How did your last trade show or exhibition stack up against the competition? Here are a few tips on improving your success with exhibition and tradeshow prospects.
Do you have a target audience? Define the basic characteristics of your exhibition target audience. Industry, geographical, budgets and even company size may be key segments within your audience. Information is gold, so the more you know about your exhibition target audience, the more you can tailor your campaign to attract their attention and meet their needs.
Communicate with your audience. Before the trade show or exhibition, send e-mails or direct mail information that include your exhibit details and why prospects should visit your booth.
Separate your audience from the general exhibition visitors. Train your staff to identify great prospects quickly by asking a couple of initial questions after welcoming attendees to the booth. Perhaps encourage prospects to bring a pre-event mailer to your exhibition stand or booth to redeem it for a promotional item. Bottom line, you?d probably rather spend your quality time with your most qualified attendees, so determine how you?re going to know who they are when they come to visit you during the show.
Customize the experience. Unless every member of your target audience is identical, it?s unlikely that the exact same sales pitch is appropriate for everyone. In the end, you?re far more likely to be successful if you know your prospects and demonstrate that during your exhibition communications.
Don?t forget to follow up. Have a follow up plan to communicate with your leads and booth visitors after the event. Take what you learn about each of your top prospects during the show and then customize your follow-up accordingly.