In the life of almost every marketing specialist, there comes a moment when he is first assigned to organize the participation of the company in an important event.
The main thing here is not to get confused, to clearly articulate the expectations and goals of your organization, and also draw up a plan to achieve them.
This guide is designed to help you with just that.
1. Start by clarifying the goals of participation in a particular exhibition.
Many will say our goal is to acquire new customers and increase sales. This is certainly true, but rather abstract. Try to be specific.
Perhaps in your case it will be a presentation of a new product line, or entering the market of a new country with finding reliable distributors. Perhaps it will be just a fashion demonstration with an analysis of competitors and consumer preferences, etc.
2. Treat exhibition like a project, not just a three-day business trip.
Divide the whole work into three stages:
pre-exhibition (planning, appointment of responsible persons, organizational work with booking tickets, hotels, delivery of exhibits, etc., ordering exhibition space and stand, advertising and inviting customers and partners to visit you at this event)
exhibition (directly work at the stand, this is the culmination of the entire preparation stage).
post-exhibition (analysis and evaluation of results, subsequent work with the received customer base).
3. Pay special attention to the training and instruction of the personnel who will represent your company.
A professional and properly selected team at the stand is the main factor for a successful event.
Each employee at the booth must clearly know their duties, receive work instructions and measurable tasks for the exhibition period. For example: collect 50 business cards of potential clients and add them to the corporate database, organize 10 negotiations with important clients and partners, conduct 5 master classes, make 15 sales (if it is a fair), etc. All objectives must be clear, measurable and realistic to achieve.
It is generally accepted that the booth should be attended by a sales manager, a technical specialist who can answer specialized questions about products, and a manager who has the authority to discuss the terms of cooperation. But this is not a dogma, if in your company all these qualities are concentrated in one person, feel free to send him on a business trip.
An exhibition is a very expensive and important event where your company should be represented by the best professionals, and not just employees who are currently the least busy.
4. Make an advertising campaign and invite customers and partners to visit your booth in advance.
For this, mailing lists and adding graphic information about the upcoming event to the electronic signatures of employees are perfect.
It would be useful to post the invitation on the company’s corporate website (always indicating the pavilion and stand number). Draw the attention of customers to unique offers that can only be received from you at this event.
Of course, the organizers of the exhibition also carry out an advertising campaign, but it is aimed at attracting visitors in general, and not specifically at your booth. Undoubtedly, you will get useful contacts and some of these visitors will become your customers, but you should not be limited to this.
Therefore, do not miss the opportunity to arrange a meeting at the exhibition with potential clients with whom you have previously communicated, but have not signed contracts, perhaps face-to-face communication over a glass of something warming will change everything.
5. Order an exclusive exhibition stand.
For the duration of the event, it will become the personification of your company in the eyes of customers, partners and competitors.
This is the first point of contact through which the visitor gets an idea about the company even before communicating with its employees and testing products.
When filling out a brief for developing a design project, try to give the developer as much specifics as possible: the number and size of exhibits, the capacity of the meeting areas and the volume of the storeroom, the number of employees at the reception, special activities, such as master classes or prize drawings, additional services ( water supply, suspensions, catering) and so on. This will help you to get a project that will satisfy all your needs.
A professional developer will always offer you an option with rational use of space, convenient zoning and eye-catching design.
A trade show booth doesn’t have to be big, fancy and expensive, but it does need to be comfortable and match your corporate style. We will be happy to help you in this matter and become a reliable partner in the field of exhibition events.