One of the most important parts of determining success at your next trade show, will actually happen well before the show gets underway. We’re talking about pre-show marketing and promotion, which is an extremely important part of making sure that you maximize your impact at your next trade show or event. If you want to make sure that you are drawing attendees to your exhibit booth, good exhibit design is only one part of the equation. The other part is good pre-show marketing and promotion, which will drum up interest and generate buzz prior to the beginning of your next trade show.
Trade show exhibits are usually designed to showcase a company’s products and services or may also be designed to spotlight a particular announcement, whether that might be of a new product or service or perhaps a new partnership or venture that your company wants to inform the industry and your customers about.
Whatever it is that you want to get out, you need to make sure that you generate plenty of pre-show publicity so that you can build anticipation and add to the interest and intrigue around your trade show exhibits. The tried and true way to do this is to write up a press release about the show and including any other announcements that you want to make. These should be released online on your website as well as through local, national and possibly international news outlets. You should also contact local radio and television stations, especially if your product announcement is something innovative or intriguing to the general public.
In order to drive as much traffic to your trade show exhibits as possible, however, you should also utilize some of the newer techniques for generating buzz. Make sure that you leverage social media in order to make any announcements and tease your followers about various things. Social media can often better engage the younger generation than traditional media, so it should be used effectively and consistently if this includes your target audience.
Also, don’t forget to get there early before the show starts to scope out the venue and find potential high-traffic areas where you could station staff to pass out pamphlets or use other innovative ways to drive traffic to your exhibit booth. Costumes or contests, giveaways and the like can help drum up interest in your trade show exhibits and help you maximize your trade show impact.