Monday, April 18, 2016

7 Trade Show Marketing Mistakes To Avoid


Companies spend a lot of time and money on their trade show marketing. Unfortunately, we see so many of these companies make mistakes that prohibit them from seeing a solid return on investment.

Maximize your trade show efforts by avoiding these six trade show marketing mistakes that I unfortunately see all too often.

1. Don’t Block People From Entering your Booth
There are many ways you can block your booth space. Avoid placing tables across the entrance to your area by planning ahead and creating a welcoming and attractive space. In addition, make sure you don’t offer a negative presence in your booth. Welcome people in with a smile. Don’t stand out in the aisle. The booths that look the busiest attract the most attention. Get people in your booth to not only hear your story but also to make your booth look like a hot destination.


2. Don’t Ignore People
Your purpose for exhibiting in a trade show is to grow your brand, build your contact list, and sell your product or service. You cannot do this by ignoring the people who are attending the show. Don’t eat, read, or bury your head in your phone while you are at your booth. These actions will deter people from stopping at your booth.



3. Don’t Look Unprofessional
Avoid poorly planned and mismatched booth design. Build your booth using professionally printed banners, table covers, and literature. In addition, booth staff should have professional and coordinated apparel - apparel with logos will support your branding efforts.

4. Don’t Send Untrained Personnel
The people at your booth are the face of your business. They represent your brand and they are gatekeeper to a deeper sales conversation. They should be trained to ask open ended questions to determine if attendees are genuine prospects, and they should have an understanding of the marketing objectives of the show. They need to be able to answer questions from your prospects. Trained and knowledgeable booth staff will help you reach your trade show goals.

5. Don’t Forget to Create a Marketing Plan
Before you even decide if a show is the right one for you, you need to understand your purpose for attending – generate leads, meet with your VIP customers, build your email address list, promote a new product or service, or launch a new endeavor. Your marketing strategy should include a plan for your display booth and promotional item choices, along with how you can best use the opportunity to achieve your business goals. The branding of your booth space, from decorations to products or services on display to giveaways, will set the tone for your show experience.

6. Don’t Let Them Forget You
Make sure you give your trade show attendees something to remember you by. It’s common practice to hand out brochures or promotional products in trade show booths but choosing the right promotional product is important so you don’t waste money. How many times have you left a trade show and tossed a ton of giveaway items in the trash? That’s because the items weren’t useful or they didn’t uniquely stand out in some way that made you want to hang on to it. For your brand to get maximum exposure, you want people to keep your promotional items so they remember you when the time comes to purchase.

7. Don’t Forget Your Follow-Up Plan
The show is over, and it’s time to relax, right? Wrong! This is the most important step. It is time to get to work following up on all of the new leads that connected with the knowledgeable staff in your well-planned booth. Choose the specific method to communicate the specific offer that works best for your company. This can be an email, a phone call, or a mailer with a special offer, a white paper download, an educational video, or a free demo. And in addition to following up with specific leads from your booth, don’t forget to follow up with any general attendee lists provided by the show coordinator. They might have missed you or couldn’t make the show at the last minute but could still be a good prospect.


By avoiding these all-too-common mistakes, you can maximize your trade show presence, leads, and profits. We specialize in helping companies drive more traffic to their trade show booths to maximize their investment. Give me a call at 847-398-5500 and I’ll help you choose the right promotional product for your brand or work with you to create a promotion that drives traffic to your trade show booth.

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