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How do you use trade shows? Or do you? (12 posts)

Topic tags: promotion

Robin Carlisle said
1 year, 4 months ago:
How do you use trade shows? Or do you?
Got any trade show ideas or tips?
@atlantarobin | # | Top
Joan Muschamp (Fagnani) said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@atlantarobin Trade shows are not for every business by any means, but they do have a place for many businesses. Due to the expense of “national” shows, one needs to be very careful to choose wisely– there are many out there, and lots do not deliver quality attendees.
First and foremost, if you are entertaining doing trade shows, it should be part of your marketing plan. This would show it was thought out and established as a part of the overall strategy in some manner.
Even then, you must establish goals for each exhibit. Is is name recognition, product sales, acquiring names for an email list, networking–whatever first understand what you hope to achieve.
In my career I have exhibited at many trade shows in a number of different industries, some very successfully, and others not so much. Again if you have a clear plan and goals for an event (that everyone understands) it makes the process much better.
@joanmuschampfagnani | # | Top
Kristi Hines said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@atlantarobin I’ve only been to Blog World and Affiliate Summit, which are perfect since I blog about the blogging process and do some affiliate marketing. My goal for those two conferences was to interact, network, and learn from others.
My biggest tips for trade shows is…
- Make sure you have business cards (lots) with your current information.
- Make sure any site that someone will go to after they meet you at a trade show (social profiles, website, blog) is up to date and (especially with the blog) has some great content to make a wonderful second / first online impression.
- Take spare batteries for your cell phone if you are going to tweet from the sessions. Take chargers with you for everything else as there are power outlets you can use along the way.
- Make sure you have a notepad / iPad that you can take notes on the fly upon.
- Bring clothes that make you feel confident – the more confident you feel, the easier it is to interact with others.
@kristi-hines | # | Top
Robin Carlisle said
1 year, 4 months ago:

@kristi-hines @joanmuschampfagnani
Thanks for the great suggestions, Joan. Clear, written, achievable goals. Got it.
Kristi, I most certainly would have forgotten to take the cell charger. And I’ll be sure to get my site, blog, social pages ready and looking good before the show for 2nd/1st impressions.
Thanks. Any more suggestions, yall?
@atlantarobin | # | Top
Sarah Arrow said
1 year, 4 months ago:
Tradeshows are a fab place to get quick interviews with other industry people. And as you record one other people are interested, introduce themselves and you make more natural connections.
I recently held a workshop at a local tradeshow and it was excellent. I had 15 people booked in initially and at the end of my hour slot I had 90 people in the room and out the door, and down the hall way. It was fun and I’d definitely consider doing a tradeshow from the exhibiting / teaching side of things if I were you.
@saraharrow | # | Top
Laura Christianson, Blogging Bistro said
1 year, 4 months ago:
At the most recent trade show I attended, I was scheduled to teach a social media workshop at the end of the day. Before the show, I researched (online) the vendors who would be exhibiting, checked out their social media outposts, and found several who were doing a good job with their social media marketing
I visited their booths during the show, introduced myself to the owners, and told them I’d be mentioning them during my workshop. All of these introductions resulted in in-depth conversations during which I collected background info on their social media marketing strategies. During my workshop, I presented up-to-the-minute, relevant info featuring vendors who were exhibiting at the show.
Adding those little extra touches makes a difference to conferees, who realized that I was not just delivering a generic presentation, but that I was customizing my case studies just for them. Whenever you can provide real-world examples that are relevant for your target audience (when speaking at a trade show or conference), it gives the workshop attendees confidence that they can achieve this, too. (Plus, it builds credibility for you, the speaker.)
@laurachristianson | # | Top
Durk Barton said
1 year, 4 months ago:
In my career as a portrait artist I have attended many varied tradeshows, festivals and large public events. The one assured characteristic of them all is unpredictability. Any preparations that can be made beforehand will be golden. I never knew if it would be a good day because of the number of people in attendance or not. Many times thinking numbers was a guarantee of a large return was disappointing. I have often had better total return on my investment of time at smaller more intimate events. So how can you figure? My best advice is plan your work; then even if you don’t get a windfall at least enjoy the show even if you’re it!
@durkbarton | # | Top
Robin Carlisle said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@laurachristianson
That was a great idea to collect on-site info from attendees and quickly incorporate that info into your presentation, giving individualized valuable feedback. That’s the kind of value-added customer experience many companies have yet to wrap their campaigns around.
@atlantarobin | # | Top
Robin Carlisle said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@saraharrow
Sara, yes, interviewing attendees or taking on seminar leadership or presentation opportunities will definitely help give you a more focused resuts -oriented experience at tradeshows. Good ideas.
@atlantarobin | # | Top
Robin Carlisle said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@durkbarton
That’s a good reminder, Durk, to stay focused on the quality of your target ideal customer, and remaining focused on finding and providing good value to them, and not letting the excitement of large crowds distract you from finding your far fewer but more valuable ideal customers in that crowd.
I know I often would rather not rent a booth at trade shows, freeing me up to seek, meet, and qualify a much larger group of ideal prospects than I would have had had I been stuck at my own booth.
In the large crowd case, would it have better for you to target potential buyers there, following up with them later or was the entire crowd not a good match for the talents you were selling?
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Annie Banannie Caldwell said
1 year, 4 months ago:
Follow up! The #1 most important thing for me. The better my follow up after an event, the more school assemblies I book.

You know the card reader/lead capture things they offer you? Worth every penny. I do a combination of email/snail mail follow up. I always tell people when they can expect to hear from me and what I’ll be sending them.

Random things I can think of off the top of my head that I haven’t seen mentioned yet in the fab comments before mine:

Keep your booth clutter free. Keep personal stuff under the table draping.

Determine one or two things to focus on. They can’t learn everything about your biz in the 60 seconds they stopped by your booth. Choose the things that are most relevant to the audience at the event, and then they can learn more about you in your excellent follow up.

Walk the aisles and get to know the other vendors. Network. Learn about their businesses and how you can help each other. Look at their marketing. What can you learn from it? Does it clearly tell you what they do, or did it take you more than 15 seconds to get an overview?

Keep healthy protein snacks and lots of water at your booth. Too much caffeine and sugar will exhaust you and it will show in the way you present yourself. Bring enough to share and your neighbors will love you. (And they’ll keep an eye on your booth when you have to take a bathroom break.)

Don’t ambush the attendees! Catching their eye and smiling is the best way to get their attention. They want to talk to a real person, not a salesperson.

Have an attention getter. Be funny & outrageous if it fits. Great backdrops with arresting pictures that convey your main point. One of the best trade show vendors I know is Mike Woolbright of Express Tees here in SoCal. He always has something fun at his booth (barrel of monkeys, anyone?) and he’s the most genuinely friendly person at the event. At another convention, inflatable pelicans were everywhere. Too big to fit into a bag, you had to carry it under your arm, and then constantly get stopped and asked where you got it.

Swag warning: Same as a commercial, keep it relevant. Even though the flamingos were great, I have no idea what that company does.
Can you tell our showcase season is coming up? Thanks for posting this. It made me think of whether I’ve got all my ducks in a row yet. I can’t wait to see what other people post!
@anniebanannie | # | Top
Robin Carlisle said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@anniebanannie
Good suggestions. What tools do you use to follow up?
@atlantarobin | # | Top