Trade Show Items

Budget Guidelines for Trade Show Marketing

B’techa didn’t know - Trade shows are the second largest expenditure of corporate marketing dollars in the US. Only the field salesperson costs a company more.

How much of that money is wasted? Oodles - if you don’t know what you’re doing and how to track it.

TIME, MONEY, HASSLE - You can make a sale on one of the Three Little Words, but when you sell on two of the three, you’ll have a very loyal client.

You’ve have product training and sales training, you reviewed your company’s web site and literature, you understand the demonstrations, and the marketing ideas behind the exhibit design. You’re ready for the show.

But now you’re standing in the booth and it’s Duh? time. You can rattle off the features and benefits, but what does the person standing in front of you want to know?

Of the many mistakes small business owners make, a big one is participating in trade shows and business expos without a strategy for turning those marketing opportunities into sales. Here are five tips to get you started.

Often the more “creative” you are to find companies to purchase the quicker you’ll find the “right” deal. “Working” trade shows offers an extraordinary opportunity to find and quickly qualify acquisition opportunities. To take maximum advantage of these “corporate shopping malls”, you need to use proven techniques to make this methodology worthwhile.

As a business buyer you want to use the most creative means possible to position yourself to get the first shot at a viable business that can be purchased, preferably a purchase opportunity where you have no other purchase competition. Herein lies the most noteworthy justification for working trades shows within industries you seek acquisitions.

Most people who consider trade show planning think of it in terms of logistics planning. In other words planning for details like finding an exhibit, producing graphics, shipping the exhibit to the show, ordering services, etc.

But seeing the full potential of a trade show program for your company requires a different type of planning. It requires setting objectives for show participation for your company, and short-range goals for each show you plan to attend. This show plan should be a written document that drives show participation decisions from show selection to exhibit design, to evaluation and measurement tools.

So, you are taking your products and heading to a trade show, but this year you want to make your trade show booth popular in order to garner more business and have no idea how to do it. Actually, it really is quite simple to make a popular trade show booth as long as you put forth the effort.