In our work with both organisers and exhibitors of trade shows we come across a pretty amazing amount of oversight. Lots of savvy marketing professionals know exactly what to do when it comes to running a social media or a direct advertising campaign, but put them on a tradestand and common sense can fly out the window. These five tips will seem obvious once you’ve read them, but ask yourself this: were you doing them before?

1. Starting at the End

This might sound backwards, but bear with us. ‘Starting at the end’ means connecting your endgame targets to every process in your exhibiting experience. Identify your specific targets (the end) and then go back to the beginning. Everything that you do on your stand should be executed with the endpoint in sight.

2. Having a Follow-Up Plan

So, you’ve done your trade show, you’ve got a few decent leads and hopefully made lots of connections, but what’s next? Too many exhibitors fail to prioritise the follow-up call or email that should be part and parcel of their exhibiting process. Leave it too long and you might be forgotten; go in all guns blazing and you might be too much. And don’t forget to think outside the box. The follow-up doesn’t have to be a solitary phone call. We’ve found follow-up events for the most promising prospects to be a great way to connect with potential clients and partners on a more personal level.

3. It’s Not Just How Your Stand Looks That Counts

Admittedly, this third point is a little misleading. Of course, you shouldn’t neglect the appearance of your stand, but it’s astounding how many exhibitors put all of their time and energy into the stand’s design without so much as a thought to its usability. A good stand has the potential to entice new clients, retain existing ones and free you up to talk to as many prospects as possible. Use your stand to guide visitors on a journey designed by you, keeping you in control of the flow of delegates.

4. Have you Got the Right Staff?

Something that is always well-recognised in our exhibiting masterclasses is the familiar image of the sleeping/uninterested/texting exhibitor. Too many stands are staffed by people who simply do not want to be there and this is a massive mistake. Why spend all that capital to exhibit if you’re not willing to put the right people out in front? Identify the right people for the job, train them in how to do it and if they aren’t already in-house, hire them in from outside.

5. How do you Measure Your Results?

So you’re working from the end, you’ve got your targets, but do you know how to measure them accurately and quickly? It doesn’t need to take years to work out the value from a tradeshow, it just takes better planning. At the end of the day, much of exhibiting is a numbers game. Feedback forms on the stand are a great way to measure how many valuable prospects have visited your stand and how many of those are interested in doing work with you. These results alone will point you in the right direction of the profit that’s coming your way. Go to our Outcomes tool to find out more.