Trade shows 101
I attended a trade show down south last week and was surprised at how busy it was. In spite of the economy, attendance by both exhibitors and attendees was strong.
In fact, many companies I spoke to told me that this is not the time to skimp on marketing. While most of them are not planning any over-the-top campaigns, they're still continuing with efforts to attract leads and customers. So in light of that I wanted to go back to a story we did a while ago on "Your Business" called Trade Show 101.
Now more than ever, if you spend thousands of dollars on a trade show, you want to make sure you get a return on that investment.
Here's what we learned from Bill Lynch, Operations Manager for the Fancy Food Show in New York City, and from Dan Cohen of Clearbrook Farms who has been exhibiting at trade shows for more than 30 years:
--Never leave your booth. It sounds obvious, right? But it isn't. If you’ve ever worked a trade show before you’ll know there are times when it's so slow you want to walk around to combat the boredom, or you're so sick of giving the same pitch that you feel like you're going to pull your hair out. It doesn't matter. You have to stay at your booth. After all, what's the point of being there if you're not actually there?
--Follow up on your leads. It's easy to collect leads these days. Most of the professional trade shows allow you to rent a gadget that will take someone's conference card and record their information for you to use at a later date. Be sure to add notes to those contacts -- a little something to make your future communication a little more personal.
--Read all of the show materials. Bill told us that exhibitors can save up to 40 percent of their expenses by just reading the show materials, where they'll find out about deadline dates, how to order the right supplies (so they're not adding things on at the last minute, which costs more) and how to deliver their booths to the show at a reasonable price.
--Take advantage of show specials. This is different for each show, but there may be discounts for first time exhibitors.
--Smile and look people in the eye.
Having an exhibit at a big trade show can cost anything between $10,000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars. It all depends on how you put together your booth.
These days, it's pretty easy to put together a nice booth without breaking the bank. You can get professional looking signs at advantumdisplays.com. And instead of offering a product as a handout --like a pen with your company's name on it -- put out a bowl of candy.
I'd love to hear from those of you who have exhibited at trade shows.
What have you learned? What works? What doesn't?
