Category: Trade show

Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned veteran of promoting your brand at fairs, every trade show has its perks and pitfalls. There are a lot of moving parts to consider when planning and preparing for a trade show. Last minute issues and improper organizing can make or break your lead generation on the day of the event.

It’s important to know that mishaps can occur and to be aware of some of the most common mistakes to ensure a successful booth at your next trade show.

In this article, the trade show display experts at totm exposition share some of the most common mistakes businesses have made in promoting and planning their company exhibit at a trade show.

1. Choosing the wrong trade show

One of the most common and unintended mistakes for new businesses who wish to exhibit their brand at trade shows is in selecting the wrong industry or event. This is an innocent mistake that can have a large impact on your strategy and success.

Be sure to carefully research the trade shows you plan to attend to make sure they are a good fit for your business and that your target audience will be attending them.

2. No competitor analysis

Part of planning for an effective outreach for your brand at trade shows is to know your industry inside and out. This involves in-depth competitor analysis to determine the best possible strategy. Without benchmarking your own business to your competitors, you risk failing to stand out as a unique and innovative brand.

It is important to keep abreast of your competition’s products and marketing strategies. You can do this by analyzing the products, services and marketing materials of your competitors.

Competitor analysis should also be done at the event itself. Do not be afraid to wander the trade show floor and analyze what your competitors are doing well.

3. Improperly budgeting for the event

One of the first steps in planning for your next event is to budget for the trade show. Strategically allocating your funds and developing an appropriate plan based on your budget is crucial.

Failure to properly budget can lead to under or overspending in certain areas, which can hurt your return on investment and have a negative impact on your success.

4. Cutting corners on display booths

Having an outdated trade show booth can make it difficult to outperform competitors with a more modern design and layout. Cutting corners on design, materials, installation, and setup can be a big mistake.

Avoid the mistake of outdated installations by opting for custom booth designs that will significantly help avoid losing opportunities to competitors with more cutting-edge exhibits.

5. Lack of delegation and staff training

At your next trade fair, you need to prioritize appropriate delegation to key staff as well as plan for effective training of all staff and volunteers. Depending on your event, schedule the staffing hours effectively to allot time for breaks and additional staff during peak hours when foot traffic is high.

Choosing the right staff and making sure they receive enough training before the show is crucial  if you want to generate as many trade show leads as possible.

6. Lack of marketing before and after the show

Your business should make full use of your own channels to properly market for your event. Failure to use your own channels to market, whether its social media or your own mailing list, is a big mistake. Do not rely on the trade show’s limited marketing avenue, this is one of many opportunities you need to be proactive with.

Having a dedicated staff or liaison with social media and marketing before, during, and after the event is crucial to effectively promote and stay in contact with attendees and potential leads generated. Ensure that you have dedicated time to do post-event marketing where you follow up with all leads and share your business’ experience of the trade show.

7. Using outdated graphics and promotional materials

Promotional materials – brochures, pamphlets, slides, displays, and so on – are invaluable for effective outreach at trade shows. Using outdated graphics or promotional materials with obsolete or inaccurate information can cause problems with lead generation.

As with your trade show booth, your graphics and marketing materials should regularly updated to represent your brand as effectively as possible.

8. Lack of planning for lead gen

When you attend a trade show, one of your core goals is expanding brand awareness and generating leads for your business. It is important to use SMART goals to facilitate the collection of client information and generate sales for long term customer retention. Without effective planning and tools to generate leads, you will have an incredibly difficult time meeting your goals.

9. Failure to leverage technology

Technology is intertwined in trade shows, especially hybrid trade shows where conference calls and digital programming are instrumental in reaching audiences effectively. It is important to leverage the many benefits of technology into your installation. From trade show lighting and audiovisuals to interactive designs, aim to create a wow factor for your attendees.

10. Failure to follow up with leads and networking opportunities

A common mistake businesses make when they gather information on attendees is in timely responses for lead generation. Following up is crucial to generate conversions effectively and doing so in a quick timeline is best. Effective communication is the building block to future sales and opportunities for partnerships.

After the event, collect and organize your leads, prospects and networking opportunities in a sales intelligence tool or a simple spreadsheet. Then follow up no later than one week after the event.

Choose the design experts at totm exposition for your next trade show

Trade shows are exciting opportunities to expand your brand awareness and generate leads in your industry. With the goal of engaging prospects and expanding your network, it is important to diligently plan for a successful trade show. Avoid the common mistakes many businesses make when promoting their brand at trade shows.

If you want your trade show booth to stand out from the competition, you can trust the innovative designs and creative builds of our custom modular booths and portable booths. Contact us today for a turnkey solution.

