Top Tips for Trade Shows

Why not market your business at a trade show? These tips show you how.

Trade Shows are events that bring SMEs and companies together to exhibit and promote their activities, latest products and services. Trade shows provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs to promote their business, check out market trends and eye out the competition. Trade shows can be an effective sales tool for SMEs but any success depends on an entrepreneur’s preparation for the event. These tips will put you on the path to planning your best trade show exhibit.

Set Goals
Know what you want to get out of exhibiting at a trade show. Whether it’s selling a particular amount of stock, launching a new product or promoting the company to a specific target market, be clear on what you want to achieve.

Research
Find out where a trade show is happening near you. Contact the organizers to check the theme of the trade show, the type of visitors expected to attend and the trade show’s objectives. You want to choose a tradeshow that targets the audience you want to reach, or best suits your business goals to make your participation worthwhile.

Book & Budget
Once you have booked a space at a tradeshow, you need to know the details of your exhibit area and budget for the event. Location is an important part of attracting customers, so it is useful to know everything you can about your space to maximize on the show. For example, find out how much space there is for your stand, whether there are electrical plug points for any multimedia projections, and even what businesses are surrounding yours.

Advertise in advance
Let people know that your business will be at the trade show. Invite your clients, customers and other contacts to attend. If you have a website, be sure to advertise it online.

Design your Display
Think carefully about your stand. Decide who you are targeting – other businesses, customers, wholesale buyers etc – and market towards them. Design your stand with a difference to attract customers. You could do this with a banner, a logo, a catchy phrase or even a special attraction.

Train your Team
Make sure your sales staff know their stuff. The people that represent you need to know about the company and be able to answer visitor’s questions. Most visitors don’t have much time, so you need staff that are approachable and can appeal to customers.

Print handouts & t-shirts
Print handouts and pamphlets to catch passersby that don’t stop at your stand. Customising your staff members in the same t-shirts or uniform is also a good idea to make your business stand out. But remember, as with everything else, get all the printing done beforehand. Preparation is the keyword!