Hot Tips For Marketing Your Trade Show Displays
You can’t build a house without laying a foundation.
The same is true for profitable trade show displays.
If you just show up at the right place and time, you’ll get some of the floor traffic, but few people will be there to see you specifically.
If you want to get the most return on your exhibition displays, you’ll need to get the word out early and get people interested in learning more about you and your business.
This means engaging in pre-show marketing, which can really be as minimal or lavish as your budget allows.
Any amount of pre-show marketing will help your exhibition displays attract visitors, and the more marketing you can afford to do before the show starts, the more visitors you’ll see.
Here are a few suggestions:
Hot Tips For Marketing Your Exhibition Displays
1) Call those contacts! Email is OK, but when dealing with your leads and clients lists, the personal touch is usually better.
Get in touch with as many people on your lists as you can to let them know where you’ll be appearing.
2) Make special preshow offers: This could be as simple as sending out coupons for goodies to all your contacts.
Another popular option is setting up a Facebook Event and having your online Fans RSVP in exchange for discounts or promotional items.
3) If you have a special guest, get them to advertise it: Don’t just have your special guest star or speaker show up to your exhibition displays at the right time – have them announce and promote their participation through their own marketing channels to help encourage fans to show up.
4) Form a Linked-In Group: If the trade show you’re attending already has a Linked-In Group, join it. Otherwise, make it yourself.
This is an excellent way to make real, viable contacts as well as to establish yourself as someone worth listening to.
5) Get the local media involved: It’s easy to forget about older style media in the age of the Internet, but local newspapers and radio stations are perfect for getting the word out about your exhibition displays.
Partnerships with local radio, especially, can be good for setting up contests or simply encouraging people to show up.
6) Blog your heart out: If you’re heavily into online marketing, the week or two before your exhibition displays go up is when you should be putting out your best material.
You might consider saving your best ideas for pre-show blogs so that you can really show off.
7) Tease your demos: If you have an interesting new product that’s going to debut, tease it. This is a great use for visual websites like YouTube, Flickr, or Pinterest.
Upload snapshots of close-up details or short videos that don’t ever quite show the entire product. Build interest!
8) Mirror your theme: Make your trade show displays’ promotional materials match plans for the display itself. Use the same colors or seasonal theming as your trade show booth.
If you’re going to be talking about how eco-friendly your products are, for example, select exhibition display designs that are eco-friendly, and include that in the marketing messaging.
9) Make sure you get the details right: Be very careful when putting promotional materials together about your exhibition displays.
Don’t commit anything to paper (or emails) that might change without marking it “tentative” or “TBD.” This is especially true if you have a schedule of events.
The more work you invest in pre-show marketing, the better your exhibition displays will do. Make sure you lay that foundation, and your booth will succeed.