Whether you’re a new entrepreneur who is just wading into the business waters, or a seasoned entrepreneur who is fully immersed in running a company, tradeshows can be a crucial part of cultivating brand awareness and building strategic relationships.
Tradeshows are competitive, and increasingly expensive. In order to get the most out of your tradeshow spend and maximize your efforts, try these tips to create an impact for your business.
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Make it Yours
The golden rule of marketing is to know your target audience, and this extends to tradeshow booths. Your booth is a reflection of your brand, but it is also a hook to draw in decision-makers and potential clients to your business. Creating a booth and an experience that appeals to this demographic is important.
Draw up a customer profile for your target audience and get specific. What do they like? What do they do in their spare time? What aesthetic most appeals to them? This profile will shape your booth, and will help you choose everything from design and lighting to color palettes. Ensure your branding is consistent, and that people can see it when they approach from any direction.
Offer Great Giveaways
It sounds simple, but it works. People love swag, and remember where they got it from. For us, it’s stickers, but for your company it could be anything that relates to your brand, or is useful to your audience, such as special discounts or exclusive offers. When we hand out stickers at tradeshows, we see people returning to our booth for more, often bringing others along.
Hire the Right People
Brand ambassadors can make or break your tradeshow efforts. Do your research and hire brand ambassadors that are personable, professional, friendly, and well-spoken. Make sure that you provide them with the coaching and materials they need to accurately and effectively represent your brand, and give them enough lead time so that they can absorb the information. Give them branded shirts, badges or other identifiers so it’s easy for people to recognize who to approach for information on your business. Encourage them to actively reach out to passersby, and engage with people who stop by your booth.
Don’t Forget to Follow Up
Attending a tradeshow can be overwhelming for attendees. Many of the people who stopped by your booth will have trouble remembering specifics as they likely stopped by many booths during the day. Ensure that they don’t forget your brand, and reinforce what they learned about your brand with a follow up email. Thank them for their attendance, remind them of your brand and what you can offer them, let them know about any upcoming events, and offer the option to join your social media followings or email newsletter.
Tradeshows are an exciting opportunity any entrepreneur to expand brand awareness and make essential connections to grow your business. It’s worth it to invest in creating an impressive tradeshow presence as part of a forward-thinking marketing strategy that produces results.
Author bio: StickerYou Founder & President, Andrew Witkin
As the founder of a global e-commerce leader in custom-printed, die-cut products, Andrew Witkin is widely recognized as a leading authority on e-commerce, customization, startups, marketing and the tech economy. Witkin has also served as VP North American Licensing for Nelvana/Corus Entertainment and Director of Marketing for MegaBrands/Mattel.
About Carson Derrow
