Trade shows are an important and expensive part of a companies overall marketing strategy. Presented here are ideas to help make your companies next trade show a great success!
The planning stage
Have an overall goal for your carefully chosen event staff. It is good to have a mix of experienced and new personnel. New people bring excitement and new ideas while experienced personnel avoid some pit falls and bring knowledge and expertise. A lead person should be tasked with reading the exhibitors manual which details exhibitor information such as: schedules, floor plans, time of operation, internet connectivity, and all pertinent details. If you are showing equipment, make sure that appropriate power sources are available and what electrical restrictions might apply; do this in far enough advance so you can pose questions that affect your company directly. Some times though you plan and research the event thoroughly unforeseen challenges arise. You can overcome these challenges by being flexible and being able to link back to headquarters for support, and a good tool to use is a wireless device like the Nextel Radio which provides a superior communication interface. You can find them at http://www.rentacomputer.com/events/nextel-rentals.asp
The day of the event
If possible, have the demonstrations running in automatic mode or maybe on a projector or laptop. Remember, at a trade show, you are competing for attendees attention and technology is an excellent means to accomplish this goal. Your event staff needs to be focusing on the people that have chosen to come to your booth, not going through features advantages and benefits. Use technology to do the FAB (features advantages and benefits) while the event staff concentrate on the important part of the show: human interaction! (If you need assistance with this sort of automation, try an organization like the Tech Travel Agent. You can reach them at: http://www.techtravelagent.com/ or (800) 736-8772. Make sure to do some role-play with event staff to ensure that they are up to date on all the latest company offerings and company wide current events. Finally, the weekend before give them a long weekend-you need your staff bright and energetic-not over worked and jet lagged! Make sure to get business cards from every attendee at the company booth and make sure that their phones and emails are on their business cards!
Post show
Attendees need immediate follow up after the show. There should be some one from HQ who calls the attendees the afternoon after the show, or the Monday afternoon after a weekend show to answer any question about the show, company products, or the company itself. This person is just as if not more important than the event staff! This important follow up should be probably tasked to a marketing manager, not sales staff and certainly not the sales secretary! After the show, evaluate how well the company achieved its trade show goals and fine tune your company strategy to make the next show event better!
Follow these steps, and your company will be on the way to having a successful trade show strategy!
Looking for a short term mobile technology rental to to make your next trip a success? Call 800-736-8772 today and ask about our Nextel Rentals, Two Way Radio Rentals, or even our Aircard Rentals!
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