Exhibiting your brand at a trade show means significant expenditure both in terms of time and money. If you choose to exhibit, it is wise to get the best of your investment. This implies that you need to thoroughly consider each aspect. Considerations include the look and feel of your exhibition booths, how you will set up and to the extent of planning your pitch that you will deliver when prospective customers reach out to you.
Here are some tips to set up your exhibition booths and sell in a way that your exhibition stand is remembered:
- Start promoting well in advance: Ideally your promotional efforts should begin as soon as you book a space for your brand at the trade show. The biggest mistake 28% of brands that exhibit make is to postpone promotions to the last 1-2 months. This was indicated by a survey by ‘Display Wizard’ that also concluded that only 18% of exhibitors are well prepared for the show. They start their promotional activities 4-6 months in advance.
It is ideal to send an invite nearly 6-8 months in advance so people reserve a slot in their schedule. This is only the beginning of your communications with the prospective attendees of the show. You must engage in regular communication so that they remember you.
Apart from regular messages and mailers, you must design ad banners for your website and also add it to your email signature. With every email that you send, your email signature will convey the message about your presence at the show.
- Make yourself heard to the organizers and media: Organizers are the best people to tell you about promotional opportunities at the trade show. You could also offer to talk about the event on your website or social media handles. This is a win-win situation for both the parties; The organizers will know you and their show will be promoted. You could also talk about your new launch or re-branding to the trade press that is interested to cover news about the trade show.
- Interact with some visitors beforehand and make appointments in advance: Not everyone that visits the show is valuable for your brand. If you are looking to engage valuable and qualified visitors at your exhibition booths, get some prior appointments. You could also make use of the buyer programme if your event has hosted one. 64% of the people surveyed by display wizard stated that the quality of attendees is a very important factor that helps to decide whether to choose a tradeshow. A hosted buyer programme is thus very valuable This will help you attend to each attendee personally and also identify them well in advance. The history of tradeshows bears testimony that hosted buyer programmed has been a huge success in the past. Their origin dates back to 1980 with the IMEX show. Now, organizers host a large volume of buyers each year. Qualified people to meet and greet is a great way to enhance your business.
- Keep the engagement with visitors constant at all times: The biggest tradeshow mistake you could ever commit is not engaging the visitors to your booth. If the staff is not well-trained to be attentive at all times, this could be a significant waste of resources. Staff chatting amongst themselves or busy with their phone doesn’t create a good impression on the visitors. This makes your brand impression go for a toss. Simple interaction with the attendees or a short demo can make them feel valued and hence more interested in your brand.
- Let them try your offering: An effective way to capture customers is to speak less and offer more to experience. When most of them are there to only explore new products and services, it only makes sense to let them interact with your offering. It could be a demo or a sneak peek of how it works. 81% of people surveyed by ‘Display Wizard’ have the buying authority when they visit a tradeshow. Once they are fully immersed in your product, they will most likely consider it. After all, there are hundreds of other exhibition booths, yours needs to stand out.
- Create a compelling “call to action”: Remember that your visitors have volatile memory, add to it the sheer number of exhibition booths and you know why following up is important. Personalize your call to action and stay etched in their memory. You could offer a free ebook and request their feedback or ask how your idea worked for their business. The more motivated they are to participate, the more they will engage with you. Most of the brands will send out a cliched email, yours needs to be different
The attention you attract to your exhibition booths is a potential business, so it better be planned carefully. We at XS worldwide help you showcase your brand in an attractive way. If you want your trade show marketing efforts to translate into business, we can help you put your best foot forward. Talk to us to know more.
Comments
Post a Comment