It is October and that means it is tradeshow season once again. If you are attending a tradeshow or have in the past, they can be some of the most successful marketing events you will be a part of in your year… or they could be a total waste of time and money. How do you make a tradeshow a phenomenal event for your business? Here are a few tips.

Pre-show marketing

Before you ever sign up for the show, you need to determine who will be attending it. Not necessarily the specific people, but the type of people who will be coming. There are a couple of ways to do this. First, take a look at the other businesses who are vendors at the show. Most tradeshow organizers have a list of exhibitors from the year before and many will tell you who has signed up for space at the current year’s show. Are these the type of businesses who will attract your target market? Do you have competitors who are at the show? Once you have decided to become a vendor, advertise the fact that you will be there. It is not the responsibility of the show managers to advertise your role in the show. This is your responsibility. Talk it up. Very simply, ask your customers to attend the show. If they don’t have a good reason for not attending, give them one. Pay for their admission if there is one. Make it known you will be at the show and they should stop by your booth. In fact, make an appointment with them to meet at your booth. "But they are already our customers,” you might be thinking. "I want new customers from a trade show.” There is a psychology in trade shows. Watch and see if this is not true. People are attracted to booths where other attendees are present and they avoid booths with no activity. By asking your current customers to meet you at your booth, you create interest from prospects. But don’t discount the time spent with current customers. A tradeshow is an environment where most people are willing to at least talk about spending money. Timing is key in selling most people. They have to be in the right frame of mind to talk about needs, contracts and money. The tradeshow forum typically sets that tone.

Marketing at the show

What will you do to draw people to your booth? Many booth vendors resort to give away items. If you do this, make sure you are getting something in return. You should at least be getting contact information. This is where you must engage the attendees in conversation and quickly categorize them. Are they serious prospects? Asking questions like, "what is your interest in our products?” is a fast way to qualify them. Are they serious about doing business or are they just after your free stuff?

Another effective way to engage your audience is to do some sort of demonstration or have something that can be manipulated at your booth. There is nothing like showing a prospect what you can do. Typically it leads to a conversation about their specific needs. If what you have to sell is not easily held or demonstrated, be creative. Find a way to show the benefits of your product in an abstract manner. If you are selling pharmaceuticals, have a 3-D model of a molecule to demonstrate the effectiveness of your drug. If you are cleaning hard water particles from water heating units, show the damage scale can do to a heating element. If you are selling fertilizer, put some dirt in a glass aquarium and describe how soil chemistry works with your product. The bottom line is people respond to tactile demonstrations at trade shows.

That leads me to the things you should never do at a trade show. That would include sitting in your booth, eating in your booth, and leaving the booth unattended. The name of the game at the show is engaging with the customer. Have enough personnel at the booth to give everyone a break, but don’t take your break at the booth.

Post show marketing

Here is where most tradeshow marketing efforts fall short. What happens in the first 48 hours after the show will either make it or break it for most vendors. You need to follow up with some sort of touch to the prospects who stopped by your booth. Even if someone was extremely engaged with you at the booth, they will quickly forget about you if you don’t respond quickly. The first touch may be an e-mail or text. The next touch needs to be a phone call or a visit at their office. Following that, you need to have ongoing marketing pursuing them. Direct mail, e-blasts, or some other form of awareness marketing has to follow them. It is easy for a prospect to put you off after a show. It is easy to let them fade away. Continuing to follow them with your marketing efforts will keep you in the forefront of their thinking.