How to make your next trade show a success

David Banks
Authored by David Banks
Posted Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - 9:51am

Being successful at a trade show is pretty hit or miss for a lot of businesses that take part. For many others, however, it’s a huge success and creates a foundation for their business to build from. If you’re thinking about taking part in a trade show but you don’t want to fail your business, it’s absolutely crucial you have the know-how when it comes to attending. There’s a first time for everybody at these trade shows, but it’s the ones that do their homework beforehand that end up being successful. Let’s have a look at some of the tactics you can implement to ensure your next trade show is a success and not a disaster. 

Pick the Perfect Stand

It’s not solely about the look of your stand that will ensure you’re successful, but it certainly helps. Those who do not invest the time and money in perfecting their stand have a much harder time attracting interest – and it’s the interest you need to generate new leads. The big, well-designed, attractive stands are the ones that stand out from the others, and it’s those stands you’ll often see that have the most interested visitors. Take a look at these exhibition displays from Express – they have hundreds of stands with different designs to suit the needs of your business. They can also provide custom-printed accessories to help your business look as professional as possible. 

Increase Social Media Activity

A trade show will often help you generate new leads from “wanderers”, but they aren’t the only potential customers you should be targeting. If you’re active on social media, it’s important you shout out the name of your brand and the trade show it’s attending to get more notice. The chances are some of your followers will be attending and they may well want to meet you and your business in person to see what’s on offer. If they’ve met you before and you’re attending another event, they will be the followers that share your posts to their friends and family and saying how great you are.

Invest in Freebies

It doesn’t matter what you have to offer, almost everybody is interested in getting something for free. Whether it’s a free pen with your brand name on or a free coffee, there’s plenty of inventory you can invest in to give it out for free at your show. For the environmentally conscious there are lots of new promotional items on the market. (Link to ECO Displays - http://ecofriendlybanners.co.uk/eco-friendly-promotional-items/)This doesn’t mean you have to heavily spend; it just means you should be clever about what you invest in. A good tip here is to research your audience before attending the trade show so you know exactly the type of freebies that fly off the shelves. 

Always Plan Ahead

As stated above, researching your audience to see what freebies will fly off the shelves is just one of the many things you should be researching. It’s important you study the demographic that attends in detail; it will only benefit you in terms of knowing what inventory to take with you and helping you set out targets for generating new leads. Studying the plan of the trade show to see where you will establish your stand is also key so you know where you’re putting things and you’re not going to attend the show unorganised.  

While a good exhibition stand will set your display apart from the rest, that’s not all you need to be wary of. It takes a lot to be a success at a trade show and, if you can implement some of the other points above, you may well stand a lot more chance than your competitors. 

Share this