Trade shows and other marketing events can be hugely important for businesses both large and small. They provide you with an opportunity to meet your customers and partners face to face, they can help you to increase your brand visibility, and they can play an important role in boosting your sales.
But you also have to pay to attend these marketing events. So how can you ensure that this is money well spent?
Here are a few of the best ways to make sure you are making the most of your next marketing event so you know you are not wasting your money by being there.
Choose Your Events with Care
Don’t just book your booth at an event because you feel you should be there. Even if there is an important industry event and all of your competitors are going, make sure you have a real reason to be there in the first place.
There may be a number of marketing events that you could potentially attend each year, so spend some time looking at all your options and decide upon the best ones to visit rather than trying to visit them all.
Have a Specific Goal for Each Event
Don’t just go along to an event in order to have a presence without really deciding on a specific aim for the days that you are there.
What are you hoping to get out of it? What is your main reason for going? Is it to meet new clients? To hold meetings? To increase your brand visibility? Is it part of a larger marketing campaign? To increase interest in your products? Perhaps you simply want to collect as many email addresses as possible?
Whatever your reasons, try to have one primary goal and perhaps some secondary goals too. This will give you a sense of focus on the day itself, and your employees will also have a much clearer idea about what they should be doing on the day.
Design a Booth that Stands Out
One of the biggest problems with trade shows and other events is that you end up merging into the crowd and not getting noticed. To prevent this from happening to you, plan the design of your booth in advance. This could involve designing and printing large banners that get noticed as well as carefully chosen items of furniture.
You will probably want to use the services of a specialist designer for trade show booths and exhibits. They will help you to come up with a strategy to ensure you get your branding right to help you get noticed by the right people rather than fading into the crowd. If you could benefit from this, learn more at steelheadproductions.com and ensure you create a strong design for your booth.
Develop a Marketing Strategy
You will also want to go in with a clear marketing strategy, so this is something you might want to talk to your team about in advance. For example, you may want to order some branded giveaways like bags or pens that you can hand out to visitors to your booth.
Or you might want to run a competition by providing a prize in return for getting potential customers to fill out a survey.
You might also want to think about your social media marketing in the run-up to the event. For example, you could promote your presence at the event to your followers and encourage them to visit you.
On the day itself, you might want to post photos and news from the event using specific hashtags, which could help more people to find you on the day.
Have a Follow-Up Plan in Place
As well as all of your preparations for the actual day of the event, make sure you also have a plan in place for how you will follow up with new contacts.
For example, you may want to call or email people you meet at the event to set up meetings. Or if you have got permission to add their emails to your list, you can start sending them your newsletter.
You might also want to reach out to your most promising prospects on LinkedIn and get them in your network.
Get the Most from Your Marketing Events
These are some of the most important ways to start getting more from your trade shows and other marketing events. So keep them in mind for your next event, and make sure you take full advantage of being there.
Author
Isabella Robinson attends a lot of business events for her job. She enjoys sharing her marketing and promotion tips by posting on a number of business and branding blogs.
