What Is Trade Show Marketing

Home What Is Trade Show Marketing

Published: 28/09/2021
Updated: 28/09/2021

Marketing has become a vital part of the everyday running of a business over recent years, and with the increased popularization of trade shows, it has also proven to be a key player in the success of such events. So this then raises a few questions like; what is trade show marketing? Why is it so important? And how can a business entity maximize its time at a trade show by incorporating trade show marketing?

This article is designed to answer these and other questions in the world of trade shows, while offering valuable trade show marketing ideas for your business, do read on to find out more.

What is Trade Show Marketing?

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In technical terms, trade show marketing is the act of gracing a trade show event, where a firm from a certain industry presents and displays its latest products and services. Typically, trade exhibitions are exclusively available to individuals who register, corporate officials, or members of the press. These events, with this sort of audience, allow important dialogues between firms, rivals, and consumers.

This does sound like the definition of a trade show, doesn’t it? This is because they are practically the same in that as a business, you cannot exhibit at a trade show, without the intention of marketing your product or service to the masses. To maximize on this, however, there are a couple of considerations, as will be discussed in other parts of this article.

To put this into context, before you even start, it is critical to explicitly identify all of the business goals and objectives. This will influence every decision you make during the event marketing phase. You must provide attendees with a cause to connect with your brand at trade shows. If you don’t distinguish yourself from other exhibitions, you won’t be able to tap into the maximum potential of your network.

Now, this is probably a bit confusing or too little information for your next/first trade show, so here’s all you need to consider if you’re planning a campaign to boost engagement across your target demographic. Let’s get a better understanding of the various components of trade show marketing.

Pre-trade Show Marketing

Why is it Important?

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According to research, roughly 76 percent of participants use pre-trade show information to plan their agenda. Exhibitors compete with various conferences, fellow exhibitors, and outside diversions. Many first-time exhibitors believe that registering for a trade show booth space and purchasing an exhibition display is the end of the process. Now all they should do is turn up.

Pre-trade show marketing accounts for less than 5% of the trade show expenditure for 80% of exhibitors. Only 11% spend upwards of 10% of the trade show budget on pre-show promotion. Pre-show marketing led to improvements in booth visitation and brand recognition for 8 out of 10 exhibitors. According to Deloitte research, exhibitors that performed pre-show marketing efforts saw a 50 percent boost in conversion from booth visits to leads.

Trade Show Marketing Considerations and Planning

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The majority of exhibitors make pre-trade show marketing seem more complicated than it should be. Pre-show marketing’s objective is to bring people to your trade show booth and, hopefully, organize meetings with the company’s booth personnel.

The exhibitor must address three questions in order to develop an efficient pre-show marketing approach:

Who should be targeted?

Why should people stop by the booth?

How else can you get and stay in touch with them?

1. Who Should be Targeted?

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To qualify is the crucial term here. Not every person at the exhibition is worth your attention. You would not want to use up 30 minutes speaking with someone just to discover that he or she isn’t a viable client, which is what will occur if you advertise to all without a consistent message.

Trade fairs are also an excellent opportunity to strengthen ties with existing clients and prospects who have previously expressed an interest in doing business with you. If they aren’t planning on attending the exhibition, sending out invitations may persuade them to reconsider.

Why Should People Stop by the Booth?

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Requesting that they come to a specific booth number will not suffice. The same thing is being said by other exhibitors. Why should people take the time to come to your booth? Among the most popular strategies out there is to give out a free promotional product, such as a pen or a mug. It will not work. This is why:

A pen will not make the participants’ lives better. They may purchase one for $2. And, if you’re a B2B firm aiming at C-level professionals, a pen is one of the fewer reasons they’ll stop by your booth.
The only folks you’d draw here are what I refer to as “free gift enthusiasts.” Why would people spend $2,000 on your item or brand if they would not spend $2 on a pen?

If you give away free drinks, the only individuals who will attend out there who want free drinks, not those who will buy your goods. So, what constitutes a good trade show motivating force?

A good trade show motivation factor is anything that does the following:

Offers value addition
Only available during the show.

Here are two excellent incentives:

A live product presentation that demonstrates and informs your prospective consumers on how your item or brand may address a critical problem.
Discounts are exclusively available to trade show participants.

