Your company is participating in a large trade show and you have hired a great trade show exhibit design company who have designed and built you a great exhibition stand. Now all you have to do is attract visitors to your booth and convert your tradeshow visitors into customers. While the booth design effort was going on, your marketing people should have been working on a two prong plan; step one, to bring people to your booth and step two, provide promotions which will entice visitors to try your product or service.
A good trade show exhibit design company will have incorporated your marketing campaign efforts into the overall booth design and accompanying signage. The marketing materials should then continue the theme further, incorporating the same message and design elements.
Trade show marketing is more than an advertising campaign it is an all out creating a ‘blitz’ to all the potential clients and leads that you would like to visit your booth at the tradeshow. The timing of this blitz needs to be perfect, too early and the customers forget and too late you are not on their calendars. The goal of the blitz is to attract existing customers’ decision makers and potential new customers.
The basics are important in your marketing effort. Get all the details right. The exact time and location of the tradeshow are the most important details. The location of your booth address is essential and needs to be exactly as the venue identifies it, including aisles\ and booth number. Even “next to….” Or “turn right at….” so that you are easy to find (just offering your booth number may not be enough).
Your trade show marketing blitz should take advantage of your company’s existing marketing infrastructure. Prominently display the tradeshow information on your company web page. If you have an email marketing campaign subscriber list send the subscribers a special email announcement with the tradeshow details, maybe offering subscribers an incentive coupon or discount if they attend the tradeshow and visit your booth. You might include a gift for those who confirm by email their attendance at the trade show which will allow the sales staff to prepare special presentations for customers they know are going to attend the trade show.
Use the phone, especially with your sales people, to follow-up and make sure the marketing materials have been received and the decision makers you are trying to reach have seen them.
The message and graphic design of the marketing pieces, whether email or regular mail, should be co-ordinated and integrated once again with your booth design and signage to reinforce your message and company identity. Your company’s booth needs to be easily recognized by visitors in a crowded venue.
Provide marketing opportunities and take-away brochures at your booth for those who stop by the booth. Make sure your sales staff have all the information and materials they need to take orders at the trade show and to add visitors to your email marketing subscriber list so new potential customers continue to receive your marketing materials after the trade show. The trade show take-away brochures should have promotional coupons or discounts so you can identify trade show customers who place orders after the show.
The trick is preparation. If you are prepared you will recoup your trade show investment many times over.