In this article we will discuss about:- 1. Benefits of Trade Show 2. Advantages and Disadvantages of Trade Shows 3. Selecting the Appropriate Trade Show 4. Preparing.
Benefits of Trade Show:
These six key benefits of trade show are:
1. Tradeshows Create Lasting Impressions:
The main purpose of trade show events is to showcase a wide variety of options for attendees and business to engage and interact with each other. With a well-designed trade show booth that draws attendees’ attention, a few promotional items, a contest opportunity with giveaways and sales collateral, you have a well-rounded booth experience that leaves an impression with a prospective customer for months.
Consider having attendees enter a drawing by submitting a business card or completing an action on social media. These types of promotions serve dual purposes: increasing engagement and capturing potential contact information as well.
2. Trade Shows Are Incredible Face-To-Face Marketing Events:
When it comes to influencing a decision, nothing can compete with face-to-face interaction. Trade shows provide opportunities to engage with current customers and attendees.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re marketing a service or selling your new product, an in-person presentation and short question based conversation afterwards can help you to close the deal quickly versus an email sharing the latest sales promo.
This makes pre-show planning key to trade show success. If you’ve got an employee who is a natural at “turning on the charm” or one who is great at relationship selling, should be a no brainer on them being a part of the sales team. The cost to bringing them to your next trade show event could pay for itself within hours of the show starting.
3. Tradeshow Lead Generation Potential:
When it comes to trade show benefits, this is one of the biggest. Major trade shows have massive followings and attendance. For example, the Consumer Electronics Show in 2014 had over 152,000 attendees on the trade show exhibition floor from more than 150 countries. Each attendee of a trade show is a potential lead waiting to be captured.
Having QR codes linked to social media accounts or lead generation pages, asking for contact information during a presentation and getting their business cards are all great ways to get fresh leads in your sales pipeline.
Make it clear to them that you’ll be contacting them after the show. Make sure to follow up with the candidates most likely to buy while the event is still fresh in their mind.
4. Trade Shows Target Audiences Result in Direct Sales Opportunities:
Most conventions and trade shows have a specific market or niche they focus on. By exhibiting at popular trade shows within your industry, the odds are very high that you’ll have exposure to an audience that is likely to have an interest in your product or services and are ready to buy.
Always have something to sell at a trade show. It doesn’t matter if you only bring your latest products or have a wide variety of products to choose, the opportunity to generate sales shouldn’t be lost because you didn’t have something for them to buy. Don’t miss out on that sale.
5. Trade Shows are Cost-Effective Networking and Advertising:
Designing a trade show booth, renting space on the trade show floor, traveling to the show and from the show, paying for lodging and meals can seem like a steep price tag for a single marketing event.
If you’ve done the pre-show marketing work leading up to the show, the potential that a trade show offers your business can far exceed the investment.
Though you might have a larger initial investment to showcase your business at a trade show than other advertising or networking methods, the cost to convert a prospect into a sale is often much lower than other alternatives. With proper research and planning, trade shows are one of the most cost-effective sources of leads and sales possible.
6. Trade Shows Level the Marketing Field:
One my favorite benefits to trade show marketing is the low cost barrier to get involved. From locally owned small businesses to multinational corporations, everyone has access to the same attendees at a trade show.
It’s almost as simple as paying for your exhibit location space, designing your trade show display booth, promoting your business leading up to the tradeshow and interacting with the audience during the show.
Even a relatively unknown business can generate large numbers of sales and leads through trade shows. Certainly this is possible via other marketing channels, but few are as easy to execute as trade shows can be.
Trade shows offer big benefits to businesses of any size. By combining exposure to a large number of potential leads with the ability to interact personally, trade shows offer an experience for both the business and attendee that other forms of marketing cannot. Though virtual events and other technologies are slowly gaining popularity, few marketing methods compete with the potential of trade shows.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Trade Shows:
Advantages of Trade Shows:
Involvement at trade shows creates many benefits for your company in the marketing world.
Here are ten reasons why your company should invest in a trade show:
Trade shows offer budget friendly solutions to market your brand and sell your product. With a simple booth, some technological accessories and selling charm, conventions offer simple, inexpensive ways to get your brand on the market.
Trade shows pull in a highly targeted market that is vastly interested in your product. Even though the event is only a few days long, thousands of interested clients come to one location specifically to learn about your product.
This highly targeted market is often interested in one main aspect: new products. They travel to trade shows to learn about new brands, new products and new solutions to their lifestyles. This is a great opportunity to launch a recently developed, major product.
Trade shows offer more personal time with your client. Instead of communicating through today’s technology and phone lines, you can engage in real time conversation and add more of your company’s personality and care to your image.
