One of the most important things about exhibiting at a trade show is making sure that you can get exposure to your target audience. This is an essential part of marketing: positioning yourself to best reach your target audience. And since trade show exhibiting is largely about promotion and marketing, it stands to reason that you would want to make sure that not only are you exhibiting at the proper show but that you are reaching the proper audience at that show.
Your trade show exhibit should be ideally targeted at the audience that you want to reach. This doesn’t mean that you necessarily need to cater everything to potential customers, however. Your target audience could also include vendors and industry professionals with whom your company may be interested in establishing a relationship. It might also include members of the media, including non-traditional media like those with a sizable blogging or social media following. Exhibit design is thus best when it is appealing to a large swatch of your target audience and when it is as engaging and inviting as possible.
A trade show isn’t only about promotion, however. So, you may also factor in the idea of a target audience if you are providing a keynote or leading a class or seminar. If you are slated to teach a seminar and you structure it as if you are teaching your customers and instead you get industry professionals it might be a bit awkward. That’s why knowing your target audience is so crucial. It is not only crucial for marketing but also for just about everything that you will be doing.
Another place that you should be sure to know your target audience is when you are developing your PR materials for a trade show or any other major event. Of course, these will often be directed at the media, but you should also be thinking about directing the press coverage more broadly in order to provide the most positive impression on your desired target audience.
Everything that your company does, from exhibit design to design promotional materials and refining your PR ahead of the show, should be informed by an understanding of your target audience and how to best reach and motivate them in order to act. Understanding this will allow a company to make the most of its trade show presence.