Participating in trade shows involve considerable expenditure, and you wouldn’t want it to go in vain. Picking the right trade show like Exhibe Corporation San Diego Portable Trade Show Displays requires enormous planning, a pulse on what your customers are looking forward to, your objectives, past experiences, and the organizer’s reputation. After all, what you look forward to is to get good quality leads that could lead to a potential uptick in your revenues in the long term.
Carefully consider your competitors
The good idea is to study the competition. They would be having the same target audience. So, if any of your competition are participating, you could assume that there would be reasonable footfall of the audience that you are targeting. Studying your competition would also help to get a feel for what they are doing and the type of messages they are trying to convey. You could then strategize based on your findings.
Understand your clients
It is good to get feedback from your clients. You could ask them about what they seek from a trade show. Are they looking for perspectives on new trends, are they finding new solutions to their pain points? You could accordingly frame your focus for the trade show. If your prospects are looking for answers, then do you have any new feature to offer or a new product that could match their expectations? It would then make sense to show them a preview at the trade show or perhaps even do a product launch. On the other hand, if they are seeking knowledge of trends, you could possibly organize seminars or workshops that would help them understand your approach, how things are evolving, and handhold them in their quest to understand what changes they need to adapt to changing trends.
Evaluate past shows
This is data that you already have. Collate them and create reports and dashboards to see what worked in the past. Consider events of a similar nature where you participated, what was the feedback like, what were the key findings from future follow-ups that you did? If the results were positive, then evaluate whether there is a need to change approach. If your feedback shows that there were gaps in customer expectations and your messaging, then this is the time to correct them.
Do some research into events that the exhibition management team has organized in the past. Were those events successful? Were the event management team able to get the right audience to attend the show? What sort of support do they provide? Have they been able to give you a convincing pitch on who they are marketing the event too? Do they provide enough support to the exhibitors participating in the event? If things go wrong, then evaluate the remedial measures that they have provided for. Most importantly, talk to people who have taken part in their past events and gauged their satisfaction.
Consider feasibility
Your budget, time required for planning, logistics, and travel requirements would play a large part in deciding viability. You need to consider expenses involved in travel, rentals for the exhibition period, staff expenses for the time, and any taxes involved. For your business, the return on investment is what matters, so you need to be very careful about selecting the right event. Do consider your expenses in relation to your marketing and promotion budgets for the period. You cannot splurge on one event expecting to garner the results that you expected. You need to space out your events through the year and then too, and you may need to attend multiple shows to address different demographics. Will you be the small fish in this big event? Then, you may need to reconsider as the bigger players would tend to get the most attention. On similar lines, consider whether you may need to outdo your competition. Is that required, will your leads be impressed? Evaluate the value that the event will generate for you. Is this a prestigious show for your domain, does a presence enhance your brand value or perceptions? If it is indeed a leading event that showcases the industry’s best, then participating would be the best option. Try to plan early and get your budgetary approvals, or you might miss the bus. Most importantly, check out whether the real influencers, the decision makers, and the big spenders are attending; it should then really be worth the effort.
