Have Clear Goals for Your Trade Show

Attending trade shows and marketing events are an investment into your company. You want to make sure that you are getting as much as you possibly can from the experience. Instead of going to the trade show hoping it will generate some additional business for your company, you should set very clear goals for yourself.

Set small goals for every single trade show.

Too often, businesses go to a show with the idea they will talk to a few people and maybe generate a few leads. As a result it is very difficult to gage just how effective the trade show is. Long before any show or event begins, you and any staff members who will be accompanying you need to sit down and decide how many leads you want to create during the trade show, how much information you want to pass out, and how many sales you want to be able to trace back to the trade show.

This year you need to set a goal that you are going to follow up on every single lead you make while attending trade shows.

One of the mistakes that many business owners make when it comes to marketing at trade shows is that they assume that it is enough to just show up. This is not the case at all. Showing up is just part of the job. In able to be truly successful, you need to be willing to follow up on any leads, or even potential leads you might have made while you were there. It doesn’t matter if you were seeking potential employees, or if you were hoping to expand your client base, if someone expressed interest in your company while they were at the trade show, you are the one who needs to make an effort to reconnect with them.

Keep in mind that the memory of people tends to be a little on the short side. While you don’t necessarily want to contact a potential lead the day after the event and come across as pushy, you also don’t want to wait months either. Any leads that you collected during the show need to be followed up within a couple of weeks of the show ending while your company’s name is still fresh in the person’s memory. When you reconnect with the lead, don’t be pushy; just tell them that you wanted to touch base with them. It is best if you make sure that the employee who is following up on the lead is the same person that the potential customer spoke to at the trade show.

Keep track of your results.

If you are like many businesses, you spend an extraordinary amount of time traveling from one event to another. The odds are pretty good that the results will vary from show to show. So, this year make an effort to sit down and measure the results from every show you attend. By knowing the results, you will be able to better calculate which trade shows you should continue attending, what trade show marketing ploys are the most successful, and hopefully how you can make each appearance a little more effective. Knowing the results of your trade shows will make it easier for you to set goals for the next year.