Did you know the average tradeshow attendee will wait only three minutes before moving on? With more marketing dollars spent on tradeshow exhibitions than on magazine, radio, and outdoor advertising each year, realizing value from your tradeshow investment is important.
Create a booth that integrates your marketing strategy message and offers an environment for interaction. Tradeshows are about face-to-face opportunities and discussion, so don’t line the aisle with tables. Make sure attendees feel comfortable entering the booth, touching exhibits and talking with staff. Use preshow communications to generate excitement for the booth. Giveaways that tie into your marketing message are much more memorable after the show.
Don’t clutter your booth with bodies. Many companies bring an army to the show, only to have so many people in the booth that customers are intimidated to cross onto their carpet. Schedule only a few well trained staff. Determine key messages and define parameters for a qualified customer. A great strategy is to have a cheap giveaway to offer to non-qualified attendees to get them moving along so your team can concentrate on qualified leads. It is better to leave the show with fewer “real” customers than a laundry list of people who were scanned into a database. Make sure to let customers know what you want them to do or what the next step in their experience with your company will be such as a follow-up call or special show sale opportunity. Have a strong post-show plan to capitalize on each opportunity. Don’t just hand the leads over to sales team and wait for the results.
