There comes a point in every entrepreneur’s life when the idea of exhibiting at a trade show seems like a good one. And it can be, if you put your dollars to careful use before, during and after the show.
A trade show isn’t just about setting up a booth and waving hi to passersby. Most companies consider trade shows a great way to meet potential clients; find new employees; identify dealers, reps and distributors; network; troubleshoot and establish industry positioning, says Leslie Ungar, president of Electric Impulse Communications, Inc., in Akron, Ohio.
What makes trade show time successful? For starters, take the following tested tips:
Tip 1: Spend Serious Time Planning
Spends weeks, even months, preparing and defining your goals in attending, says Ray Silverstein, author of The Best Secrets of Great Small Businesses (Sourcebooks, 2006, $14.95).
Then develop a strategy. Send a pre-show postcard, e-mail or news release to clients and media who’ll be there. Set up appointments and turn meals into networking opportunities, Silverstein says.
Create specialized, eye-catching marketing materials and put a huge, two-word headline on it. The idea is to get attendees to stop. Think of your marketing materials as “bait for fishing in the aisles,” says Paul Endress, president of Maximum Advantage International, in Harrisburg, Pa.
“We line our people up in front of the booth, stick one out and say, ‘Here, you need this,’” he says.
Author: Lynne Meredith Schreiber
Copyright 2009 StartupNation, LLC
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