How Else Can You Get and Stay in Touch with Them?

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How will you make visitors and customers conscious of the booth? Here are five of the most common marketing channels:

Promotional Emails

An email campaign is a quick, low-cost, and efficient approach to promote a forthcoming trade fair. It also allows you to see how much interaction your emails are receiving. You can get a decent indication of how many individuals are curious and might be interested in attending by examining their click-through and open rates.

Social Media Marketing

You can promote the trade exhibition using your social media profiles. Tell your audience what it’s all about and where you’ll beheaded. Tell them where they can find you on the trade fair floor. However, don’t rely solely on your posts. Also, generate some targeted social media advertisements.

These advertisements have the potential to attract a considerably bigger audience. You may pick who you want to reach with your postings by using customized social media advertisements.

Search Engine Optimization

Remember to include the power of SEO into whatever marketing plan you pick. Make sure you utilize relevant pictures, locate the proper keyword concentration, and write attention-grabbing headlines. Figure out just what people search for, and ensure your advertising and promotions are all SEO optimized to match the demands of your target audience.

Direct Mailing your Perspectives.

While direct mail marketing is not as popular as email marketing, it is far from extinct. In reality, sending direct mail to your contacts may be an efficient means of informing them about your event.

By mailing something as simple as a postcard, particularly one in an unusual shape, you may keep the trade fair on people’s thoughts long before it takes place. Not only that, however, the postcard remains in their possession. That implies they’ll see it so often, based on where they store it.

As an effective trade show marketing plan, you should take the following steps towards getting yourself an effective and successful trade show marketing campaign;

1. Goal Setting

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We’ll need to design our approach around a set of key objectives, just like every other promotional campaign. Not only would this assist in measuring the success of your trade show participation, but having a clear vision of whatever you wish to accomplish will ensure that all members of staff seem to be on board as well.

Direct selling is the most frequent aim for trade show marketing efforts, but you may also want to increase brand awareness to site visitors after the event.

2. Trade Show Shopping and Selection

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After you’ve defined your objectives, it’s time to look for trade show events where you may exhibit. (After all, it is how we will fund our campaign.)

You should concentrate your efforts on two sorts of trade shows:

Trade Shows in your field
Trade Shows for your target demographic

A marketing company, for instance, would wish to look into marketing-specific trade shows. It’s also a good idea for them to showcase in trade shows attended by their target demographic, such as events for small company owners. That way, they’re covering two bases: staying up to date on business news and putting themselves in front of individuals who will buy from them (to generate ROI).
Another key point of reference would be finding the top trade show builders in your area for rental; also ensure you gather enough information on how to rent furniture and other trade show booth implements before you make the move.

3. Planning Shows Around New Product Launches

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The major motivation for visiting trade shows, according to 92 percent of participants, is to view new items on display. Why not take advantage of this occasion to show off the new goods you’re currently working on? Take a look at your marketing schedule and plan to attend trade shows that coincide with any future releases.

Trade Show Prep

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Have you ever heard the expression “failing to prepare is planning to fail”? That applies not just to live in general, but also to marketing. Preparing for a tradeshow, on the other hand, does not have to take years. Simply choose the proper team (people with excellent communication and sales abilities) and acquire the necessary equipment ahead of time.

5. Why is a Follow-up Important?

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Don’t overlook the individuals you interact with at tradeshows. These attendees may not have the purchasing authority to shop from you at the moment, and some may need to check with their team before purchasing your goods.

Trade Show Marketing Ideas During the Show/Event

Why is in-event Trade Show Marketing Important?

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Merely having a trade show exhibit will not be enough to earn your business the attention it deserves. When you’re at the trade show event, be sure to let people know you’re there and that you’re prepared to go the extra mile to show yourself.

Here’s where trade show booth marketing plays a key role. Keeping your booth and brand name as prominent as possible is the simplest approach to start conversations about your business. This may be accomplished through the use of innovative signs and eye-catching colors. To gather huge audiences, you may also hold activities or conduct product demos.
Attract an industry analyst or personality to your trade show booth and urge them to interact with visitors if possible. This can greatly increase your appeal and keep the public talking about your booth and brand for a long time.

