Your Guide to Trade Show Success

Trade shows are great venues in which to show off your business and reach out to new customers. They allow you to show people what your brand is all about and why they should be interested in what you have to offer. It’s one of the best advertising and marketing tools out there. So, if your business has never exhibited at a trade show before, now might be the time to try it out. Below you will find all the information you could possibly need to make your trade show exhibit a big success.

Choose Your Location Carefully

The location of the exhibition is very important. If you turn up at the trade show late, you could be left with a bad position in the corner of the room, and that’s not what you want. So, make sure that you book in advance and get there early so that you can get a space that is good for you. Ideally, you want to be at the heart of the room where lots of people will be passing by all day. The more people who are passing by, the more people will take an interest in what you’re doing.

Trade Show 1
Photo Source

Identify Your Aims in Advance

You’ll want to achieve something by exhibiting at a trade show. Otherwise, what was the point in making all that effort? So, you need to make sure that you set out your aims very clearly. You can then begin to formulate a plan that will allow you to achieve those aims. You might want to sell to people, or you might simply want to raise the public profile of the business by getting the word out there. It doesn’t matter what your business’s specific aims are, but you need to make sure that everyone knows what they are. Only then can you be sure that everyone will be pulling in the same direction at the trade show.

Get the Design Right

The design of the exhibition is also going to be very important on the day of the trade show. If the design is wrong and unappealing to people, then you have a pretty big problem. This is something that you will have to give some thought to in advance of the trade show. There’s nothing worse than being stuck in between two impressive exhibitions when yours looks dull and plain in contrast. You can go to www.SteelheadProductions.com to find a company that might be able to help you with this. Sometimes, it’s worth getting a professional design for your exhibition.

Trade Show 2
Image Source

Be Approachable

You need to appear open and approachable when you are exhibiting at a trade show. If people don’t feel comfortable approaching your exhibition, then you will not be able to connect with them. So, make sure that you have employees manning the show who can pull people in and tell people what you have on offer. If your employees are just sitting around, and they don’t look particularly interested, then your exhibit will suffer. The people who are running your exhibit should be people who have good communication skills. It’s vital to make that human connection with people. The visual appeal of the exhibit will also play a part in making it approachable.

Trade Show 3
Photo Source

Offer Something New and Different

Trade shows are great places to unleash new ideas and new products. People don’t want to see something that they already know about your company. They want to see the latest and freshest things that you have to offer. So, make sure that you have something that fits that description when you turn up at the trade show. If your business is new, then this won’t be so difficult because everything you have to offer will still be new and fresh. But you could be disappointed with how the show pans out if people are not made to feel interested in what you’re showing them. Keep this in mind when organising your exhibition.

Let People Get Involved

You should also add a dimension of interactivity into your trade show if you really want to connect with people. People like to be able to get involved in a direct way in trade shows. Exhibits can be pretty boring when people aren’t able to get involved. That’s why companies that sell games, for example, always let people have a got at playing them at trade shows. So, you need to think about how you can allow people to get involved with the products that you are trying to sell. Maybe they can try them out for themselves while you deliver your sales pitch to them, for example.

Trade Show 4
Photo Source

Check Out the Competition

Trade shows offer you a great chance to see what other companies in your industry are doing. Many different companies have exhibits at these shows, so take the chance to have a look. You should check if they’re doing a better job of presenting to the public than your company is. If they are, you should think about what you can do to up your game and catch up with them. No company wants to be left on the back foot trying to keep up with the competition. But you have to be aware of what they’re doing if you’re going to be sure that you’re still one step ahead of them.

Give People Something to Take Away

When the trade show is over, everyone goes away, and they can forget about your business completely. This isn’t rare because people who attend trade shows come into contact with many companies over the course of the day. So, how are you going to make sure that they don’t forget about your business? Well, first of all, you will have to impress them with your pitch and products. But you should also think about giving them something that they can take away with them. This will keep your brand in their mind because they will see this item. It could be a branded pen or a simple business card. Go to www.moo.com to create business cards for the show.

Spread the love
Previous articleWhy Research Should Be the Foundation of Your New Business
Next article14 Ways to Survive a Toxic Boss
This is the editing department of Home Business Magazine. The views of the actual author of this article are entirely his or her own and may not always reflect the views of the editing department and Home Business Magazine. For business inquiries and submissions, contact editor@homebusinessmag.com. For your product to be reviewed and considered for an upcoming Home Business Magazine gift guide (published several times a year), you must send a sample product to: Home Business Magazine, Attn. Editor, 20664 Jutland Place, Lakeville, MN 55044. Please also send a high resolution jpg image and its photo credit for each sample product you send to editor@homebusinessmag.com. Thank you!