Trade shows and trade fairs are important networking and business opportunities you need to take advantage of as a company. It’s a very important undertaking to balance your workload and to budget appropriately to make the most out of each event.

The custom trade show display experts at totm exposition share with you some budgeting tips and tricks to help guide you for your next trade show.

Trade show budget template: categorize your expenses

When you are budgeting for a trade show, a good template to use is breaking down your costs into 5 categories. The first category is your base amount because a general rule of thumb for budgets with trade fairs is to multiply your venue cost by 3.

For example, if your venue rental costs $10,000, you should allocate $30,000 overall. With the remaining funds, break this down into 4 other categories which make sense for your business’ structure, size and capacity.

These are five common budget categories for your trade show expenses:

1. Venue space cost: The amount of allocated funds to rent the space for your booth
2. Exhibit cost: The amount of money you spend on the design and manufacturing of your custom trade show booth
3. Services cost: All costs associated with your technical and logistical services rendered
4. Promotion and marketing: Any costs connected to your own marketing including paid ads, programming or graphic designing
5. Staffing: The amount you use to employ staff during the event and the time they spend in the booth

Use a pie chart to budget

Once you have your base cost for the venue rental, add the other 4 categories together and place these into a graph or chart. This is a great template method to visualize your budget to break down your expenses.

For example: If your venue costs $10,000, your total budget should be $30,000. You need to break down the extra $20,000 into 4 other categories to account for all the smaller expenses that will be incurred.

1. Venue space: $10,000
2. Exhibit cost: $10,000
3. Services cost: $4,000
4. Promotion and marketing: $2,500
5. Staffing: $3,500

A pie chart can look like:

 

Break down your expenses

With the categories of your expenses, it’s important to break down what each category entails. Some of the smaller expenses range from staffing expenditures to logistical services.

• Rental costs
• Marketing
• Staff
• Exhibition stands
• Logistics
• Show services
• Food and beverage

Rental costs

When you find the perfect trade show to attend as a vendor, contact the association to learn about the venue’s layout and pricing of each booth. Some areas may have higher costs due to their locations and others may be placed in adjacent corridors or annexes. Pick a location for your stand that suits your business needs with optimal foot traffic.

Marketing

The marketing of your booth is essential. If attendees don’t know where you are, your networking outreach will be hindered. A great way to invest in the best ROI is to market yourself through your own channels. Use social media and place paid ads or use other avenues in your networks like email outreach or offline techniques like postering.

Exhibition stands

With your venue’s location selected, rendering a perfect booth for your business is the next largest expense of a trade show. Customizable booths, portable booths, and dynamic displays are all great designs that will appeal to attendees. Use a turnkey booth designer for the manufacturing and installation of your booth.

Logistics and staffing

With the designing and space allocation of your booth, the technical logistics and scheduling of the event are important to account for. It is necessary to consider the in-house technical skills of your employees and whether you need to outsource this labour. The technical software and hardware you use, including lighting or laptops to display your brand and programming may be rented or purchased.

Show services

Smaller expenses that arise when you vend at a trade show include the costs of photography, security or cleaning. The set up and installation of the booth may cost you some hidden fees, as well as the tear down. If you would like professional photography completed, allocate this in the budget. You can use these moments for future marketing and outreach within your networks.

Food and beverage or product giveaways

Another slice of your budget is to allocate the money used for enticing attendees and participants to your booth. It’s not just about your brand, it’s also about the outreach and gestures of welcoming them to your brand. Having free samples or products to give away is an expense that needs to be considered outside of the mandatory expenses of staff overtures.

Booth designs and visualisation

A major expense to budget for in a trade show is the design and layout of your business’ booth. This is a core expense that requires time to plan, manufacture and install during the trade fair.

Opting for a manufacturer of venue booths who offers a range of different designs tailored to your business in mind is key to funneling your budget. With a turnkey designer of your trade show booth, you can easily manage and facilitate the logistics of your booth in record time while staying within your budget’s criteria.

At totm exposition, we offer three types of booths for your next trade show to fit any budget: custom designed booths, modular trade show booths and portable booths.

Trust the experts at totm exposition for your vendor booth

The layout and design of your next trade show booth is a big undertaking that needs a clear and well-defined budget. There are many moving parts to account for when you want to promote your brand in your industry’s trade fairs.

With your budget in hand, it is easier to delegate your roles and responsibilities to have a successful event.

Contact us for your next trade show’s booth design, manufacturing and installation.

In marketing, a lead is a prospective customer contact. Generating leads involves establishing contact with potential customers, also known as prospects, and encouraging them to provide personal information that is then used for marketing and sales campaigns. The end goal of lead generation is always to convert the leads into customers.

