The Rules of Exhibiting

It may take some convincing to everyone within a business, but exhibitions can be a valuable way of marketing your business on a large scale when approached correctly. Exhibiting at a trade show should be a well thought out, creatively planned and precisely executed affair with clear processes, so below we have put together some areas to help you make the most from the event.

Research

Chances are the shell space alone at the event you will be exhibiting at may have been in the triple figures, and with the other materials and items you will need to make your stand a success, chances are it will turn into a substantial investment; so adequate care and attention should be spent on researching the event and its attendees.

Speak to the organisers of the event and see if you can get some stats on previous year’s events- How many visitors attended? What are the job roles and profiles of the attendees? Do they have any figures on how much profit came from business that began at the event? Ideally, questions like this should be asked before you commit to taking a space at a trade show.

Use last year’s delegates list and social media to connect with other businesses that are going; invite them to your stand, you could even go as far to arrange to sit down with them and introduce your business, remember – it’s not just external attendees that you can do business with.

Ring leads and accounts that you are keen to get on board and invite them to visit the event and your stand. Even though it’s a less formal environment, treat the meetings with the same care and attention that you would normally.

Invest

The exhibition space is chance to make an unforgettable first impression on a large scale and the outdated trestle table and plastic chairs have no place at a business event in 2015.

Take the plunge and invest in your stand, it could prove to lead to a huge ROI. Planning your space carefully and even opting for , using lighting, sound as interactive displays across a variety of mediums will give your stand the competitive edge and increase footfall.

You need to consider what your stand will say about your business and how you want it to be perceived; promote your core values and company story to engage with the audience on a deeper level.

Deliberate seriously about the team that will be representing your business at the exhibition; they will need to be confident, creative and passionate about the business and the direction it is heading in. If there are any issues or concerns within your employees, this should be addressed before the event to ensure you get the most from them at the event.

Set Goals

Once you have identified who will be attending the exhibition – it’s time to set some measurable goals and a timeframe. As mentioned earlier, you want to see a return on investment from the money invested in exhibiting, and now is the time to turn this into a % of leads converted to sales or a monetary value -10-15% conversion is a healthy rate.

Follow Up Strategy

Having a clearly defined follow up strategy is a crucial part of the exhibition process. It’s important to keep your business name at the forefront of the minds of those that attended; any notes of important notes from conversations that were had should be written down by the close of the exhibition; a great trick to this is to write them down on the back of a business card immediately after the conversation finishes.

All of the attendees and delegates that you spoke to send an email, remind them of who you are and anything memorable from your stand or conversation – this should be sent within 48 hours of the exhibition; these emails should then be followed up with phone calls within 5 days by the sales team to ensure that the goals that have been set will be achieved and allows you to revaluate and tweak the process for next time.