Trade shows are a great way to get your company or product in front of potential customers. Having a booth at a trade show enables you to have face-to-face interaction with people who are key influencers or decision makers for an organization.

How can you ensure your company is making the most out of its trade show experience? This edition of TRIO offers tips to help ensure your company stands out in the crowd.

1. Do Your Prep Work

You’ve researched a trade show and decided it’s the right fit for your business, now what? One of the first things you’ll need to do is define your trade show objective. Are you there to sell your existing product or introduce what’s coming up next? Are you there to connect with your current customers or meet new prospects? Is conducting market research your goal or are you there to check out your competition? When your purpose is clear, it will be easier for you to determine exactly who your target is at the show.

2. Put on Your Best Show

Booth design and layout is critical to trade show success. You’ll have anywhere from 3 to 5 seconds to catch a passerby’s attention, so the design of your booth should be both attention grabbing and informative. Your booth should highlight the product or service that you’re offering as well as the name of your company. You’ll likely want to use banner stands, lighting and other fixtures to set your booth apart, but be sure to contact show organizers and ask whether or not there are restrictions. Some shows allow only tabletop banners while others allow you to make the most out of your entire floor space.

3. Don’t Forget to Follow Up

After the show is over, it’s time for the real work to begin. It’s essential that you follow up with any leads that you made during the show. The first step should be to organize your leads, prioritizing them into categories. You can then tailor your follow up plan to their grouping. For instance, hot leads may get a phone call from you while cold leads may only get an email reminding them about your company or your product. Follow up is an essential step to a successful trade show experience. Don’t forget, you’ve worked too hard to let new leads go!

Interested in learning more about how to make the most out of your company’s next trade show experience? Join us for the upcoming Effective Booth Organization class. Call 405.377.3333 with questions or get registered here. To find out about more courses like this sign up for our monthly newsletter. View all of our upcoming courses in our catalog.