Ideas for a Successful Tradeshow

How successful your tradeshow experience and your return on investment will all be pre-determined by how well you do your job BEFORE you ever get to the tradeshow. You will need to determine your objectives before attending the show such as: produce sales at the show, target key buyers, encourage early ordering, or attract new customers. Once you have this information in hand you can start to do some pre-show planning.

We suggest you obtain a list of attendees prior to the show and send a pre-promotion to your best 150 or more prospects. Whatever the pre-promotion is, it should be related to what you do and it should appeal to your target audience. If you are sending a two part gift where they need to come to your booth and listen to a presentation to get the second part of the gift make sure the first gift emphasizes the promise of the second gift when they get to your booth.

Secondly, send out email blasts and direct mail pieces with information to those who are on the list (verify the list is permission based) as well as to those who have not already signed up, but still may be qualified to attend (such as your existing customer list) and we recommend you incorporate a "show special" of some sort for those who cannot attend. Make sure it is equivalent to the show special you will be offering to those who do attend the show.

During the show, grab attendees' attention. Inexpensive give-aways such as mints, lip balm, and chocolates will attract their eye and get them in to your booth.

If you plan to sponsor an education session, you may also want to reinforce your brand by having bottled water with your logo, a folder, pen, or highlighters for the attendees to use and keep. USB drives show prospects your company is far from ordinary.

Don't forget to follow up after the show. Make sure you send out all promised materials within a week after you get back from the show. Make those follow up calls and schedule your appointments. We have all attended tradeshows where we were promised catalogs and samples of items, and then never hear from the salesperson again. Make your company stand out by following up. The post-show promotion is even more important than the pre-show. How you handle the post-show follow up will determine your success!

Click this link for a more detailed list of how to put on a successful tradeshow.