Trade shows are important and have a bottom-line effect when it comes to business development. Be it wanting to introduce a new product or a new service in the market or connecting to your customers or attracting potential customers to buy what you have to offer.
Trade shows offer equal opportunity to increase sales through marketing to every business that is participating in the event, isn’t specific to any business. It is one of the most effective marketing tools which often businesses fail to invest in. But, over the last few years, it is seen that businesses are increasing their investments in trade shows. In 2018, the B2B trade show market valued 15 Billion U.S. dollars in the United States.
When a company decides to go ahead with the participation in a trade show, most of the responsibilities come in the share of a trade show booth manager. A trade show booth manager is required to cover every possible aspect of your trade show participation.
From booth construction to checking if the booth is delivered to the venue, from promoting your trade show participation to managing marketing collateral everything becomes a trade show booth manager’s responsibility. With so much to take care of, it is not easy to efficiently manage the tasks.
If your company is going to be a part of an upcoming trade show and you are going to manage your trade show booth rental Orlando then, here are a few tips that can help you build a concrete strategy that would help you achieve your marketing goals and maybe close a few sales deals.
Setting realistic goals
Once your company has decided to go ahead with participating in a trade show, you not only have to set your marketing goals but also have to be realistic with it. Setting your goals sky-high isn’t a great marketing plan. Your marketing goals will be derived from your company’s business objectives, study those objectives behind the participation.
The objectives may be the generation of new sales leads, launch a new product or service in the market, establish a presence in a new region or increase brand awareness. Once you have learned those objectives do thorough research of the same and then set your marketing goals.
A concise brand message at trade show booth
When it comes to marketing your brand in a trade show, you may feel urged to stuff all the possible information available at your hand. But that is how you are making it more complicated. Your brand’s message at your booth should be clear and crips. There is already too much information around for your audience, they won’t stop by to read those 2-3 lines about your brand or the company. Let your message be specific to how you want your brand to be perceived, don’t make the description or the message generic. Grab your attendees’ attention with crisp and short written content. For instance, a banner reading “We offer the best marketing solutions to your business” won’t really grab the attention of your audience.
What might work is going a little unconventional about it, “what salt is to food, that we are to your business”. By something like this, you are trying to tell your audience that something as important as salt is (for food to taste good) what you are providing them and it is equally essential to their business. This would generate a sense of curiosity in them to know more about you.
Innovating with your trade show booth design
Yes … you have heard this thousand times but that’s what the catch is. Design your trade show booth that it stands out from the rest of the booths in the trade show, and for that, you need a trade show booth builder who would build your trade show booth that complements your marketing goals. Customize your Orlando exhibit rentals in a way that not only engages your audience at the show but also speaks your brand’s message.
From lighting to graphic to seating and counters everything at your booth should be appealing enough to grab the attention of the attendees. Get some inspirations from the designs that are listed on the trade show booth builder’s company website.
Marketing before the show
Start your marketing campaign before the actual show begins. Create a buzz around and let your existing clients and your social media audience to have a sneak peek of what you are going to exhibit in the trade show. Tweet about it, send emails, generate an interactive questionnaire or poll/survey directing your target audience to the trade show, maybe make a web landing page about your participation in the trade show. All these will allow you to create anticipation amongst your audience even before they are out there to attend the trade show.
And even after the show
Remember to update your clients and your generated leads about the show you attended and give them a gist of how you functioned at the trade show. This would fall under post-event marketing tactic that can help you gain a few brownie points. Post your booth images on social media (what’s best than Instagram! Maybe run a hashtag and get it trending), send out a newsletter to your email
Engage your audience
It is easier to attract the attention of your audience than keeping them engaged in your content even for a while. Developing engaging content is hence very important. This content could be anything that would keep your audience’s attention focused on your booth for more than a moment. You can keep them engaged in an interactive game or host a competition for your attendees, make use of VR if that suits your business idea, offer them free access to wifi or free phone charging station.
Promotional giveaways
Giveaways don’t have to expensive, you just need to be creative with it. If your company is an SME or a startup spending additional money on giveaways would just add up to your trade show budget. You can consider a few things while deciding what you want to give away. You should not narrow done your giveaways from things that are too clichéd like, a pen. A small desk calendar made out of recycled paper having a few dried seeds of some flowering plant can be an affordable yet creative option.
If you take away anything from the above mentioned tips, we are sure you would find it comparatively easier to manage your participation in the next trade show.
Read here – 8 Ways to gain more leads at your next trade show.