How to Develop a Winning Tradeshow Marketing Plan

Ok, I'm going to cut right to the chase here.

 

Your tradeshow marketing plan will have 3 parts:

 

Pre Show

At the show

After the Show

 

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to accomplish the following:

 

Deliver the message to the target audience

 

Make your show presence memorable, measurable and under budget

 

Build your brand.

 

Let's begin with pre-show contact. Did you know that 75% of booth visits are planned in advance yet 75% of exhibitors do not participate in pre-show contact? That's money left on the table, folks! Consider the following statistics: attendees spend 6-8 hours on the floor. They average 16-25 exhibitor visits. This is where you start to become memorable.

 

You can raise awareness of your upcoming show in a variety of ways. Some popular techniques include direct mail, room drops, website ads, email invitations, fax invitations, public relations, advertising, pre-show staff communications, and telemarketing.

 

If you want your staff to be busy engaging prospects and clients instead of twiddling their thumbs, offer your visitors an incentive to stop by your booth. Traffic will increase when a gift is promised at the booth. Traffic will increase when a <i>companion</i> gift is given at the booth. Include your company contact information on the gifts. 80% of exhibitors do not and this is a huge mistake!

 

Your goals with the pre-show contact are similar to those of your complete marketing plan. You want to target your audience, deliver the message, invite them to your booth and build your brand.

 

My next post will discuss booth layout and how to discourage freebie seekers.