A trade show is an event where businesses and professionals come together in an organized venue to display their products and services, connect, share ideas, and meet their customers.
Trade shows are an excellent way for new companies to create public awareness about their business. In addition, the press often attends the event to cover the new products, trends, and businesses for their various magazines.
Whether you are a new company or have just successfully developed a new product or service, trade fairs are one of the best ways to bring yourself into the limelight.
But how do you prepare for a trade show? Here’s a simple guide.
1. Find out who the attendees are
Many trade shows often publicize their attendee lists. Check to find out individuals, businesses, or investors that may be interested in your particular business and reach out to them.
Send short emails telling them you’d love to meet and if they could stop by your booth. Your message should be short and light, and avoid advertising your services right there.
2. Select your best team
Whoever stands in your booth during the trade show is the face of your company at that moment. So you want to ensure you have a friendly and professional team during the event.
It’s always advisable to choose people of different skill sets that complement each other: a salesperson to covert leads, a PR specialist to interact with the press, and any other personnel you think you’d need. If your in-house team is small as a start-up, consider contracting an event staffing agency with experience in trade fairs.
3. Procure relevant materials you’d need
Many things go into the success of your trade show, one of which is creating awareness. You want your booth to be easily located after sending emails to prospective attendees soliciting them to stop by. Customize eye-catchy trade show displays that will instantly grab attention to your booth and make it distinctive. Additionally, procure giveaway items to gift to anyone who stops by your booth.
You can even get creative with your offerings, such as games with rewards, margaritas, or whatever will attract traffic to your booth. Also, prepare business cards to give out to as many people that come around.
And what’s more, having a lounge space near your booth will bring more traffic in that direction. Get chairs and tables where people can rest their legs and have a glance at your product.
In addition to emails, post photos and little details of your event prep on social media, telling your audience about the games, giveaway, or whatever you have in store for them when they visit your booth. Remember to include your booth number in the posts so attendees can locate you with ease.
5. Have a pre-show prep session
Proper preparation prevents poor performance. Remember that attendees, investors, the press, and customers would ask questions about your offerings. This means each member of your trade show team must be prepared with answers to every possible question. And you get this done by scheduling a mock trade show before the actual event. Have you designed a new product? Have a tech team member ready to showcase it to attendees.
Finally, note down questions to ask attendees because your aim is not only to sell but also to get into your audience’s mind.
The bottom line
It will help if you treat every trade show as an opportunity to expand your reach. So, give your all into the prep work, and results will definitely follow.
