Skip to main content

How To Impress At Your First Trade Show

Reading Time: 4 mins

When running your own business, you must make the most of any opportunities you can find that will put your brand on the map. For example, this could include using social media to introduce your brand to new clients. 

However, while digital marketing endeavors are important, it’s crucial that you do not forget the value of interacting face-to-face with potential customers either. After all, many studies have found that “face-to-face sales techniques strengthen relationships with prospects and customers, enhance brand credibility, and enable reps to communicate key value propositions more effectively.” 

  • What Is A Trade Show?
  • How To Impress At Your First Trade Show

As a result, you should always be on the lookout for ways to interact in person with your customers, even if you run an online store. For example, you could attend a local trade show.

What is a trade show?

A trade show is an event where businesses come together to showcase their latest products to large audiences. In most cases, you’ll attend trade fairs with other companies who work in the same industry or sell compatible services. There are many benefits to attending these events, such as: 

  • Increased brand awareness.
  • The chance to identify and connect with new customers. 
  • Improved sales figures. 
  • Networking opportunities.
  • Learning more about your industry and upcoming industry changes. 

How To Impress At Your First Trade Show.

If you’ve never attended a trade show before (as a business or customer), the idea may feel a little daunting. However, there are plenty of steps you can take to steer your business towards success. 

Set up an eye-catching booth

At any given trade show event, there are likely hundreds of businesses in attendance. This means that you need to find a way to make your booth stand out from the crowd. For example, you should ensure that your branding is displayed clearly and consistently throughout your booth. You may also want to choose a specific theme for your booth. For example, if you’re selling clothing, why not make your booth look like the inside of a wardrobe? 

Use technology to your advantage

While you may have brought a few products along with you, you may also want to use technology, such as iPads or tablets, to show visitors your full product range, or to encourage them to sign up for a mailing list so that you can keep them up-to-date with your business. This is a great way to ensure your interactions with potential customers are meaningful and bring around a great ROI. As a result, you may want to look into iPad rental ahead of time so that you have enough equipment to hand. 

Hand out freebies

Everybody loves a freebie, and handing out free products or product samples can be a great way to drive traffic towards your booth. If these products also feature company branding, they can be a great way to boost customer recognition or brand awareness in the long term. However, when handing out promotional products you must choose products that are useful – as otherwise they may quickly get discarded once the event has finished. You should also ensure that they relate back to your brand or product. For example, if you run a desert company, promotional products such as sweets, cake pops and other sweet snacks are an excellent choice. 

Send your most confident staff

When it comes to trade shows, you should ensure that you send over your friendliest teammates to get the job done – those that can confidently approach potential customers and bring them into a conversation or get them to try out your products. This will make the entire process run smoothly and bring around the best results for your brand. You may want to brainstorm ahead of time for some good conversation starters to get the ball rolling. However, you should also encourage your team to be relaxed and personable, as if the conversation seems overly sales-focused, customers will quickly lose interest. Instead, tell them to view their interactions as an informal chat through which they show off some of the cooler products you have to offer. 

Prepare a presentation

In addition to a hall filled with booths, many trade shows offer participants the chance to present their latest innovative products or services in front of industry professionals, customers, and more. As a result, you should brush up on your presenting skills ahead of time and ensure that you pull together a killer presentation that is sure to impress. One of the easiest ways to achieve that goal is to have a clear understanding of your goals. What do you want from this presentation? Do you want to use it as a springboard to launch a new product to a captive audience, or to simply generate hype around your brand/ideas? If you’re a relatively new business, your presentation could instead serve as your introduction to the industry. 

Hand out leaflets

You should also be sure to hand out plenty of leaflets and business cards throughout the day. After all, customers will likely stop by hundreds of stalls throughout the day, which means that one business can quickly blend into the other in their minds. Handing out leaflets means that they’re more likely to remember your brand and what you have to offer. You can also feature important information on these leaflets, such as your social media handles, website address, and contact information, which increases the chances of them reaching out and making a purchase in the future. 

Don’t forget to network

While it’s easy to prioritize your interactions with your customers during trade shows (especially if you intend to drive sales), it’s also important that you don’t miss out on the networking opportunities these events present. For example, you should attend any presentations or workshops that relate to your own work, so that you can learn more about your ever-changing industry. You should also chat to other vendors and take some time to visit their stalls on your break. This can help you to make lasting, meaningful relationships with industry leaders that could serve you well in the future. 

Disclaimer: MoneyMagpie is not a licensed financial advisor and therefore information found here including opinions, commentary, suggestions or strategies are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only. This should not be considered as financial advice. Anyone thinking of investing should conduct their own due diligence. 

The post How To Impress At Your First Trade Show appeared first on MoneyMagpie.

Source
https://www.badadeal.com/how-to-impress-at-your-first-trade-show/?feed_id=3255

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

40 Hours To Twitter Mastery Video Course

Cash In With The 10th Largest Website On The Internet, Twitter... Tune In To The Global Conversation And Get Real-Time Access To Your Market You have heard of Twitter, many times no doubt! It is on the news, on television shows, celebrities and athletes are speaking to their fans on Twitter and new people are flooding on to the network every day. You will also find a number of businesses on Twitter. Using it to find hungry buyers and connect with their market in real time. The PERFECT sales vehicle in today's fast paced and impatient society. Regardless of what industry you may be in, the sooner you embrace Twitter, the sooner you will open your doors to new business and new money making opportunities. If you are still not convinced, consider some of these statistics: Twitter has over 150 Million registered users Twitter receives over 180 Million unique visitors a month Over 300,000 new users join Twitter every day Over 600 Million sear...

What to do if you can’t afford your pet any more

Reading Time: 4 mins What happens when you can’t afford your pet? Shelters have reportedly been receiving more and more unwanted animals as the cost of living crisis affects millions across the UK.   As fuel and bill prices rise along with grocery costs, many people just can’t justify spending money on an animal as well.   Jo Evans, who manages a shelter for the RSPCA near Exeter, told the BBC that people are struggling to pay for vet bills: “We are beginning to see people say they just can’t afford to own an animal so they have to rehome it,” said Evans, before noting that people should take the time to understand the cost involved before they take on a new pet.   According to Pet Keen , an estimated 2.7 million animals a year in the UK are being taken in by shelters: mostly dogs and cats but also fish and small mammals, which is financially stretching the shelters. And with the cost of living crisis, the problems are piling up.   PANDEMIC PETS In ...

The 5 Best Affiliate Marketing Niches to Watch Out For

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to make extra money online. Yet with thousands of affiliate programs available, it can be challenging to know how to position your own business. Thankfully, there are some tried-and-tested niches that remain reliably popular. By choosing a highly-marketable topic, you can more easily create profitable affiliate content. In this article, we’ll introduce you to affiliate niches and give you some tips on choosing one. Then we’ll share the five best affiliate marketing niches. Let’s get to it! An Overview of Affiliate Marketing Niches When you choose an affiliate marketing niche, you’ll focus your promotional efforts on one particular category. This way, you can create highly-targeted content. For example, you may run a specialist blog, sharing your expertise. By using targeted marketing, you can aim your promotions towards people who already have an interest in your unique niche. This allows you to match expectations. Plus,...