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Top 10 Small Business Tips To Get The Most Out Of Your Next Tradeshow

Guest post by: Ingrid Cliff

Article Overview: Many small business owners take part in trade-shows and networking events. But how should you prepare yourself to get the maximum return on your trade show investment?

Top 10 Small Business Tips To Get The Most Out Of Your Next Tradeshow

Many small business owners take part in trade-shows and networking events. But how should you prepare yourself to get the maximum return on your trade show investment?

Here are our top 10 trade show tips

1. Know your details

The first thing you need to know is the projected demographics of the trade show. How many people are they expecting? What ages are they? Work out whether they are there in a buying or browsing frame of mind.

Next you need to know the specifics of your display area.

• How much floor space do you have
• Do you have walls behind and around you or no walls
• Is furniture provided in the package or do you need to supply your own
• Is there electricity and a phone point (if you need it)
• Do they supply table-cloths for any table they provide

2. Plan your furniture for your display

Once you know what is supplied you can then plan your furniture layout. This will depend on the people who will be coming to the show and what you are displaying. Common layouts include:

• A number of small bar tables (if you are getting people to fill in forms that you will use to follow up later on).

• U-shaped tables around the inside of your booth if you have a lot of stock to display. The challenge here is many people won't enter your booth to look around, but those who do enter are generally interested in what you have to offer. You will get less foot traffic, but more qualified leads.

• A table across the front. This is the most common layout for small booth trade shows. For larger spaces the options are only limited by your imagination.

3. Use your walls

People walking past will look at your wall display to determine whether or not they will stop at your booth. Your displays should be colourful, bright and eye catching. For one second think about billboards on the side of the road ... limited text, colourful images, attention getting headlines. Your walls are just like billboards. Keep your messages clear and to the point.

Your signs should look professional – handmade cardboard or paper signs generally don't convey a professional impression. Invest in some professional signs you can re-use at future events that include your company name and logo – it makes a world of difference to your results.

You may also want to consider a pull-up banner in a corner to add colour and visual interest.

4. Arrange your information in tiers

Information needs to be arranged so people can see it. Having your brochures and flyers all flat on the table is visually uninteresting and people won't pick them up. Get some Perspex display holders, use plate holders and arrange to the tallest items are up the back with smaller items at the front. Make sure your business cards are easily accessible.

If you are selling items make sure all prices are clearly marked and your display is tidy.

5. Colour and movement is great

Consider having a TV, laptop portable DVD player or even a digital photo frame on your table displaying images or a presentation about your business. It needs to be short, easy to read, colourful and professional looking to get attention. Colour and movement grabs the eye of passing people and helps to make them stop for a moment at your booth.

6. Run a competition

Competitions are a great way to gather an extensive database for your business. Make sure you run them in compliance with all local laws and regulations.

7. Professional handouts and marketing material

Many small businesses try to cut costs by just having photocopied information at their display. With the changes to digital printing in the past few years professionally designed and printed brochures and flyers are now very affordable.

But all the investment in your printing and design is worthless if your words on your flyer or brochure are less than convincing and have no strong call to action. Copywriters can help create compelling copy that combined with professional design and printing will help you generate more interest and sales.

You also need to make sure you don't run out of business cards and marketing materials, so keep a good stock on hand. Professional name badges also help to reflect your brand.

8. Giveaways

Consider if you are going to offer giveaways to people visiting your booth – pens, magnets, stress balls, balloons etc. These can be quite expensive, so consider the return on your investment carefully. Some businesses only give a promotional item in exchange for contact details (through the competition entry) or after talking with a consultant.

One savvy furniture business owner I have worked with has very colourful helium balloons tied to all his furniture at his display. The balloons are branded with his company name and are in all the popular kids colours – purple, red, pink, blue etc. Kids see the balloons the other kids are carrying and pester their parent to visit his stall to get their own balloon (and of course see his furniture in the process). He usually has one staff member just filling balloons for the kids at his stand.

Another company I have observed gave away t-shirts in exchange for watching a short video. If the person wore the t-shirt while they walked around the event they could be the lucky "shopper" of the hour and win an I-pod. This company ended up with hundreds of people walking around promoting his stall each day as a result.

9. Create your own buzz

Don't rely on show marketing to generate business. Promote heavily your attendance at the show to your database. Let them know precisely where to find you and offer them a show discount or special offer if they visit you at the show. The idea is to create buzz about your display – the more buzz, the more other visitors will pop in.

Get a list of other exhibitors you want to touch base with and make appointments for them to see you at the show at your booth (again offer an incentive to do this). Pop around before the show opens and visit all other exhibitors and give them a special exhibitor only offer to visit your display. Offer to get your neighbours coffee if you are getting some.

Run some demonstrations at your booth – people love to see how things are done. The idea is to make it interactive and interesting.

10. Follow ups

Follow up all leads promptly. Every person who gave you their details needs to be contacted, or sent some marketing from you within 7 days after the show. The faster you follow up, the better the experience that person will have of you as a company to do business with.

Trade shows can be a great source of leads and contacts if you carefully plan for your event.

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Article Tags: bar tables, billboards, demographics, electricity, floor space, foot traffic, frame of mind, furniture layout, headlines, imagination, layouts, maximum return, networking events, signs, small business owners, specifics, stock, table cloths, trade show, trade shows



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