You need a solid strategy to stage a successful tradeshow exhibit.
A lot of thought, effort, and planning goes into any marketing exploit, but if you're going to put up a display at a tradeshow, you're going up against every other booth in that space, even if they're not your direct competitors.
You're competing for space, attention, and sales, so you can't get lazy with any part of your tradeshow planning.
1. Get your goals in order
What do you hope to accomplish at the tradeshow?
- Are you interested in generating more leads?
- Do you want to turn 500 prospects into an equal amount of sales, or five times the return on your investment?
- Do you simply want to get your product or service out there and available to more people?
Your goals are your own, so you're the only person who can define them. However, you do need goals, and you need to keep them at the forefront of your mind.
As soon as you know you're attending the show, sit down with everyone involved and come up with a list of goals. Don't make outlandish, unattainable goals you have no hope of reaching, because that will just make you feel you've failed. If need be, start small.
2. Create a game plan around those goals
Once the goals have been decided, you need a strategic plan in place so the team can attain, and hopefully exceed, those goals.
Planning for the tradeshow is not just booking the hotel room and plane tickets for the staff going to work the show. It takes time and it shouldn't be taken lightly.
Consider the following:
- How are you going to drive visitors to your booth?
- Are you going to use direct mail pieces to your current customer base?
- Do you have a plan for calling your customers?
- Will you be hosting a contest?
- Are there going to be giveaways at the show that will entice people to visit your booth?
And what about using social media marketing? Is there a plan to maximize your upcoming show using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn?
Social media marketing should be well planned, in advance, to build pre-show buzz.
Short video clips about upcoming product releases, services your company offers, teaser demos, teaser clips about the contest or giveaways you're planning... all can be posted on YouTube or your website. Those clips can then be tweeted, posted on your Facebook fan page, shared on LinkedIn, and even incorporated into blog posts.
Social media can be used to reach out to media personalities and influencers within your niche who are attending the tradeshow. Being able to connect with them socially and pitching them an idea to write about or a reason to come visit your booth can be a huge win for your company leading up to the show.
3. Choose valuable team members
A high return on investment (ROI) is probably one of your goals, especially if you're investing a lot to attend the show in the first place.
One of the best ways to ensure an enviable ROI is to have great people on your team.
The people you choose for your booth represent your business. Make sure they're knowledgeable about the product or service, and friendly and engaging; they should be persistent without being aggressive, and responsible. They need to be well versed on the type of questions to be asking to prospective customers who visit the booth to pre-qualify and lead the visitor down the sales process.