A Trade Show is your business’s opportunity to grow real brand recognition, to pick up leads left and right, and to really help cement what your brand is all about. Or, at least, it should be.
It’s not as uncommon as you might think that a business steps up a trade show presence, only to spend the entire show looking out longingly at more successful brands.
If you’ve had a bad showing in the past, you shouldn’t give up just yet. Here are a few ways to make sure that you get the kind of attention that you deserve.
Build Momentum on Social Media
If you arrive on the trade show floor without having laid some groundwork before, then it should be no surprise that people aren’t rushing to greet you.
There are going to be plenty of other booths working for their attention just as hard. Rather than trying to build interest solely in the moment, build anticipation leading up to it.
Use digital marketing methods like social media to lead up to the show. Share and comment on posts from the trade show organiser and get in touch to see if you can cross-promote with the help of their platform.
Create your own content about what you’re doing at the trade show and how people can make the best use of their time talking with you. Be your own hype-man.
Giving Your Booth some Oomph
More thought should go into how your brand presents itself at the trade show.
Choosing high-quality booth design can help you get a lot more creative with that visual side.
Whether you incorporate lighting, video, bespoke desks and multi-panel displays or you opt for something more simplistic, ensuring that it effectively communicates the brand and what you do is a hard and fast rule.
If you can, try to get yourself into an advantageous position. Being closer to the entrance or next to bigger brands that are likely to draw attention is always a plus.
Bring Your Best Pitch
When you’re at a trade show, a lot of the strategy for making an impression is going to be improvised. You want to be able to work off the feedback and input of the people you’re talking to, rather than having a speech written out that you repeat verbatim.
However, ensuring you bring the right people with you is essential. Having some of your best performing customer service and sales reps can ensure you have the energy and product insight you need on hand.
Furthermore, it’s a good idea to practice talking points with your fellow brand representatives so that, no matter where the conversation goes, you know how to bring it back to subjects relevant to the brand.
Don’t Forget the Swag
Why do we bring swag to trade shows? To give those who have come and talked to us and visited our booth another reason to remember us, of course. If you don’t have any promotional items, then now is the time to start preparing them.
Trade show swag doesn’t have to be anything too fancy, either. Things like printed sticky notes are a good example of that. You want swag that is simple, easy to transport in volume, highly customisable, and yet still convenient and useful enough to the attendants that they may be likely to pick them up.
Get Back in Touch
You shouldn’t leave it to chance that your impression and swag do the heavy lifting for you, either. You should be collecting leads and contact details throughout the show and then take the time to run through them when you get back to the office.
Follow-up emails should be sent to everyone you can send them to, but if your time is limited and you have tons of contact details, try to focus on those who seem most likely to convert. You can thank them for talking to you, but if you can incorporate something valuable in the email, that’s even better.
For instance, links to resources that could share information following up on the subject of the conversation that you had with them. Following up can help you close a lot more leads than you might think.
A trade show is more than just how you make your appearance at the show. It takes a strategy that incorporates how you build your presence beforehand, how you ensure you’re remembered and taking the opportunity to get back in touch when it’s done.
Incorporate the tips above and your brand should make a much bigger splash at your next show.
Image Credit: Pixabay
What tips were your favourite? How are you going to get your brand noticed at your next trade show?
