What You Need to Know About Trade Show Marketing

Trade shows are your opportunity to show off what you have to offer as a company. You get one chance and one chance only to wow those potential customers or potential investors, so you need to make sure you are getting it right. It’s all about making that great first impression. In our modern society, many companies place importance only on social media or online marketing, neglecting the positives that can come from representing your company well at live events. They forget that, for many, face to face contact is what builds a relationship with a brand and encourages them to put their trust in what they are selling. Read on to find out how you can make sure that your trade show marketing is a success.

Enticing Stand

In order to create that great first impression and to draw people over to listen to what you have to say, you need make sure that your stand looks inviting. One way to do this is to make it clear to the potential customer exactly what it is you are offering.All too often, people choose to walk straight past stands that are confusing because they like to know what it is they are approaching rather than feel like they have to ask pavement signs directing people over to your stand are a good idea. You can make it clear on these exactly who you are and what you offer.

Make Your Stand Look Good

You want your potential customers to leave you with the impression that your business is professional. This will help them feel that you are trustworthy and encourage them to spend more money with you. One way to do this is to ensure that your stand is organised and tidy, you want your potential customers to really feel like you know what you are doing and nothing is more offputting than clutter. You also need to have items on your stand that draws attention like adding different kinds of fabrics. Once you have attracted potential clients, you want to keep them there so that you can talk to them about exactly why they should do business with you. Things such as videos or slideshows are great because they allow a visitor to passively get information about your business. Plus, it can help keep them interested if you are busy talking to someone else.

Promotional Items

Promotional items are useful so long as you only give them out to customers who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. Giving items away to everybody who passes by your stand can appear gimmicky and can cast your business in a less than flattering light. Give away items such as pens, reusable water bottles or shopping bags that display your branding, so that the potential customer remembers you and everything that you have said to them. This practice can also help to further raise awareness of your brand as people use them in their everyday lives. It certainly is a win-win all around.

What to Do After the Show

Often, the trade show is just a prelude to a sale. The sales often come in later when people head back to their offices are to their homes to really discuss everything that you offered them and make their final decision. This means that you might also need to decide how to target those potential customers after the show. One tactic that many companies use in order to avoid wasting resources is to place each interested customer into one of three groups. The first group is for those who are very interested, the second for those who were intrigued by what you had to say and the third is for those who are hesitant. To use your resources most efficiently, you will want to be making calls directly to those in group 1 as soon as possible. Group 2 and 3 might need time to process all that you have said to them, they might, therefore, be more responsive to emails to social media posts. It prevents you from wasting resources and also gives your potential customers breathing space.

Trade shows really are a great way to reach out to potential customers. The opportunity to have so many interested parties in one room is just too good to pass on. Make sure you spend some time planning out your stall and your tactics for reaching out to customers and you will enjoy great success.

Photo credits: Unsplash, eOffice