Trade Show Checklist
If your company uses trade shows as part of its marketing strategy, track trade show metrics to assess trade show effectiveness. Metrics include the number of people who visited your booth, the number of visitors who expressed serious interest in your products and services, and sales that resulted from trade show attendance. During economic slumps, some companies reduce trade show expenditures because they cannot measure results. Start measuring results now and effectively plan and optimize your events by putting together a trade show checklist.
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Logistics
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Make transportation and hotel arrangements. Review all show deadlines, such as reserving booth space and setting up the booth before the event, recommends Skyline Trade Show Tips. Review event guidelines to make sure you are in compliance. Explore the least expensive but most reliable way to ship your booth and promotional materials to the show site. Set up a procedure to capture the names and addresses of attendees who come to your booth, such as a badge scanner or simply a collection bowl for business cards.
Direct Mail
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Mail a promotional piece to prospects and invite them to your booth. Also, consider buying a list of preregistered attendees and send them a mailing before the show. Use postcards to promote the event and have a call to action. Examples include an invitation to stop by the booth for a prize drawing or to attend special presentations. Postcard marketing is less expensive than sending letters. After the event, mail a thank you note to those who stopped by your booth.
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Booth Talk
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Prepare talking points for each product or service so that those manning the booth have a scripted response to common questions.
Traffic Generation
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Deploy effective strategies to drive prospects to your booth. For example, give away premium incentive items that would appeal to attendees or their kids. One example is golf balls with your company name on it. Place an attention-getting advertisement in the trade show directory.
Meetings
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Set up individual meetings with key prospects and take advantage of their attendance at the event. Arrange for senior sales executives to meet with these prospects to leverage their knowledge and sales experience.
Post-event Activities
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After the event, meet with everyone involved and discuss your presence at the event and ways to improve participation in the next trade show. Assign qualified leads to your salespeople for follow-up.
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