Make sure you get the most out of exhibiting at a trade show by following these handy marketing tips:
Email signature
A
really simple thing to do and really effective! Make sure you have a sign off signature
with your name, job title and contact telephone number to end every email. Always add details of your next event,
exhibition, or direct people to your e-store with a descriptive message that
stands out and catches the eye.
Press release
Send
out a press release to your press contacts informing them that you will be
attending a trade- show; include dates, your stand number, your product details
and an image. Remember that monthly
magazines require information 3 months in advance for inclusion in
publications. Good product photography
both as a cutout and in situ should be available. Also include information on whether your
product is available to the press to borrow for photo shoots. Follow up with a phone call or email.
Personal invitations
Press
and customer invitations – do personally invite selected people to come and
view your work on the stand, including past customers and contacts, current ones
and people that you’d like to forge a relationship with such as buyers,
journalists, independent stores, interior designers or stylists.
Twitter
Include
short updates on twitter of how you are preparing for the show, what products
you will be exhibiting, include picture links, hash tags, links to your website
and/or Facebook page or blog and ask people to retweet. Also include the Twitter handles for the
venue / trade show you are exhibiting at and include handles for other people
you might want to see your tweets.
Get
involved with Forward Friday too as many people retweet you if you include them
in your suggestions and the knock on effect is gaining more followers.
Tweeting
can be done daily over the week and weekend and it’s easy to update on the
move. Most people use Twitter between
8am-7pm Mon – Sun. If you find you get
sucked in to Twitter and end up wasting time updating on a daily basis you can
use Hoot Suite to schedule tweets. This
method is particularly useful during exhibition time when you might be busy
talking to visitors to your stand, schedule tweets to go out throughout the day
including pictures of your stand and the exhibition.
Facebook
Most
people use Facebook after 7pm in the evening during the week and over the
weekend. It makes sense to post things
during this time so your status updates show up in timelines. It’s easy to update on the move with more
information and involvement than Twitter.
So if you have a good group of friends on Facebook invite them to your
exhibition through the Events button and post about it on your timeline.
Linked In
Linked
In is a great platform to connect with your professional audiences,
commissioners, buyers, journalists and update / email them with information
about your trade show. Update people on
your activity
Blog
It’s
nice to elaborate on certain topics with a more in-depth piece, which can
include a mixture of images and text or just images with captions. You need to be realistic on how often you
want to commit to blogging – if you blog twice a week will you have much to
say? If you blog once every other week
you can update people on what you’ve been up to if it’s been a particularly
busy time. Ensure your blog is well
written and interesting. Direct people to your blog via the platforms above and
consider doing a blog post midway through your trade show to update your
audiences and give them a sneaky peek at your stand, it may encourage them to
come and have a look!
E-bulletin / e-newsletter
E-bulletins
differ slightly from blogs in that you are sending directly to the inbox of
opted in customers an interested parties.
As with blogs, don’t send ebulletins if you don’t have anything new and
interesting to say. You don’t want an
email from your address to become an instantly deletable email. Make sure the subject field is something
captivating inducing curiosity to open and read the ebulletin. You could send a series of e-newsletters over
a period of time leading up to your exhibition / trade show offering a new
slant and new information each time.
Website
Update
regularly with your new products, exhibitions you are involved in and trade
shows you are attending. Updating images
every few month on the home page will keep it looking fresh. It is especially important that your website
is up and running and current when attending a trade show. Remember to Include trade show information,
links through to booking/ticketing and your stand details so people know where
to find you!
