Going to a trade show for the first time? Don’t make the mistake of viewing this as a 1-2 day discreet marketing event. Instead, view your exhibit at a tradeshow as the central feature of a much longer and holistic marketing plan that builds to the event, and then culminates in the successful postshow follow up that signs on new customers. In the next few posts, we are going to break down the tradeshow marketing plan into three bite-size pieces. Today, the pre-show build up.
The goal of your preshow marketing is to attract visitors to your booth at the show. You want them to know about all about you before they take that first walk around the exhibit hall.
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- Take advantage of all the marketing opportunities that the show planner offers. This may include access to an attendees list. If so, use this to send out a few introductory emails prior to the show including your booth number. Send one the day of the show reminding the reader where you are.
- Sponsorships are also an opportunity if your budget allows it. This can be a small ad in the program or sponsoring an event or get-together during the conference. This is a bigger step and may be beyond the budget of an SMB.
- Social Media: Use social media to introduce yourself before the show. This means an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. Send a brief announcement of who you are and that you will be exhibiting at the show, and then a reminder the day of the show or the day before.
- Website and blog: Post an invitation to the show on your website and your blog. This should go up about one week prior the to event.
These are just three simple steps you can take to build momentum before the actual exhibition. Next, we’ll talk about marketing during the show.