Tips to Get the Best Out of Your Trade Show Experience

There are literally hundreds of books and seminars dedicated to improving your trade show success—as well as high-powered (and high-priced) consultancies with the know-how to give your organization a trade show face list. But there are some simple things your company can do to drive up sales and contacts. The following trade show tips are a great place to get started boosting your organization's performance.

• Get consistent


• Be visible


• Add after-show services


• Get consistent

Get Consistent
This trade show tip relates to areas ranging everywhere from messaging all the way down to business cards and direct e-mails. In television advertising, viewers take in the marketing content in the comfort and quiet of their home. At trade show displays the audience is a) surrounded by a large, active and noisy crowd; b)there in person and able to interact.

This demands that your company be very consistent. The demeanor of your representatives needs to reflect your company's message, as do the on-site literature and Web and other promotional content. The challenge is to create a magnetic message that will resonate with your target individuals and organizations—while simultaneously taking advantage of the unique face-to-face environment trade shows offer.

Next trade show tip:

Be visible
Today's trade show industry is swamped with buzzwords and gurus, leading many companies to overlook this most fundamental of trade show principles. This tip is designed to put you back on the track—with a close look at the fundamentals. Think big for your next trade show exhibition. Take a look at the eye-catching designs used to draw jaded commuters' eyes to the billboards of Los Angeles and other major American cities. Don't be afraid of moving parts, flat screens and controversy—just be afraid of invisibility.

Add after-show services
This last trade show tip should be a no-brainer for veteran sales and marketing people, but you'd be surprised how many companies miss out on golden, after-show opportunities. Push your follow up to the hilt—you're sure to find extra sales, warmed contacts and some honest feedback. Most trade show venues and organizers take pains to send out thank you letters to attendees, with questionnaires on how to improve for next year. As an exhibitor you should do the same. Use the after-show comedown period to ask your contacts what they'd like to see you do better at the next exhibition, as well as their general impressions of your company. Make hit-and-run illegal at your company.

Advent is an experiential marketing firm that exists to help businesses engage their audience with a key message through face-to-face experiences. Advent offers its expertise in three categories of service: exhibits, events and environments.