Success with trade show booths requires you to understand and master a host of disparate techniques. While you might not get it on your first try, these tips will help you have a successful experience with your first trade show displays and prepare you for even greater success at your second, third, and on into the future.
1. Know The Customers Inside And Out
The goal of marketing is to show customers how your product fills their needs, and marketing with trade show booths is no different. In order to successfully communicate with customers at your trade show displays, you must first understand what their needs are so you can help them understand how your company helps. Market research will reveal many important things that directly boost your ability to make sales at the trade show booths on the convention floor. You’ll need to know how they shop, whose opinions they trust, and what they’re looking for. For specific B2B customers, know their position within their company as well as their company’s position within the industry before they ever come into your trade show displays.
2. Customers And Visitors Are In Control At The Trade Show Displays
The Internet has completely changed the way things work at the store and at the trade show booths. Now, your customer has many other places they can find what you’re offering, even if you previously had a near monopoly. You can no longer push your product on a client; instead, your staff needs to learn what the client wants so that they can present your product as a way to solve the client’s needs. Trade show displays are a great venue for this, and when done successfully, it can have amazing results.
3. There’s No Such Thing As Too High A Return On Investment
You should constantly be measuring your ROI from trade show displays and constantly working to improve it. Measuring should be more than a means for justifying the impact of the current programs and trade show displays; it should be used to discover what’s working about your trade show booths, and what might warrant a change before the next convention.
4. Join Forces With The Sales Force
The strongest companies are discovering that when sales and marketing teams collaborate, the results can be truly astonishing. Sales people have a wealth of information that you can use at the next trade show displays. They’ve had recent one-on-one interaction with the people you’ll be meeting. They know what they want from trade show booths, and what they want to avoid. They can help you generate a lot more leads from trade show booths in just one conversation.
5. You’re Never Finished Educating Yourself
The fundamental goal of marketing may never change, but the techniques and trade show booths certainly do. You need to keep your finger on the pulse of trends in trade show displays, and of overall marketing adaptations. You owe it to your company to bring in the latest and best techniques, preferably before your competition.
6. Don’t Forget To Market Your Successes To Management!
Budget cuts are making it hard for some managers to justify an expansive marketing budget. If your trade show booths are particularly successful, you need to make sure management knows that they worked well, and that it was your doing. Keep track of all the relevant metrics from trade show displays and present it after a show. You’ll see greater job security if management knows you’re a key to success.