients, suppliers and other contacts to the trade show. Make sure to include all details such as the booth number. Advertise your upcoming trade shows on your website.

We allows our exhibitors to buy pre-registered attendee lists. This list contains the name of each attendee, their company and address. (We do not give out phone numbers or email addresses). This list can be emailed to you or you can get labels.

ASK about other advertising options. You can buy an ad on a website or in a program for a conference.

Ten Tips To Make The Most Of Your Exhibit Experience

You’re almost ready to go to that trade show. Here are some tips on how to create a display for your trade show that will impress and attract a large crowd.

Use social media. 

Find out what hashtags are used for events and use them to promote or give away your products. Follow or like social media pages of the organization. Post teasers and questions to engage your audience if they permit it. TAG your organization when you post.

Find out if your audience is using these other social media platforms:

• Instagram
• You can find us on LinkedIn.
• The following are some examples of Pinterest
• You can watch videos on YouTube
• SnapChat
• TikTok

Attract a crowd at your trade show booth

Use interactive displays, such as computer games, contests, or scheduled demonstrations. You don’t have to make it fancy to attract people’s attention.

Create a contest or prize draw

A prize drawing or contest can be a good way to get the contact details of booth visitors. Give away promotional items as an incentive to get people involved.

Stock up on promotional items to use at your booth

The best items are small, portable products that people can use and take home (while also being reminded of your business). Place these items so that people have to enter or walk through your display at the trade show to reach them.

Actively engage trade booth visitors

Greet people at your display and invite them to ask questions. Make sure your body language is friendly. Do not, for example, stand with your arms crossed across your chest. Find out which aspect of your company is most appealing to booth visitors by chatting with them. Prepare specific answers to their questions. It’s important to engage them without overwhelming or intimidating them.

Make sure to have a lot of promotional material on hand

It’s important to prepare a large number of brochures, color fliers, order forms and business cards to hand out to visitors. You can make it easier for your booth visitors to locate information about your business.

Keep your booth manned all the time

Someone must be on hand to welcome visitors, have a conversation with them, and answer their questions. You’ll need at least one person to man your booth if you aren’t able to be present every minute of the show.

Send knowledgeable Staff

Some companies send their “rookies”, or new employees, to tradeshows. It is not always a good idea to send new employees, because they may not know everything about your products and services. Sending a new employee is fine, but make sure you also send an experienced one. So, the newer staff can watch and learn.

Get off your phone and computer and leave your booth

Get up and interact! Get off your computer or phone. It is frustrating to watch an exhibitor miss out on valuable time with our clients because they are on the phone. It is common for there to be periods of time available during a conference where you can check voicemails or e mails.

You and your staff should download the conference app if you are able to scan badges. Do not miss this important engagement opportunity.

Follow-up promptly

As soon as you can, follow up on leads and contacts that you have made at the tradeshow. Your business will be more visible if you are quick to send out your leads.