Top Benefits of Exhibiting
What good will exhibiting in a trade show do me?
There are five primary reasons why a company would want to exhibit in a business-to-consumer trade show. Depending on the nature of your business and its goals and objectives, you can rank these reasons in order of importance. Once you’ve ranked them, develop a plan to make sure you are prepared to capture the benefits you seek. When the show is over, have an “after action” meeting with your booth staff and assess if you reached your objectives or if you need to adjust your plan before the next event.
What are the top five benefits of exhibiting?
Brand Awareness: While your primary goal may be one or more of the next four, you will receive brand awareness along with it. So, don’t ignore the power that this fact holds. Whatever you do or don’t do relative to your booth, pre-show marketing, booth displays, staff uniforms, or any other aspect will have either a positive or a negative impact on how the public sees and values your company’s brand. So, make sure you are communicating the right branding to the public walking past your booth.
Credibility Enhancement: Companies that exhibit in trade shows are not trying to hide from the public. Quite the opposite. This intuitive fact plants the right seed in the fertile minds of show attendees. Without consciously thinking about it, they understand that if your company is at the show, you are not trying to duck unhappy past customers and bill collectors. Hence, you have a higher perceived credibility. They feel that your company’s management is more trustworthy and a safer bet for a new relationship. This tends to eliminate from consideration those companies not in the show.
Lead Generation: If your company needs a list of hot prospects to fill your sales staff’s appointment calendars, then trade shows can be a gold mine. Of course, you have to know how to engage, filter and classify (covered last week). But, when you consider that the attendees put everything else aside to come to the event and discuss their projects with qualified product and service providers, the quality of show leads are generally much higher than those generated from mass media and internet resources. Set immediate appointments for in-home free estimates and demonstrations with all decision makers present.
Direct Sales: If your company has a product that attendees can purchase on-site and take home with them or arrange for drop shipping, then you will find trade shows great sales generators of popular items and items whose value can be easily and quickly demonstrated. Make sure to stimulate immediate interest and prove value based on quality, ease of purchase, lack of shipping costs, prices better than the internet and volume discounts not available elsewhere. You win if the prospect understands that NOT purchasing at the show is a bad decision. Fear of lost opportunity drives sales.
Information Distribution: If your primary objective is to distribute information, then having enough booth staff will be key to the volume you can distribute. If it’s a quick handoff or a more detailed engagement, you will need enough frontage and staff to adequately cover the situation. Especially during peak traffic hours.
There are five primary reasons why a company would want to exhibit in a business-to-consumer trade show. Depending on the nature of your business and its goals and objectives, you can rank these reasons in order of importance. Once you’ve ranked them, develop a plan to make sure you are prepared to capture the benefits you seek. When the show is over, have an “after action” meeting with your booth staff and assess if you reached your objectives or if you need to adjust your plan before the next event.
What are the top five benefits of exhibiting?
Brand Awareness: While your primary goal may be one or more of the next four, you will receive brand awareness along with it. So, don’t ignore the power that this fact holds. Whatever you do or don’t do relative to your booth, pre-show marketing, booth displays, staff uniforms, or any other aspect will have either a positive or a negative impact on how the public sees and values your company’s brand. So, make sure you are communicating the right branding to the public walking past your booth.
Credibility Enhancement: Companies that exhibit in trade shows are not trying to hide from the public. Quite the opposite. This intuitive fact plants the right seed in the fertile minds of show attendees. Without consciously thinking about it, they understand that if your company is at the show, you are not trying to duck unhappy past customers and bill collectors. Hence, you have a higher perceived credibility. They feel that your company’s management is more trustworthy and a safer bet for a new relationship. This tends to eliminate from consideration those companies not in the show.
Lead Generation: If your company needs a list of hot prospects to fill your sales staff’s appointment calendars, then trade shows can be a gold mine. Of course, you have to know how to engage, filter and classify (covered last week). But, when you consider that the attendees put everything else aside to come to the event and discuss their projects with qualified product and service providers, the quality of show leads are generally much higher than those generated from mass media and internet resources. Set immediate appointments for in-home free estimates and demonstrations with all decision makers present.
Direct Sales: If your company has a product that attendees can purchase on-site and take home with them or arrange for drop shipping, then you will find trade shows great sales generators of popular items and items whose value can be easily and quickly demonstrated. Make sure to stimulate immediate interest and prove value based on quality, ease of purchase, lack of shipping costs, prices better than the internet and volume discounts not available elsewhere. You win if the prospect understands that NOT purchasing at the show is a bad decision. Fear of lost opportunity drives sales.
Information Distribution: If your primary objective is to distribute information, then having enough booth staff will be key to the volume you can distribute. If it’s a quick handoff or a more detailed engagement, you will need enough frontage and staff to adequately cover the situation. Especially during peak traffic hours.