Capitalizing on Trade Show Marketing Materials

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In a sea of booths, typically on each side of busy aisles, you have only seconds to entice a prospective visitor. To entice individuals, it is critical to creating a great visual impression with simple and straightforward content.

Your booth is not meant to be a brochure, but rather a backdrop. This cannot be overstated: passers-by should be able to know who you are and what your business does immediately. This is up to your booth personnel to pursue it from there. Also, make sure your brand is visible and aligned with the rest of your advertising material.

Nothing beats conspicuous gifts that each and every attendee covers. Instead of giving out pens and notebooks that are easily misplaced or concealed in a visitor’s pocket, give out branded reusable bags that may be utilized not only at the trade fair, but also thereafter.

Within the bag, you could put a variety of helpful goods like power packs, phone coverings, traveling adapters, or even Earbuds and Bluetooth speakers. You may even have members of your staff go down the corridor with these gifts. This will undoubtedly pique the crowd’s interest and direct them to your booth.

Trade Show Fun Activities

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People gravitate to the unusual on any occasion. This might be the design of a trade fair booth, a speaker, or an interesting activity. Activities allow people to play and give a temporary reprieve from the monotony of everyday obligations. They are a great method to keep an event in the minds of your guests.

However, do stay away from activities that keep your visitors too excited to focus on your product. Exercise the art of controlled fun, which expects you to use fun activities to attract your perspectives towards the booth and keep them long enough while having them engage the product or service you offer.

Attractive Trade Show Booth Ideas to Work With

Setting up a place that makes potential consumers feel invited is one method to interact with them right away during a trade show. With a table along the front of the booth area, it might look closed off and uninviting. (Learn how to set up a high-return table display). Create a location where people may enter without feeling confined.

You may set up several stations in the space where visitors can learn about your firm and its goods or services. This subtle approach will reduce the chances of people passing you by and raise the chances that they will step in and create a connection with a few of your reps.

Employ the power of attractive displays and booth rental/purchase to stand out from the crowd. This, however, will require that you interact with a trade show services and booth display specialist to more than increase the chances of getting ROI.

Here’s a number of creative trade show booth marketing ideas that might work to your advantage;

Create a business theater – A business theater is a tiny theater in which sales representatives may deliver demonstrations about a company and its products. Businesses with big booths will frequently include a business theater as being one of their features. Sales representatives may use business theaters to provide prolonged sales presentations to clients who have indicated a clear interest in what the firm has to offer.
Briefing zones – Briefing zones, which are comparable to business theaters but on a lower scale, are tiny spaces in front of a booth where guests are welcomed, given a quick introduction of the firm, and informed about all the wonderful things they will discover within the booth. This is a method of building curiosity and framing the next event.
Booth activities – Offering entertaining booth activities such as games, engaging kiosks, and rewards is a simple approach to pique the interest of guests. The most effective booth activities will highlight sales aspects while also engaging attendees.
Offering guided tours of a trade show booth allows firms to emphasize the most enticing aspects and create an immediate, direct effect on guests. Offering a tour guarantees that all customers see and comprehend the most enticing marketing messaging of a firm.
Self-guided tours — Some booths are hands-off, allowing guests to interact with items and promotions at their own speed. Trade exhibitions may be very competitive sales settings. A firm that takes a more relaxed approach and allows the items to speak for themselves might be a welcome diversion from the rest of the trade show.

Creating a Buzz; Attending Conferences as a Speaker

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While at the trade show, one way of bringing in prospects to your booth is by attending any conferences within the trade show and speaking at these set-ups. This not only brings in prospects to your booth but helps everyone understand your product even better while getting to know the people/person behind the brand.

Do not limit yourself to just your trade show booth marketing, be open to reaching people outside, in short; ‘think outside the box.

Trade Show Advertising

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To keep the advertising up to standard, you should execute the aforementioned to the smallest detail, and in addition, also consider the following key aspects of trade show advertising and prospect engagement;

Strive to use social media to spread the word about what’s going on at your booth or event. Send photographs, videos, and other media. To stay on top of discussions, use a hashtag. Encourage people to spread the word about your posts.
Keep reaching out to attendees via your email campaign. Appreciate those who have already dropped by and urge those who haven’t to do so by reminding them of the benefits.
Ensure your booth or event has some interactive components that will grab attention and entice visitors to stop by.