Planning for Trade Show Success

Have you ever for­got­ten to check about attire only to show up at an event com­pletely over­dressed? That extra step of prepa­ra­tion could have saved you time and maybe even the money you spent to get that new shirt. The same is true with prepar­ing for a trade show. Here are five quick tips to plan for trade show suc­cess:

1. Decide what you want to get out of the trade show or con­fer­ence. Announce a new prod­uct? Solicit new leads? Solidify exist­ing rela­tion­ships? Keep tabs on your com­pe­ti­tion?

2. Find shows that best fit your bud­get (includ­ing travel and accom­mo­da­tions!), your goals, and your audi­ence. The ideal shows will be those where most of the atten­dees will be poten­tial cus­tomers.

3. Consider if you should have an exhibit booth, host an event, make a pre­sen­ta­tion, or just reg­is­ter to attend the con­fer­ence. If you’re con­vinced the audi­ence is a good fit, com­pare costs of exhibit­ing with those of host­ing an event. Being a con­fer­ence speaker gives added expo­sure, and can drive peo­ple to your booth and/​or event.

4. Set mea­sur­able goals such as a spe­cific num­ber of leads, meet­ings with some num­ber of cus­tomers, or a tar­geted num­ber of prod­uct demon­stra­tions.

5. Prepare a writ­ten strat­egy and bud­get to meet your goals. Be sure to include every step that needs to be taken to imple­ment the strat­egy and who will be doing the work.

Once you have your strat­egy, it’s time to mar­ket your par­tic­i­pa­tion. Next in the Series: Marketing Tactics for Trade Show Success.