Attending a trade show can be expensive. That’s why it’s important to choose the right shows to attend. Otherwise, you’ll wind up spending your marketing budget on shows that are nothing more than complete flops. Take it from us, there are some solid ways to find the shows that you want to attend, and good ways to stay away from the ones that you don’t.
Ask your friends: chances are that you have some friends in the same industry. Speak with these people to find out what shows they are considering attending. Ask if anyone has been to a show before, and find out the details about as many events as you can.
Study your competition: you should be tracking your competition closely anyway, so you should see which shows they are preparing for, attending, and taking an active part in. If your competition is spending dollars on a show, there’s a really good chance that you should be there too.
Check out some industry associations: send off an email or two to associations that are part of your industry, and ask what shows they recommend. Few people will have a better grasp on what you do than an association that’s directly focused on your industry.
Make sure that the people attending are people you want to connect with. Sometimes, you can get a copy of the attendee list from a trade show organizer. If you can get your hands on this, look for the people that you want to impress with your display and sales pitch. If you have a good marketing team, you’ll connect with these people prior to the show, so that you can really get a head start.
Count your dollars: You shouldn’t base the shows that you are going to attend on your budget, but it’s a good idea to compare what you’ll get from a show with the cost of attending that show. For example, some really expensive shows might come with a priceless attendee list, and some cheaper shows may not have any attendees worth connecting with – pick your shows carefully, but know what you’re going to get.
The bottom-line: what’s the point of attending a trade show? Getting your product out there is a goal for sure, but the real deal is getting a good return on your investment. Make sure you can connect with the right people, find the right market, and stand out at the shows that you do attend with the right trade show displays. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time.
Your Exhibit Matters
You can have the best product in the world, but nobody will see that product or pay attention to your booth if your trade show displays are lacking. At Blazer Exhibits, we have many years of experience working with trade show attendees. We have worked with all kinds of companies, and we know what will make your booth stand out ahead of all the rest. If you think that all exhibits are standard, you haven’t seen what we can do!
A trade show booth can be entirely customized from the actual shape and size of the booth to the interior of the booth – we can set up lighting, floors, and other aspects to make a booth really pop. It’s also possible to put your logo just about anywhere on a booth, so that everyone can see your company’s insignia from far away. Offering things for free or creating some form of entertainment is a good way to draw people into a booth, but to really get those people to sign up for a product or to see what you’re made of, you have to show off your company with the right exhibit displays behind you.
We have lots of different booth options including portable booths, used trade show displays, display rentals, and entirely customized selections. The best way to see what we can do for you is to book an appointment with our design team, or come in and check out our past exhibit displays. You can also take a look around this blog to see some of our featured work.