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Can A Trade Show Boost Your Small Business?
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Article 4: Pre-Show Marketing
If there’s one thing that virtually every expert in trade show marketing agrees on, it’s this: What you do before the show will go a long way toward determining the success of your trade show exhibition.
“You can’t just show up at a trade show and expect prospects to flock to you,” says Stephen Schuldenfrei, president of the Trade Show Exhibitors Association, the national trade association for event marketing professionals. “It’s up to the trade show organizer to get attendees in the door, but it’s up to you to get them to your booth.”
Pre-show marketing and promotion can take many forms, but it mostly involves sending direct mail to registered attendees before the show. Most shows provide registration lists to exhibitors free of charge, says Schuldenfrei, although some shows charge a small fee. Here are a few tips for your pre-show marketing efforts:
Send a postcard, letter or direct mail package to the registration list that gives a compelling reason for them to stop at your booth. This may be a new product introduction or a giveaway, for example, but it has to grab their attention and be memorable, since attendees are likely receiving many such pieces. Advertise in the advance trade show program, as well as your industry trade journals. Issue press releases announcing special show promotions, key employees who will be attending the show, new product launches, etc. Mail your own personal invitations to the show, your booth and any social events (like a hospitality suite) you may be planning to your own list of customers and prospects. Several days before the show, call your current customers and top prospects who will be attending the show to again invite them to your booth and social events.
Research indicates that most trade show attendees come to a show with an agenda of which sessions they plan to attend and which exhibits they plan to visit. Your goal should be to get on as many of these lists as possible.
“Pre-show marketing is so important that I recommend scaling back on the size or features of your booth if you have to in order to pay for it,” says Schuldenfrei.
His most important piece of advice: “Send your mail early and use first-class mail, if possible. This may seem obvious, but I get pre-show mail after I return from shows all the time. You should mail at least three to four weeks before the show.”
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