There are a number of ways to gain exposure for your business. However, how often can you get the opportunity to introduce your business to hundreds of potential clients in only one day? That is the power of participating in a tradeshow. All the work of brining potential clients to your door is done for you—all you need to do is sign up, show up and put your company’s best foot forward! If you play your cards right, you could leave the tradeshow at the end of the day with a stack of business cards of people who are interested in doing business with you! The issue, however, becomes how to make sure you are doing everything possible to gain that tradeshow traffic and gain the interest of those who stop by so you can follow up with a one-on-one meeting. Here are a few tips from the experts on how to make your booth and attractive destination for all those who attend the tradeshow!
Sharing what your business does and how it can help the people who are at the tradeshow (or the people they know) is the major point of participating in a tradeshow. Depending on the size of the show, you can potentially share your message with hundreds or even thousands of people. Though it is possible to touch that many people with other forms of marketing, it usually is NOT possible to do it in person and in one day like you can do at a tradeshow.
According to Pat Jarrett with Speedpro Imaging, “Creating a brand and marketing it to set you apart from your competition is the important thing at a tradeshow. You need something that stays true to what your business does, but that also really stands out. It’s also important to get your name out to the public and show the quality of your products and capabilities to potential customers and clients.”
Having a great looking booth that draws the eye is important to grab attention and bring people to your booth. “Banners are a great way to promote your business at tradeshows,” says Scott Stara of Revolution Wraps. “Creating full color banners at photo quality resolution, which are an inexpensive and captivating approach to attract consumers to your business, is our specialty. Retractable banner stands are generally considered the easiest and most convenient trade show banner to use, which is why they have become the most popular style of banner at tradeshows. A single person can easily set up most retractable banner stands in under one minute.” If you really want to blow the competition out of the water, you may even want to consider bringing a vehicle that has been wrapped with custom-designed graphics, another specialty of Revolution Wraps. Just ask the tradeshow coordinators for guidelines on where you can park it.
Maximizing the space you have at a tradeshow is critical in getting the correct message across and attracting people to your booth. “Using different styles of booths is one way you can maximize the limited space you have in your display area,” says Brad Donner of Ham It Up. “The way we really can help businesses set their booths apart from the others is by offering photo booth rental.” Having a photo booth at your tradeshow area not only makes it a unique attraction at the show, but it also encourages participation from those who stop by. Not only will you get to shake their hands and introduce yourself and your business, but you’ll also be able to encourage them to jump into the photo booth with a friend or co-worker and take some great photos. Since almost everyone will save fun photos like this, they will be reminded of your booth (and your business) far into the future. More than likely, this will make you one of the most memorable booths at the show.
SpeedPro’s products and services can also help enhance your booth area. “We have a team that offers creative tradeshow design, branding and marketing ideas,” says Pat. “We produce all tradeshow booths and retractable banner stands and graphics and also provide many styles of vehicle wraps which many customers have displayed at tradeshows for marketing and branding.”
It’s important to properly plan when you’ve committed to displaying at a trade show. Here are a few tips that will help you take full advantage of your time at the show:
Set Clear Goals for Your Participation Do you know exactly what you want out of your participation? Do you expect to sell inventory? How much? Are you focusing on promotion or hoping to launch a new product or service? Do you want to gather cards from a certain number of prospects? Once you know your goals, you can determine if your tradeshow is a success or not.
Plan Your Budget and Book Your Space Find out everything you can about your space, including where it is on the floor, what kind of other trade show displays will be around it, whether it’s a high traffic or low traffic area and the physical conditions of your display space, such as lighting, table cloths and electrical outlets.
Advertise in Advance Put the word out that you’re participating in a tradeshow by inviting your clients, customers, suppliers and other contacts to attend the show. Advertise it on your website and anywhere else you promote your company as well. You might attract a number of tradeshow attendees that would normally not attend and they will all be there specifically to see you!
Now that you know how important it is participate in tradeshows and you’ve gathered some tips on how to be successful, you’re probably wondering what the tradeshow options are in the area! Here are a few you should check out:
Western Douglas County Chamber of Commerce Business Expo
The 5th annual Western Douglas County Chamber of Commerce Business Expo will be held September 29th from 11 am to 5 pm at The Club at Indian Creek on 202nd & Maple.
Speakers will include Tom Becka, radio personality and author of “There’s No Business Without the Show”; Strictly Business Magazine will present press release and ad design tips; Jay Miralles with Farm Bureau gives tips, tricks and tools for successful networking and Tony Mayer, Business Consultant, discusses common sense tidbits for everyday use at home and at the office.
Be a part of one of the fastest growing chambers around. Save the date now to attend this event. Info and tickets can be found at www.wdccc.org or by calling Amy at (402) 289-9560.
Buy the Big O! Show
The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce’s Buy the Big O! Show will be held Wednesday, October 12th from 8:30 am to 5 pm at the Qwest Center Omaha, Exhibit Hall C, 455 North 10th Street.
The Buy the Big O! Show is the region’s largest and most prestigious business-to-business tradeshow and brings approximately 350 exhibiting businesses and more than 5,000 people together in one day.
For more information or to reserve a booth, visit www.buythebigoshow.com.