Very few businesses invest the time and energy in careful planning, however, despite the fact that it can improve returns and lead to more careful allocation of resources. Most businesses only plan a few weeks before an event, though the best practice is to plan six months or more beforehand.
Trade show planning should be part of a larger strategy, towards achieving organizational objectives. It can be simpler than you think to achieve. This is why we have developed 9 top tips to guide you in the process.
Set Goals and Objectives for Trade Shows
The first step in trade show planning, or any planning, is to establish what you hope to achieve. Achievement can be measured through both goals and objectives, which are closely tied together.
Goals are the overall impact you hope to move towards. The top goals for trade shows are:
- Improving brand awareness. Most businesses continually aim to boost the awareness of their brands across their key demographics. Setting targets for improving upon your annual baselines is a Key Performance Indicator, and trade shows are one of the best ways to help you get to that goal.
- Lead generation for improved sales. Businesses go to trade shows to attract new purchasers and develop new sales channels. They also often use shows as a means to collect information to improve sales lists.
- Networking. A third and equally important goal of trade shows is to network with colleagues and potential collaborators who can aid business growth.
- Launching a new product. Many businesses use shows as a means to showcase their new technology or service areas, achieving press coverage and peer-knowledge sharing through their trade booth and speaker events.
Objectives are the ways to get to your goals, linked to set milestones within your work plan. Examples of objectives to help you meet the above goals are:
- Designing custom trade show exhibits that stick in an attendee’s mind.
- Achieving a certain number of visits to your booth at each trade show.
- Coming away from trade shows with a certain number of leads for new sales partnerships.
Choose the Right Shows
There are hundreds of different types of trade shows in the United States annually, across dozens of industry sectors, and in almost every key geography. It can be a daunting task to try to pick the right show or shows to attend this year!
First, you might familiarize yourself with the top trade shows in 2024 and 2025. This can help you understand which shows are most popular across industries.
Then, decide what fits best with your goals. If lead generation and brand awareness are the priority, you might choose a show that has the most visitors in your industry.
Also, think about geography. Where do you want to reach people? The majority of shows are in major centers of commerce and places that are easy to travel to and from. New York, Las Vegas, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami are some of the top cities for shows. New York is likely the best place for fashion and apparel, though industry specialists related to cars and tech prefer Las Vegas. You’ll want to conduct a bit of research and understand where the highest potential for synergy lies.
Create a Budget
Attending a trade show requires that you create a budget that factors all of the cost variables. Costs for an event can vary, but almost always include:
- Trade show booth design.
- Shipping.
- Staffing.
- Promotional items and give-aways.
- Travel.
- Event fees.
- Insurance.
- Storage on site.
- Follow-up for lead generation.
You want to make sure you budget enough time for staff and enough funding to design a great display. Also, too often, we forget to include the follow-up costs for traveling and staff time to pursue leads and new relationships.
Design Your Display Around the Goals and Objectives
The marketing should match with your strategy.
For instance, if your key goal is to launch a product, you want to design a display that focuses on that product and creates a spotlight around it. If your goal, however, is to attract visitation to generate brand awareness, the booth should focus on drawing in the most people and making an imprint, through creative games or something engaging for attendees.
Choose the Right Staff and Focus on Prepping Them Beforehand
A critical trade show planning element is personnel. Again, this strategy should relate back to your goals and objectives.
If your objective leans more towards sales, you want your top sales reps at the booth at all times. If it relates back to marketing, then make sure you have key representatives who can speak about your products and services and promote your business most effectively.
Then, prep them by first ensuring that they have the event in their calendar. Then, include them in the planning process. It’s a best practice to start working together months before the event to plan out your goals and objectives. When you do so, set a team leader and a timeline with a functioning work plan. Everyone should know what their role in the event is.
Team members should identify any gaps they have in best supporting the showcasing at the event. Do you need to order uniforms/team t-shirts? Do you have an event schedule planned that includes break times? These are just some of the questions that should be considered at your trade show planning meetings well before the event.
Identify How Your Business is a Game-Changer
People who go to trade shows are looking for game-changing technology, services, or related aspects that can help move the industry forward. It can be a challenge for some businesses to pinpoint their value proposition.
So, first, you want to define it. What makes you better or different from others in the industry? Here are some examples:
- Easier to use.
- Less expensive.
- More attractive.
- Geared towards women or another demographic.
Then, you should make sure your booth and your marketing materials at the event clearly demonstrate this value proposition. For example, if yours is that you are easier to use, incorporate an experiential product display into the booth, comparing your product to the competition.
Hubspot has some great free templates and tools to help you define a value proposition, if you are looking for more resources on the topic.
Advertise that You Will Be at the Trade Show and Where
Make sure that people know that you will be at the event and in what pavilion or slot you will be. Here are some strategies for “pre-gaming” your events.
- Advertise on all your social media and email lists that you will be there.
- Send out a GPS ping to a list of visitors who have pre-scheduled with you so they can find your booth.
- Give people reasons to visit at certain times with pre-scheduled events at your booth.
- Get on the speaker or expert workshop lists so that event marketers can prioritize your name.
Attract and Engage with the Audience
You want to make sure your trade show exhibit is fun, interesting, and engaging for the attendees to get them to your space and keep them there for longer interactions.
At a minimum, the booth should have at least one experiential activity. This means that attendees actually interact with your brand, your products, or your services in some way. It can be as simple as a selfie wall, to encourage them to snap a photo with your logo. 3D videos and games also help.
Then, encourage them to provide contact information via a signup sheet or app. A fishbowl for business cards is a time-told strategy that still works even in our digital age. One way to do this is to provide a give-away, like a nice water bottle or bag of goodies if they provide the information.
Make sure you have the right personnel available, and enough of them, to talk to visitors and answer their questions.
Follow-Up with all Leads after the Trade Show
If you don’t follow up with the leads you have generated, you are wasting time and money! Too often though, businesses focus so much on the event attendance that they forget to budget time for follow-up.
An important part of trade show planning is to consider how many leads you expect to generate, and budget adequate time for sales and marketing staff to follow-up with those leads directly following the event. Ask for a report of those follow-up calls and visits so that you can create an impact assessment of the overall value of the event to your bottom line.
Conclusion on Trade Show Planning Tips
Following any singular tip is simple, but integrating all of them for top level trade show planning can be difficult! Help is available through services like Blazer Exhibits and Events.
From strategic planning of your event goals to picking the right staff and designing your booth, Blazer can help you navigate how to plan a trade show. Get in touch with us today to begin a personalized journey.