Trade fairs can be great marketing events for generating new leads. The biggest obstacle is having to compete with the many other stalls at the event – many of which are likely to be similar businesses to yours.
Here are seven tips that will help you to steal the show.
1. Invest in branding.
Investing some money into creative branding will help your stall to stand out. Branded marquees are a popular option – you can check out designs for marquees on EventDisplay.com.au. It’s also possible to use banners and balloons for an extra touch of branding. You can even experiment with projected lights and digital signage.
2. Host competitions.
Competitions are a great way of luring people to your stall – they’re interactive and they give people a chance to win something. This could be a raffle-style competition in which a winner is picked at random. Alternatively, you could try to get players to take part in some form of challenge. You could wait until after the trade fair to reveal the winner – in order to let contestants, know whether they’ve won you can send the results via email. This will give you a reason to ask for people’s email addresses and possibly also ask if they’d like to be put on your mailing list, potentially turning them into a lead.
3. Do a demo of your product.
Product demonstrations are also great ways to attract potential clients. Demos can build a level of trust by showing that you’re prepared to test your product in front of people. You could even go so far as to let people test out the product for themselves. Demos won’t be applicable with all forms of business, but if you can show it off there and then, it’s worth doing it.
4. Offer exclusive promotions.
Exclusive promotions could get people buying into your product there and then by taking advantage of people’s ‘fear of missing out’. Make sure to advertise these promotions clearly so that you attract passers-by. It’s important that you still make some profit out of these promotions – given that trade shows can be costly to take part in, you don’t want to make a loss out of these events.
5. Make some noise.
You may be able to attract customers by making some noise. Some trade shows have strict rules when it comes to playing music or using loudspeakers, but for those shows that don’t strict guidelines it could be worth making some noise to get attention. It’s important not to be obnoxious about this, otherwise you could get complaints from organisers or other stalls nearby.
6. Post updates on social media.
Social media can be a great tool for helping to promote your stall. Many people will be using social media on their phones whilst at the event and you can help to let these people know of your stall. This could include tweeting information about the event using the trade fair hashtag, posting live videos on Facebook and taking photos to post on Instagram. On top of using social media at the event, you can warn people attending the trade show beforehand that your company will have a stall there, taking the opportunity to let people know in advance about promotions you may be offering or competitions you may be hosting.
7. Give away goodies.
A lot of companies at the trade fair will give out goodies to passers-by – these provide these passers-by with a physical reminder of their company. Try to think beyond business cards and consider practical promotional products such as branded pens, branded drinks bottles or even branded fidget spinners. You can design and order these promotional products from companies such as Quapromotions.com.au. On top of promotional products, you may also be able to give out free samples in the case of food/drink-based businesses. For example, if you’re a cheese company, you could allow people to taste your cheese at your stall as a way to get people to buy it.
