Trade Show Marketing Quick Guide

Trade show marketing is definitely something that is useful at the moment, although the popularity of trade shows is low at the moment. This low reputation is why you need to be really careful whenever organizing a trade show. You want to avoid all the cheesy promotions and the desperate selling approach that everyone uses. Those that attend the event will see a lot of that anyway.

Trade Show Marketing – What Is It?

The definition is definitely simple. Trade show marketing is the marketing that you use to promote a trade show, which typically takes place in a large ballroom or a convention center. There is usually just one industry that is covered and participants usually sell services in that particular industry. Companies can easily connect with customers, demonstrations are held and various promotions try to capture attendee attention.

Trade Show Marketing Disadvantages

Not many disadvantages can be mentioned but there is one that is quite important. Such a campaign brings in a lot of time and cost that are needed. A company will always need to plan for a long time, usually months, in order to get everything done properly. At the same time, a large amount of money is usually needed to prepare for any trade show, even if the actual event only lasts a couple of days as an average.  Any miscalculation would lead to huge problems and you cannot do much to fix problems after the trade show starts.

Trade Show Marketing Strategies

While there are many that can be mentioned, we will remain focused just on those that have been proven as being really effective:

• Using A Business Theater

This is where the sales representative can give a presentation about the services and products of a company. The companies that manage to have a large booth will usually employ this tactic. Sustained sales pitches can be held for those customers that already show an interest in what is offered by a firm.

• Briefing Zone

This is quite similar to the business theater but the scale is quite smaller. This is where the attendee is welcomed and offered a short overview of what the firm has to offer. Interest is thus generated.

• Using Booth Activities

This is quite a simple way in which attendee interest is captured. In most situations the booth activities are offering fun filled activities like interactive kiosks, prizes and games. Really good activities are going to put an emphasis on both entertaining the guests and sales points. Alternatively, you can combine these with booth tours.

Who Should Use Trade Show Marketing?

Basically any company that wants to participate in a trade show and that wants to meet up with prospective attendees should consider using trade show marketing. Companies from so many industries ranging from food services to video game makers have been using these for years now. The best example of a huge trade show event is E3, which features close to 50,000 professionals in the industry every single year.