For event marketers and seasoned business owners, it’s no secret how impactful trade shows can be for a business. They are often used for product launch announcements, lead capture, demand generation, networking, general brand awareness, and sometimes even making sales on-site.
Simply said, trade shows are great marketing opportunities where products and services from a specific industry can be displayed. They give vendors and attendees the chance to establish new business connections, learn about new products, and conduct business in-person – which many people in this digital world still prefer.
However, for those who aren’t well versed in the industry event realm, trade shows can be quite intimidating. They often cost a good amount of money for businesses to attend; everything from the price of the exhibition booth to the cost of lodging, food, and travel for employees who are attending. And the last thing you want to do is spend all that time and money, to not get a return on investment.
Let’s take a look at the top 5 things businesses should do to prepare for a trade show to ensure the event is a success.
In this digital age, especially since the pandemic, interacting in-person with hundreds of people for multiple hours, or even days, straight can be quite difficult for those who may lean introverted. And while there is nothing wrong with those who tend to be a little more to themselves, these team members may not be the ideal pick for attending trade shows.
Instead, ask your employees who thrive off of conversations with others and will bring positive, high-energy professionalism to your booth. They will be the face of your business at these events, and you want to make sure attendees walk away from your booth with a positive outlook of your company.
Additionally, as previously mentioned, trade shows can be a great place to make sales. If the staff you bring is well equipped to speak on your products, and impress attendees, your chances of on-site sales increases.
While some trade shows will not release an attendee list prior to the event, others will actually provide that information to vendors. Or, they may just give a list of companies that the attendees are employees of.
Either way, this information can be used to market to attendees prior to the show and build up interest ahead of time for attendees to come to your booth and speak to your team.
This can be done by uploading contact lists to platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn, and sending targeted ads with messaging such as “Come speak with (your company name) at (event name).” The ads can link to a landing page where people can sign up for a time slot at the event to go through a demo with someone on your team. Another option is to just target them with brand awareness ads that talk about your company, so when attendees see your booth, they are familiar with your company and more likely to speak to you.
For those events that will not share attendee contact information ahead of time, you want to make sure you are prepared to capture contact information of prospects you speak to at the show.
A really simple way to do this is by equipping your team with iPads, and having stands at your booth with iPads attached where people can walk right up and enter their information on their own. Instead of buying new iPads just for one event, a better option is to reach out to us at eTech. We offer iPad rentals and accessories, like stands and kiosks, to empower your team to easily capture leads.
One way to incentivize people to leave their information with you is to have a raffle giveaway for a cool gift, or to have interactive activities at your booth that require people to first sign up.
While people at trade shows often just want to have quick chats and learn more high-level information about companies and their products, others may want to sit through an entire product demo.
This is an awesome opportunity to make sales (or at least the first steps of a sale), and show off what your product can do. Instead of simply scheduling a demo for a later date, you and your team can capture people’s attention right then and there.
In order to do this, you need the right technology such as laptops or even TV/displays if you are presenting to multiple people.
But that’s not all that you need. One thing that many people forget about is ensuring you have enough WiFi bandwidth for your online demo to run smoothly. Oftentimes, trade shows don’t provide a strong enough WiFi for all vendors to run demos, so it’s a good idea to bring a Hotspot specifically for your booth.
After investing so much time and money into a trade show, you want to make sure you have a plan in place for following up with contacts and leads. Ensure your sales team and marketing teams are ready to start reaching out while the leads are hot, and close deals as fast as possible.
This will help ensure you see a net positive ROI on the event and can begin using trade shows as key drive of revenue for your business.
eTech Rentals is a national technology solutions provider located in Southern California specializing in rental technology integration. eTech is committed to long-standing client relationships and consistent, reliable local service, trusted by expert event planners, film and entertainment production companies, and businesses in California and nationwide.
Learn more about eTech Rentals at: https://etechrentals.com/
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