We’ve shared trade show posts including 10 Ways to Improve Your Trade Show Results and 6 Tips for Trade Show Follow Up Success. Today’s post is a simple, straightforward a trade show marketing checklist. Any organization spending time and money on trade shows wants to get the most from their investment. Before schilling out dollars for travel, booth space, and displays take a few minutes and review this checklist. It might save you time and money.
Create a Unified Message
All marketing materials should work together to form a message or tell a story. Information overload at a booth can be confusing. Determine the primary purpose of the show and create marketing materials to support it. Is the main thrust lead generation, customer appreciation, or new product introduction? Produce a unified marketing campaign to tell the story, not an assortment of messages from various materials.
____Booth display
____Banners and banner stands
____Branded carpet
____Video
____Print Collateral, brochures, raffle cards, and flyers
Chose Appropriate Promotional Products
SWAG can draw prospects to a booth and make it stand out in a sea of sameness, or it can work against the message. A company I worked with gave away a gas grill at a trade show. It was a really nice grill and a lot of folks signed up for a chance to win it. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with the company’s product. Want to guess what the results were when the “prospects” were called? The grill didn’t generate interest in their products and, therefore, didn’t generate leads. Folks who wanted a grill signed up—not potential customers. Ask yourself, who is our target audience, and what product or service may we offer as a prize that will attract those prospects?
____ Specialty giveaway items
____ Discounted products or services
____ Raffle prizes
____ Apparel for staff
____Promotional caps, shirts, and tee’s
What’s on your Trade Show Marketing Checklist?
Before your next show take the time to consider the message you want to send and how the various trade show marketing components may support your call to action. Does your promotional SWAG compliment your print collateral? Do your banners and booth display work together to present a pleasing story? Does you raffle prize attract your target audience? Or is your area a confusing contradiction of materials from other times and places thrown together for this show because it was all sitting in a storage room under a sign that says TRADE SHOW STUFF?
If you’d like ideas on unifying your trade show marketing, we’d be glad to offer suggestions and help you coordinate your efforts. Kevin Greek and the Marketing Services team would be happy to…check your list.
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The grill story is such a great example of what not to do. Sure, you want people to visit your booth but you want them to visit for the right reasons. The booth should be set up in a way that attracts visitors that are actually interested in your products or services.
Thank you, I appreciate that you understand the difference; to this day, I continue to advise vendors who confuse attracting the masses with targeting their audience. It’s one thing if their product has mass appeal but most don’t.