What is a Trade Show
Is your company considering participating in a trade show? A trade show is a great way to showcase and demonstrate your company’s products and services and to create brand awareness. This event is also a chance to network with the movers and shakers of the industry. You may be asking, are trade shows worth the investment? The answer to that is a resounding yes. However, it also depends on how well you market your products or services. If you’re planning for a trade show, we understand that there are a lot of details and factors to consider. You may also some trepidation on whether exhibiting at a trade show is actually a good idea for your company. |
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Reasons to Exhibit at Trade Shows
Why exhibit at a trade show? There are several benefits of having a trade show display. Here are ten reasons why:
(1) Sales and Lead Generation Opportunities
This is one of the primary reasons why you should do trade shows – to further expand your sales and lead opportunities. This is one of the main benefits of participating in a trade show. Major trade shows have a massive number of attendees. People come by the thousands to these events and they are all potential leads waiting to be captured. Most people attend trade shows because they want to see the latest advancements and cutting-edge technology. They generally have purchasing power. In fact, data tells us that 81% of trade show attendees have buying authority.
The main challenge here is to make your brand stand out and creating a unique exhibit that will drive foot traffic. To increase the lead generation process, invest in a badge scanner that can be linked to social media accounts or other lead generation pages. You can also offer exclusive trade show pricing to motivate attendees to close the deal right on the trade show floor.
(2) Face-to-Face Marketing
In this day and age, impersonal online advertising seems to dominate the marketing arena. However, nothing still beats the advantage of face to face marketing, where you can directly connect and personally communicate with prospective customers. It is also a great platform to share your customer success stories to an engaged audience. Meeting your customers face-to-face allows you to connect directly with your prospective customers and nothing influences decision-making more than this type of interaction.
(3) Boost Brand Visibility
Trade shows level the playing field. The access a small company has to prospective customers is the same as bigger companies. Trade shows provide an opportunity for you to increase your brand exposure. This is especially beneficial for small businesses, as they can use this as a platform to let the world know what they have to offer.
One of the best trade show and marketing event resources that you can get is how to use smart design elements in your exhibit in order to attract the right type of attention. Whether you have a small or big exhibit, it is possible for you to create a big impact with clever ideas such as stand-out product displays, kiosks, and counters.
(4) Learn More About Your Industry and Competition
Trade shows are a great opportunity for you to get an in-depth knowledge of your industry and get to know its latest trends. During trade shows, all businesses stand shoulder to shoulder along with big names in the industry. This is a venue for businesses to announce and display their latest innovations which can affect the whole industry. There are also presentations and seminars that allow you to stay up-to-date with the latest trends. Getting better educated in your industry will help you better support your clients’ needs.
Exhibiting at a trade show is also a great opportunity for you to check out your competition and benchmark ideas and best practices. You can gather information such as other companies’ product displays, sales pitches, and engagement tactics to help you improve at your next event.
(5) Build Lasting Relationships with Your Industry
It is important to forge lasting relationships with your industry. This will serve your business well. Meeting other industry professionals and other companies will give you a chance to develop relationships to see how you can benefit each other. This also helps you see the bigger picture and gives you an understanding of where your company fits.
Trade shows not only gives you a chance to expand your distribution and sales, but it is also a chance to expand your supply chain and meet important people who shape your industry. You can also forge strategic alliances with other industry professionals and organizations.
(6) Showcase new products and services
Trade shows are the perfect launching pad for your company’s new products and services. This maximizes your exposure and you will be able to directly connect with consumers. One of the most useful trade show marketing tips is to allow your new customers to experience new products firsthand. This will definitely increase interest and drive sales, long after the trade show has ended. With this in mind, it is helpful to have a dynamic exhibit that will allow customers to interact with your product or experience the service you offer. If you have a display-only product, be aware of its visibility and the audience’s comfort when designing a space.
If your company doesn’t have the budget to invest a huge amount for mass publicity, attending a trade show will allow you to market your new product or service in front of thousands of interested buyers at a single place.
(7) Listen to Customer Feedback
Receive instant feedback from your customers during trade shows. Many trade show attendees are active buyers of your products and services. This is a great opportunity to hear about how your products or services are helping real people in the real world in real time. Trade shows are also a great platform to introduce your products and services to the market. You receive instant reviews from the users and you also get to assure your customers how you plan to improve your product or service.
You need to be able to understand how customers interact with your brand. This provides several insights that are beneficial for the company, making you improve what you offer. It can also help customize your marketing efforts. It is important to listen to what current customers have to say, but it is also worth hearing what prospective buyers have to say. The insights of prospects are also valuable because it helps you understand how to meet their needs and possibly reposition your offerings.
(8) Gather Data for Future Campaigns
Trade shows are ripe gathering grounds for market data, which will serve you well in your future campaigns. It is one thing to observe other booths and examine other products and services, but one thing that will really be helpful for your brand is to build an inbound promotional plan during the trade show. Planning for this happens long before the actual trade show, and it involves how to get identify prospective targets among thousands of attendees. You should be able to get quality leads by providing a QR code that customers can scan or by setting up a tablet for people to sign up for your blog or e-newsletters. Another effective way to gather data is to leverage social media during the show. You can engage with attendees in real time by live blogging during a product demo.
All the data that you have gathered should be useful in crafting your future marketing campaigns. For instance, the data that you get from qualified leads should be able to reinforce your e-mail and direct mail campaigns. Gathering data will help you get a better understanding of your position in the market. This will help you compete with your competitors in a better way and will help you position your product or service better.
(9) Expand your Distribution Network
Thousands of distributors from all over the world also attend major trade shows. If you’re planning to expand your distribution network, then exhibiting at a trade show is the perfect opportunity for you to expand your market presence.
Expanding your distribution network is exciting and challenging, and it is a significant step for any company. If your company is ready for this challenge, you will be able to network with potential distributors at a trade show.
(10) Expand Your Customer Base
One of the greatest advantages of doing trade shows is meeting and connecting with prospective customers instead of communicating with them impersonally. On the phone or through email or social media messaging, you are just another voice or another client. Once you’ve communicated with them in person, you become someone that they know and want to connect with.
Trade shows are a great way to expand your customer base because people become far more responsive to your face-to-face sales and marketing efforts. While technology has made it easier to communicate with customers, trade shows are often a place where customers can talk to you about their long-term plans and future big orders – something that you can leverage on as a business owner.