What Kind Of Value Do Trade Shows Offer Businesses?
No matter what your company does, chances are, there’s a trade show in your industry happening somewhere in the US this year. Your competitors and plenty of prospective customers will be planning to attend—what about you?
If you’ve never brought your brand to an industry expo before, you’re in for an exciting experience. Attending a trade show is an important investment that can offer enormous value to your business.
Key opportunities you don’t want to miss out on include:
1.Generate Leads
For many brands, this is the number one reason to attend trade shows, and we certainly can understand why. Imagine your brand as a fisherman and your trade show grounds as a lake.
All of those leads are already there at your disposal—but it’s up to your team to lure and capture them.
These days it’s easier to effectively capture leads at an expo, as you can now use a specialized app or tool, like Quick Tap Survey, to store all your contacts in one place, as well as follow up after the show.
2. Networking Opportunities Galore
Networking is a crucial part of attending any business event, and when it comes to trade shows, the opportunities are practically endless.
Trade shows attract all types of brands and consumers from industry, big and small, and making many different connections can have a very positive influence on the future of your company.
Showing at an expo gives you a chance to network with:
Pioneers, bigwigs, or hot ticket members of your industry
Potential influencers or endorsers who already understand your field
Non-competitors with aligning missions or values—bring on the co-branding and partnerships!
Wholesalers, which brings us to our next point:
3. Make Valuable Wholesale Connections
One technique for increasing your ROI at a trade show? Make as many wholesale connections as you can. This can have a major (and positive!) impact on your budget and product quality in the future.
Let’s say your company runs a wine tasting themed subscription service, and you’re attending food and drink expo.
To make the most of your day at the show, it would be wise to speak with as many wine producers as possible and make real personal connections.
It could lead to discounted wholesale prices for you, as well as, eventually, increased brand awareness through social media and word of mouth from that wine company’s followers and fans.
4. Increase Brand Awareness
Whether your business is new to the scene or an old standby, your trade show presence can be an important way to increase brand awareness.
By having an engaging booth display, knowledgeable staff, and a stellar trade show marketing campaign, your brand can reach more prospects.
Unsure of how to use your trade show to maximize your brand awareness? We have a few handy tips:
Social media is an important marketing tool, and should definitely be utilized in an exposition space. Ensure that your social handles are on display and accessible for passerby and prospects to use. It’s important to have a branded #hashtag that you can encourage your visitors to use if they post pictures of your booth. Which brings us to this next tip:
A branded photo booth or selfie station is a great way to entice consumers to visit your booth and share their experience with others! Ensure that whatever backdrop you choose is aesthetically pleasing and on-brand with your current marketing schemes. You want the photos that end up on Instagram to be instantly recognizable as yours.
Have a member of your staff walk around the show grounds with a tablet, enticing giveaway samples, or information about an upcoming masterclass or talk at your display. Get the buzz going about what’s happening over at your booth—soon enough, people will show up to see what the fuss is about.
5. See The Latest Industry Innovations
It’s important to keep your finger on the pulse of your industry. Knowing about the latest news, freshest technologies, and up-and-coming voices in your field are vital parts of staying relevant to your potential consumers.
Ensure that your personal trade show experience goes outside of your booth. Walk around the expo and make note of interesting new things happening in your industry.
Let yourself feel inspired, and when all is said and done, you might develop some new ideas that can take your business to the next level of success.
6. Premiere A New Product, Line, or Tech
This upcoming trade show could be a perfect opportunity for your company to unveil a new facet of its brand to the public. It’s a great environment to generate excitement as well as provide ample opportunities for consumers to post about your brand on social media.
In the weeks leading up to your show, have your marketing team develop a social media push that teases the unveiling of your new product.
Be sure to tag the trade show and related accounts in your post so it has more visibility, and be sure to engage with users who interact with this content.
Make it clear that your team is excited about this show, and people will be keen to see why.
7. Learn From Stars OF Your Trade
It’s never a bad idea to learn more about your field, especially from respected professionals that you admire. Many trade shows include exclusive talks, master classes, and demos by famous industry members.
For you and your team, it’s a valuable opportunity to learn new tricks of your trade. If you’re looking for the stars of the trade show industry, you’ve already found them.
Exponents are America’s leading company for trade show booth display rentals, as well as all of the services you need to make your expo experience unforgettable.
Need help designing a booth? We’ve got you. In fact, we can design a booth for you from across the country, keeping you in the know with the help of your own personal project manager (and some nifty 3D renderings).
Once the big day of the show arrives, our crew will deliver and install your booth, stay on site to supervise the show, and will disassemble for you at the end of the day.
Are you ready to get started? Give us a call today and let’s give your next trade show a whirl.