The personal interaction offered at trade shows allows you to establish a direct, more effective relationship with your client. This relationship is valuable in the future as you maintain a connection, thrive off of their business and network through other clients. You can establish a client base through business cards or compiling email lists.
New relationships and deeper connections open channels for new sales leads. You may find a new market that hasn’t been tapped into yet or you may discover a need for a potential new product.
7. Small Business Benefit:
Smaller business in a large company world sometimes struggle in establishing themselves in a marketplace. Trade shows allow them to get their name out there and reach thousands of clients at once.
A onetime meeting at a show could result in year round marketing for you and your client. Personally handing out brochures, verbally explaining the product and offering promotional products increases customer awareness about your company. This awareness could last all year if you continue promotional contact and maintain a client relationship.
A major selling strategy is to giveaway either your product or products that have your brand on them. This is a major tactic in the trade show industry and provides customers with not only a new belonging but can enhance your company’s awareness in the consumer mind.
Probably the biggest reason companies market at trade shows is to directly sell their product to the market. It omits the complications of over the internet or over the phone selling and allows you to interact with both your product and client to achieve a successful sale.
The disadvantages of trade show include:
(i) Confusing environment found in large shows.
(ii) Excessive frequency of trade shows.
(iii) High and rising costs of participation.
Selecting the Appropriate Trade Show:
The first step in establishing a presence at a trade show is choosing the right show. Finding the show that best meets your company’s needs is crucial, since exhibiting is a costly proposition.
Attending the wrong show is a frustrating waste of time and money. In order to avoid committing to a trade show that provides little in the way of new business or contacts, companies can take several precautions:
Crunch the Numbers. Businesses should request detailed statistical and other information on past trade shows from the organizers.
Identify target audience. If you are a small vendor with a new and exciting product seeking national distributors, then the goal would be to attend a national show with high visibility and attendance by all key players. If, on the other hand, you have an existing product that you want to expose to new markets, you would target potential buyers.
For example – if a company decides that one of its software packages originally designed for and used by the publishing industry also would be useful to teachers and educators, the sensible strategy would be to attend trade shows aimed at teachers instead of computer software industry shows.
Scout potential shows. Experts counsel entrepreneurs to scout potential trade shows before committing resources to a booth. Business owners can often get an accurate sense of a trade show’s value simply by visiting a show, sponsoring a show related event, or participating in a show related seminar or conference. All of these avenues can be excellent ways of gauging the quality of the attendees.
Weigh value of exhibiting. Business owners are also urged to consider whether or not he/ she should even be exhibiting at trade shows. A very small business with limited funds and a clear business model might decide that the best route to go is direct mail and promotions to a well-defined target audience.
On the other hand, a business that is attempting to publicize an established product with low profit margins might well decide that attendance at large national and regional shows with heavy traffic are a good strategic move. And some industry sectors such as high tech, transportation, communications, and manufacturing place a heavy emphasis on trade shows.
Preparing for a Successful Trade Show Exhibit:
Once a small business owner has decided to attend a specific trade show, there are steps that he or she can take to ensure that it is a successful and profitable endeavor. Of course, shows will vary in content, character and tone from industry to industry, but for the most part, these guidelines can be followed no matter what field your small business is in.
Set specific and measurable goals. Perhaps the most important first step to take is to approach the show with enthusiasm and treat it as a sales opportunity and not a money drain.
To take advantage of the opportunity, set specific goals. If the purpose of the show is to gather leads, then set a number in advance that would make the show, in your mind, a success. Compare actual leads gathered to that target number to gauge whether or not the show was worthwhile.
Publicize your involvement. According to the Trade Show Bureau, 45 percent of trade shows attendees are drawn to a company’s exhibit as the direct result of a personal invitation (via direct mail, e-mail or telephone), trade journal publicity or pre-show advertising.
A trade show is worthless unless prospective customers visit the booth and the best way to ensure that those visits occur is to make them aware of your location on the floor. Indeed, industry surveys indicate that about 75 percent of all trade show attendees make out their schedules in advance of arrival. This is an important step, then, so companies should make sure that they allocate sufficient funds for marketing needs.
Prepare personnel. Staffers manning trade show booths should be personable, well informed and well trained to demonstrate and sell your product and/or service. Conduct a preshow meeting with all key personnel who will be a part of the show, from employees who will spend their time at the booth to the shipper who will send your products to the show and be responsible for setup.
Let each person know what is expected of them at the show, and make sure that they know about all pertinent facets of the effort, from the location of promotional brochures to products that should be highlighted.
Other assignments, like observation of competitor’s booths and materials or breaking down the booth at the end of the show, may be assigned to specific people.