The art of exhibiting
Whilst much of the business that we now do is online, that doesn’t mean that every single aspect of running and marketing your business has to be. In fact, exhibiting and attending trade shows are still an important part of the marketing strategy for your business (even in the current climate it’s still good to include these in your marketing strategy and see what’s available in the latter part of this year going into 2021).
However, they can be somewhat tricky to get to grips with.
So, to help you to master the art of exhibiting, I have put together my guide on how to get it right and make sure that you are on target to really make the most of your time there.
Always set clear goals for the exhibition
You are never going to be able to succeed in something that you want to do if you don’t know what it is that you want to do in the end. Setting clear goals is the best place to start, it helps you to think about what it is that you actually want to achieve at the exhibition, as well as gives you the focus on getting out and achieving them when you are there. It’s the single most important thing that you can do!
Have a budget in mind when exhibiting
It is great to have goals that you want to reach, but you also need to make sure that they are viable for you. An early stage in exhibition planning is to establish a budget that you can spend. This will allow you to work out what the most important things are for you to pay out and set some priority areas too. Exhibitions can get pricey so it’s really important to understand what you are paying for at the the exhibition such as the size of the space to exhibit. You also need to consider what you need to create your area such as event stands, promo items, printed materials etc.
Assemble the right team
Just like the Avengers rely on one another to defeat the bad guy, you need to have the right team behind you to succeed in your exhibition goals. Think about who is going to bring the right approach for your appearance and then make sure that they are on board. You need to have people who are going to be the right representation for your brand and make sure that you appeal to your target audience. They also need to be confident at approaching strangers and are keen to talk to people about your product or service. Lastly, they need to know what the key messages are that you want to say to clients and be able to answers questions on the spot!
Plan your stand
Your stand is a key part of your exhibition space and it is one that you need to get right. It is a good idea to take the time to carefully think about what you want your stand to look like and what you need to offer, then start to put it in place. You want to be the right combination of eye-catching (to bring people in) and not too in your face (as this will definitely stop people wanting to come and learn more about you). I’ve been to exhibitions in the past where a stand has been a very sad looking table with some brochures – don’t be that stand!
Know what you need to do afterwards
Whilst it is really important to know what you are going to do before and during your exhibition event, it is also important that you think about what to do afterwards.
You need to identify a follow up plan to touch base with those clients and potential leads that you met during your time at the exhibition and find out whether or not they do want to sign up for your services. And you need to make sure you follow-up pretty quickly whilst you are still front of mind.
An exhibition can be hugely worthwhile attending for your business. It helps you to appeal to a brand new variety of clients and make sure that you are a brand that they turn to when they need your particular product or service.
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