Since people don’t habitually give out their contact information to just anyone, a major aspect of lead generation is building credibility with prospects in order to gain their trust. Companies must also be able to capture the attention of potential customers in the first place.

Trade shows are one of the most effective ways for a company to generate leads. They are opportunities for businesses to showcase their products and services and meet prospects face to face. Discover the best ways to capture leads at a trade show in this article!

How to get leads at a trade show

Choose the right trade show

Not all trade shows are created equal! Choosing the right trade show can make a big difference when it comes to generating qualified leads. Before settling on an event, research the demographics of show attendees to make sure they match your target audience. Find out everything you can about the show, including how big it is, whether it keeps growing year after year, and whether it is well-publicized. Finally, consider the cost of participating and determine whether you think it will be a worthwhile investment.

Identify leads in advance

When it comes to lead generation at trade shows, it’s best to focus on quality over quantity. Throwing prizes and giveaways at every attendee is a less focused approach that will end up costing you more per lead. Instead, do your best to acquire a complete list of attendees before the event so that you can do some research and prioritize the most likely prospects.

Do pre-event outreach

Once you have acquired the necessary information and identified which attendees are most promising for your business, it’s time to start your pre-event outreach. Target your prospects with paid social media ads, send them personalized emails or call them to let them know that you’ll be at the event and invite them to book a meeting, schedule a demo, or just stop by!

You’ll also want to promote your participation on your social media platforms. Post that you’re attending, inform your followers of where you’ll be located and give them a tantalizing sneak peek of any giveaways, contests and activities you have planned. Don’t forget to use the trade show’s official hashtags to maximize your reach! You can even have special offers for customers who find you on social media—this has the double benefit of bringing traffic to your booth and indicating which platforms people are finding you on.

Consider booth location and design

If you’re planning to have a booth at your trade show, it’s important to claim it as early as possible. Generally speaking, the earlier you are, the better location you’ll get. You need to make sure that you end up in a high-traffic area that’s easy for attendees to find!

Having a unique trade show booth that stands out from the crowd is just as important as a good location. Investing in a custom trade show booth with a captivating design will help you attract more prospects. Furthermore, if you opt for a custom trade show booth, you’ll be able to reuse it at every event you participate in!

Motivate attendees to visit

To make the most out of the event, you need to find trade show booth ideas to attract visitors. You can offer discount codes and company swag and hold a raffle or contest to generate interest. Holding a contest at a trade show is a good idea because it’s an unobtrusive, positive way to collect data about your prospects. People tend to be more willing to share their information if they are rewarded for doing so!

Don’t forget to distribute promotional flyers and/or post on social media to let attendees know what you’re offering!

Collect information

Even the most promising prospects won’t do you much good if you don’t get their contact information! Make sure you have a strategic, well-organized lead collection system in place to gather the data. If the event is using wearable technology like smart badges, you can easily scan attendees’ tech to get the necessary information. Otherwise, collect business cards and LinkedIn connections, and don’t forget to keep notes on the leads you talk to so that you remember all of the details you discussed!

Following up on trade show leads

Enrich your lead data after the event

After the event, take the time to organize the prospects and information you have collected, whether in a sales intelligence tool or a simple spreadsheet.  This ensures that everything is properly stored and easily available for later use.

Then, you can begin the process of data enrichment—building a more complete profile of your leads, including more contextual information such as purchase history, contacts, business objectives and digital footprint, to help you better understand them and their needs.

Launch a follow-up campaign

Once you have all of the data in place, you can begin contacting your leads. It’s best to follow up with the prospects you connected with no later than one week after the event. Start making calls and sending emails. Remind them of your encounter and ask to schedule a meeting or a demo. If the people you met aren’t decision makers, ask for referrals.

Trade show lead capture tools

Lead retrieval and lead capture tools can make a big difference when it comes to tracking event data at a trade show. Lead retrieval tools are designed to find and access lead data by scanning event tech and looking for information about prospects. Lead capture tools focus on adding new leads to your database and improving its organization.

Depending on which type of tool you choose, you’ll have access to useful features such as a comprehensive system for capturing, organizing and storing leads, event traffic analysis based on day and time, badge and business card scanning apps, lead criteria creation and automatic scoring, and search filters.

Make a splash at your next trade show with totm exposition!

If you want your trade show participation to be worth the effort and expense, it’s important to establish a well-thought-out strategy for lead generation. Attracting promising prospects to your booth and getting their contact information is vital in order to create connections that could become loyal customers.

totm exposition designs and manufactures custom trade show displays for businesses of all kinds. Our focus on creativity, innovation and quality enables us to produce booths that truly stand out and showcase the very best of our clients’ brands. Contact us today to make your next trade show a success!