Trade shows can be an incredibly useful tool for promotion and sales for companies, since it is an exhibition organized for companies to showcase and demonstrate their productions, and services, meet with industry partners and customers, study activities of competition, and research market trends and opportunities.
Planning a successful trade show requires excellent organization, creativity, and resilience. Planning a trade show involves different mastering skills, including strategic planning, marketing execution, and event planning.
Even in today’s digitally connected world, people still value in-person connections, a reason why trade shows can be so successful. They offer the opportunity for customers to communicate face to face with their prospective and existing customers. But, creating and managing a trade show can be a stressful experience, here are five tips to help you prepare for your next trade show:
1. Begin Planning Your Trade Show
The first step is to plan your trade show. Spending time to create a plan of action will help your chances of running a successful event. Having a plan that includes identifying your potential market, drafting a project specification, drafting your market plan, locating trade show exhibit rentals, and establishing a budget can help you to reduce the financial risks of hosting a trade show.
2. Pick a Crew to Help You Run the Trade Show
You need a team to help you plan and run a trade show for it to be a success. When creating your team, you can outsource or hire people. It is recommended to hire people for the tasks that are considered valuable and to outsource jobs that are considered less relevant. It is essential to have a project manager, event planner, marketing manager, and sales on your trade show team. Items related to operations, graphics, and web design can be outsourced, as can things like av services, if you intend to have large stages and displays as part of the show for people such as key speakers or any entertainment you have planned.
3. Find a Sponsor for the Trade Show
Getting the word out and promoting your trade show can be hard. Something that could help you is getting a partner to sponsor your trade show. You want the sponsor to have expertise in the industries you are targeting. When partnering with a sponsor, you should ask for help in marketing your event, and this includes access to customer’s records, displaying brochures and flyers in their stores, and asking for help and advice for hosting a successful trade show. In return for sharing information, the sponsor should receive exposure before, during and after the event.
4. Choose the Perfect Venue
As the planning takes shape, you will need to start thinking more about your operational tasks. By now, you should have an understanding of the market for your trade show. You should have an idea of how many attendees and the number of exhibitors will be attending. When you have a better understanding of numbers, it helps in choosing a venue. When selecting your place, you need to evaluate the location, is the area close to freeways, hotels, and restaurants? Is it centrally located, does the venue offer free marketing, help with event planning and boosting attendance Is the place flexible on times, is it one big room or multiple rooms?
5. Securing Trade Shows Coast to Coast
It is important to invest in security, such as trade show video monitoring to protect all of the exhibitor’s valuable equipment and supplies. Using video surveillance will help in preventing theft and vandalism, deliver real-time monitoring of critical areas, provide definite proof of an incident or accident, and provide visual evidence of a crime for police investigations. Having video monitoring at your trade show helps you with peace of mind of exhibits being secured.
The Wrap Up
Planning a trade show requires a lot of work. There will be multiple tasks to handle, and the organization should be your top priority. Developing a plan of action is needed to execute tasks, remain on schedule, and budget. It will be a stressful time with lots of ups and downs but stay focused on your final goal, and you are bound to have a successful trade show.