We’ve seen it a thousand times.  Well intentioned business owners laying out good money to display and market their small business at the next trade show, home show or industry event—you name it; only to leave disappointed and discouraged at the end results.

Rule #1 for any trade show or event is to grow your marketing database! Remember, even though your product or service may not be a match right now, you need to add prospects to your database and continue to stay in front of them through email marketing.  They may not buy now, but they could buy later!

Let’s cover the basics of trade show marketing and a few musts:

Be prepared. Coordinate early with show producers and make sure you have the proper time and access to set up your display.  Also, at the end of the show, make sure you are on point with the tear down as they usually want you out of there as quickly as possible.  Additionally, it’s always a good idea to have at least two people working the booth at one time—nothing worse than not being able to engage interested attendees or an empty booth while on potty break.

Display your brand. Professionally designed display signage and banners are very important to marketing your business and catching people’s eyes as they pass your booth—you’ve only got  a few seconds to catch their attention and engage.  Also, wear professional clothing or uniforms that showcase your colors and corporate branding.  Even the smallest company can afford a couple of monogrammed polos—it goes a long way in terms of professionalism.

Hold a Contest and Engage! This simple must-do is one that is most often overlooked.  Time and time again, we see small business owners standing in their booth staring aimlessly at show attendees wondering why no one is visiting their display.

To properly market your business at a trade show you must hold a contest—and one that is worth signing up for.  This is how you grow your database—remember rule #1?  If you must, buy a product and raffle it off—but most would much more appreciate a free product or service from your company, as that’s why they’re at the show in the first place.

Make the giveaway substantial—everyone loves a good contest and the more entrants, the faster you grow your database.  For example, you could give away six months of gym dues if you’re a health club, a water heater if you’re a plumber, a $300 gift card to your store—whatever, be creative and make sure you engage attendees as they pass by!  No matter what the actual end cost of that giveaway to you is, it will be well worth the expense in future sales.  Once you get them in, get as much info as possible for the follow up process.

Eye contact is important—once you get it at a show, that’s your cue to engage.  Ask open ended questions, make them respond to you—you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to market yourself and draw people into your booth.  And remember, the attendees are not the only ones you can engage—during lulls in the show, take the time to check out your competition, see what you or they are doing better and how you can improve for the next show.  Additionally, you may end up forming some strategic relationships with other vendors that will help you in marketing your business through channels you may have never thought of.

Follow Up. We cannot over stress the importance of timely follow up after an event.  When marketing your business at a trade or home show, you are not always just competing against other vendors or your competition—many times your product or service is in direct competition for precious expendable dollars.  We have a client who is a jeweler—many times their biggest competition is Home Depot:  The 10K diamond ring or the new deck to the house!

You have precious little time to properly follow up with leads derived from a trade show.  Come Monday morning, you better be going through your list of contest entries and begin the pre-qualifying process. And of course, stay in front of them on a regular basis through email marketing, because as we mentioned, they may not buy now, but they could at some point in the future.

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