Top tips for exhibiting success
Exhibitions are on the rise, companies understand face-to-face contact is increasingly essential and shows offer a qualified audience in a compressed time frame, but are you maximising your opportunities and results?
- 3 out of 4 people decide who they will visit at a show before they arrive onsite
- Pre-promoting can increase attendance to your stand by 34%
- On average visitors will only visit 27 stands, are you on that list?
This year we have set ourselves four guiding principles that apply to exhibitors too. I have included some great simple tips to refocus you for the year ahead!
Be Different
Visitors are looking for what’s new or at least how to use existing products differently. You need to come across as fresh and different to show you’re keeping up with the evolving market.
Disruptive Exhibiting
Look at what you can do to stand out for existing and potential clients – special show-only offers, using different ways to get their attention, use hard mail combined with social media.
Think Outside the Walls
What else can you do outside your stand and even the venue walls? Host a dinner or cocktail party with key clients or hold a seminar or educational activity. Think what else you can do to maximise your time and target key qualified clients.
Experience
Create an experience that will be remembered. People want tailored experiences that appear personalised, think what you can do that will be remembered.
Here are my 7 pre-show tips to think about why pre-show activity is so important.
They’re simple things you can do today to make sure exhibitions are working for you.
1. Invite them early – Send out pre-show marketing as early as you can, then remind them (don’t bombard and annoy the hell out them) when you send show offers and promotions. This reinforces your company name and brand.
Don’t assume they will stop at your stand. You need to become a destination. People like being reminded as we are all time poor and reminders refocus clients. Delivering clients isn’t just the organiser’s responsibility, you need to control and contribute to your own success.
2. Book in a time – It doesn’t matter whether the show is for consumers or trade, if you are targeting certain clients, pre-schedule appointments with them so you can personalise and tailor your meeting with particular clients. Trade shows generally have a diary calendar service and consumer shows use the quieter times in afternoon to sit down with people.
3. Get hands on – Emphasise what you will have there that customers can see, touch and hold. Don’t assume they know all about your products… tell them what you will have on display.
4. Launch and highlight what’s new – New products or uses for existing products along with company news are a great way to amplify and reinforce messages. Remember to tap into what the show organisers have and share with them so they can spread the word as well.
5. Attract the right buyers – Let’s face it, you can only talk to one person effectively at any one time – unless you do a seminar or presentation – so manage your time carefully and specifically target those you want to influence and attract. You want the right people on your stand.
6. Research – Exhibitions are a great way to test in real time and check the market reaction to a product/technique and price point. Be careful how you approach this as you don’t want to close the opportunity or give your competitors the heads up, but it makes sense that you have the right people there who give you the best insights.
7. Staff – Your staff can make or break your results. Ensure you loop them in early, let them know what you will have at the show, any offers and promotions, and their enthusiasm and knowledge will build your credibility to attendees.
Remember, shows compress several activities into a short period of time, people are looking to do business with people who are knowledgeable, professional and FUN.
Review and check your pre-promotion schedule and make sure you maximise the opportunities.
