ON DISPLAY – How to get good outcomes from a presence at a trade show, conference or expo.
Since restrictions around COVID19 began to loosen, there has been a steady increase in events. The day-to-day routine of doing business has changed since the pandemic with social media and online meeting tools taking a more prominent place at the centre of things. But as the tide comes back into the events industry, there are more opportunities for face-to-face contact with potential customers, partners and media.
Here are 10 ideas to get good outcomes from your display presence at an expo.
1. Stay Fresh
Get enough sleep to stay perky and friendly, because nobody wants to go out of their way to network with a grouchy person who looks hungover.
2. Stay Positive
No matter what you think about Council, the Chamber of Commerce, the Government or the state of the roads – anything that gets you negative, leave it out and stay positive. You won’t encourage visitors to do business with you if you are running everything down. Eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive.
3. Create news
Journalists won’t write an article solely on you attending a trade show. Perhaps you can time a major product announcement with the show or highlight a new business partnership. You should still mention the event in its news release, but it shouldn’t be the only focus.
4. Scope Out the Competition
Which of your competitors are attending? Will they have a booth? Will it be bigger than yours and in a better location? Does it look like they’ve implemented an event-based marketing plan yet? Don’t just stop at the competition — ask the organisers how many people are attending the conference, if it’s expected to sell out, what media are expected to attend and anything else. The more you know about the conference or trade show, the better.
5. Don’t forget to show some love to social media
It’s time to put things like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to good use. Respond, interact, retweet or favourite content you detect about the Expo. Create your own content for the conference, too – tweet your own photos, quotes and commentary. It might even be worth it to host a Twitter chat before, after or during the event. Some people may want to speak their mind about whatever is going on during the conference. You may not want to post 50 updates per day, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t update at all. Make sure you post what’s happening at the conference on the socials, tagging all the relevant people along the way. Maybe even write a quick blog post, including some of the photos and videos you’ve taken that day.
6. Try to Get a Speaking Gig
If you have something interesting to say, see if you can a spot on the line-up as an individual speaker or on a panel with others. This usually takes quite a bit of preplanning, but if you have an idea and a speaking proposal it never hurts to ask.
7. While they’re talking, you’re selling
Research attendees before the show. Aim to schedule meetings with prospect clients. To help prepare for these conversations, it’s important to create key messages. This gives booth visitors a brief yet informative summary of what your company can do for them.
There have been a lot of specialist press and studies done that show that the act of listening is often more powerful in a new business situation than talking. When visitors arrive at your booth and you strike up a conversation, the aim is to get them talking. Ask them questions about their business plan, what their most successful products or services are, what are the key challenges they face at the moment, and so on. Listen carefully and show that you’re listening by nodding and maintaining eye contact. And don’t interrupt – ever.
After the expo, if you’ve noted down the prospect’s key issues, you can create a Google Alert. It will feed your email in-box with items that would be relevant to the prospect. You can forward this in an email of your own to the prospect. You can do this for all prospects. “Spotted this in the media. It’s what we talked about at the Expo. Thought you might be interested.” It’s a useful way to stay in touch and keep you and your brand top-of-mind.
Try Zoom meetings with people who visited your booth for a more in-depth follow-up chat.
8. Gather contact information and follow up after the show
Collect email addresses at the show. Visitors may be wary about giving out their contact information. A raffle or a contest, such as a business card drawing, is a great way to make sure you collect contact information. Along with following up with potential new clients, it’s important to follow-up with media who attended the event. Thank them for attending and share press assets such as photos, b-roll and news release. If media cannot attend the conference, still follow up with news materials to get on their radar.
9. Shake hands with other exhibitors, talk about your company – and have fun!
Collect business cards because you might want to collaborate with other exhibitors after the conference. Write down details on the backs of business cards if necessary, but remember who they are so you can remind them who you are after the event.
10. Take more photos than you think you’ll need
If you have a booth, take pictures of people interacting with your display and your people and using your products. It’s great for social media material, but you can also use the images in blog posts and other marketing collateral. The goal is to come away with usable content, so err on the side of taking more photos than you think you’ll need. You’d be surprised how far a few good pictures can go – but they won’t go anywhere if you don’t take them. After all this is done on the first day, rinse and repeat daily until the conference, trade show or convention is over. By all means go out, mingle and celebrate all your hard work during the event, but in the morning, make sure you get your hustle back and continue the event fresh and positive.
Market Your Business at a Trade Show (After it’s Over)
The work continues after you get home. Here’s what to do next:
- Promote your media coverage. Put it on your website, share it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr, Pinterest and anywhere else that’s relevant.
- Follow up with reporters who gave you media coverage. Thank them for the coverage (or interview, if the coverage hasn’t gone out yet) and let them know that you’ve promoted the content via social media – and tagged them in your updates. Also let the journalists know that you’re available for follow-up questions or to be interviewed about (insert your area of expertise here), so that they know they can reach out to you with questions in the future. This can lead to more coverage.
- Follow up with all the business cards and email addresses you collected. Let the people you met know that it was great to have connected with them and remind them how you met and who you are — something to jog their memory, like how you enjoyed your conversation about (insert what you talked about here). Add them on LinkedIn and follow them on Twitter and maybe even add them on Facebook if you think it’s appropriate.
