Article Contributed by Sophie Andersen
Taking part in trade shows can be really useful and fruitful for every company. By participating in such events, you get to know other companies’ tricks and strategies and what is sometimes even more important, other companies also notice you. Beside fellow businesspeople, you also get in contact with the trade visitors. One of the crucial outcomes of being present at a trade show is representing your business and products, too.
Ready-made products
When it comes to products, the best advertisement for every business is to offer the potential customers to try their products. If you make something edible, you need to have large quantities of the given goods at the stand, so that passers-by and representatives of other companies get an opportunity to try your products.
Beside your own products, you always need to have some other giveaways. If the trade show and the branch you are a part of do not actual deal with self-made production, but you sell something, always have stacks of presents for the clients. Speaking from my own experience, it is obvious that many stands and book fairs and trade shows suffer from the lack of originality and creativity. If you visit several book fairs in one year, you will see that most publishing houses give discounts for the same books and even their booths look the same at different fairs. That is not a wise marketing strategy. You always have to have a certain quantity of giveaways and promotional materials with your company’s emblem on them.
Raffle and unusual promo items
Promotional materials can really increase the number of people who attend your booth and want to buy your products. Too many trade show participants have the same approach – pens, pencils, plastic bags, T-shirts and that is about it. If you all giveaway the same promo items, then none of you will be visible to other clients. Instead of wasting your money on the pen print, you could invest in a raffle. One member of promoting staff could stand at a particularly crowded corner at the fair and hand out leaflets for the raffle. Also, the leaflets should have a small map of the show and a mark to point at your place. In addition to that, there should be a serial number of the leaflet-ticket and the time of the raffle. The prizes for the raffle could range from umbrellas with your company’s name on them to thin raincoats in your company’s colours and other unconventional items. When throwing a raffle, it would also be great that you have a large promoting banner or a promotional marquee in colours and logo(s) of your company, too.
The booth spot
A very interesting thing when it comes to trade shows is the place for your booth, too. If you know that some companies overlap with your business targets, move from them, to the area where there are no rivals. However, you need to be aware that some trade shows insist on grouping the manufacturers of similar products in the same area. Whatever the case is, you always need to try to stick out and attract customers with the tips from this text.
About the Author:
Sophie Andersen is a marketing expert at Top Hat Marquees at Sydney. She is in charge for designing promotional marquee and make them look awesome at trade shows. Sophie loves to write and share her expertise.