How to Run Effective Trade Show Marketing that Get More Leads?

What Is a Trade Show?

A trade show is an event that centers around an industry. As mentioned above, it is great for brands looking to display their products or services and promote them personally to interested potential buyers.
People mistakenly assume that trade shows are similar to conferences. While conferences are open to the public, trade shows have a specific audience only.
Attendees are commonly from companies within a particular industry, as well as qualified buyers and salespeople.

How To Conduct a Trade Show Marketing?

Implementing trade show marketing requires strong strategies. Here are the things you must prepare before you get your brand’s products and services out there!

1. Choose the Right Trade Show

Your automotive business won’t gain much from attending a trade show dedicated to culinary, right? That’s why it is important to research and sign up for events related to your industry. Consider factors including location, size, attendee demographics, and reputation of the trade show.

Here’s one of the trade shows our team attended before. As we are in the sourcing industry, this event is a perfect place for us to connect with manufacturers, factories, and other businesses. 

2. Define Your Goals

You must have something great to achieve for attending a trade show. Whether you want to boost your sales, get leads, build connections, or create brand awareness, you must be clear about your objective.

Thus, it is critical to have a detailed outline of your tasks, timelines, and responsibilities leading up to the event.

3. Prepare Your Budget

Budget is crucial when planning to participate in an event. Allocating the right resources for expenses like booth rentals, signage, promotional items, travel, and accommodation should be considered.

4. Create Promotional Strategies

Come up with a promotional strategy that will attract your target audience and resonate with them. Utilize social media platforms to reach more leads and create a buzz. Promote and encourage them to visit your booth during the event.

5. Plan Your Booth Design and Layout

Design your booth to reflect the products or services you offer. Organize your items wisely. Make sure to consider the layout, lighting, signage, and branding.

In addition, you may also provide live product demonstrations to interact with your customers. Provide experiences that will make your brand stand out among all the brands present.

Take a look at this booth from Bissel during the PPAI Expo 2024. They had a space in their booth where attendees could play with puppies and pet them. They carpet is logo branded with their logo.

6. Train Your Staff

Before the trade show, communicate with your staff about the objectives and expectations of the event. Provide training and coaching if necessary. This may include product features and benefits, customer service skills, lead generation techniques, and handling objections.

Equipping your staff with the right knowledge can help them provide correct details about your product and services.

7. Offer Trade Show Promotional Giveaways. 

Promotional products can boost your marketing efforts by improving your brand awareness. More specifically, whenever your recipients use the product, they’ll remember your company and their positive interaction during the show.

Make sure you customize your products with your brand logo. Thus, your recipient can help you subtly advertise your brand.

Here are some of the most common trade show promotional items:

Benefits of Trade Show Marketing

1. Perfect Way to Conduct Market Research

Trade shows aren’t just about showcasing your products. They’re prime opportunities to gather valuable industry intelligence, particularly on your competitors. Make sure to schedule some time to explore the event floor.

Likewise, visiting competitor booths lets you observe their products or services directly. This lets you compare their offerings to yours and see what aspects they prioritize in marketing.

2. Get Real-Time Feedback

Potential customers get a hands-on experience with your new product or service at your booth. This sparks instant feedback: concerns, questions, and even excitement! This valuable two-way dialogue shapes your product development and marketing strategy.

The feedback you gather helps you refine your offerings. It highlights areas for improvement and identifies features that resonate with your target audience.

3. Gain Direct Access to Buyers

Trade shows provide a unique opportunity for direct, in-person engagement with potential customers. These conversations allow you to build a human connection that transcends the limitations of a screen. Establishing rapport lays the groundwork for a lasting relationship, the first step towards converting interest into loyal customers.

4. Shorten Your Sales Cycle

While some industries face lengthy buying cycles, especially in B2B sales, trade shows offer a unique chance to accelerate the process. Trade shows allow you to make a strong impression on the spot. This immediacy can lead to faster buying decisions. Plus, you can leverage exclusive trade show offers like discounts or freebies to incentivize immediate action.

5. Driving Brand Awareness

Trade shows are prime opportunities to make a lasting impression on your target audience. With a strategic approach, you can transform your booth into a magnet for attendees.

The key to success lies in meticulous planning. Leverage your existing network by inviting current leads directly to your booth. Complement this with a visually stunning booth design that utilizes your brand identity. This one-two punch will grab attention and draw attendees in.

Trade Show Samples

1. Bulleit Whisky Frontier had some of the coolest trade show marketing ideas at Imbibe Live 2017. They prepared fun games for visitors and exciting contest giveaways. Their brand activation campaign was unique and effective because the reward system involved active interaction.

The game was an interactive one. Customers were asked to draw a flask from the basket, filling each with either Bullet Borbon Whiskey or Bulleit Rye Whiskey. Participants had to taste the drinks before the game to know the difference. If they guessed the products right, they would get exclusive liquor promo gifts such as branded t-shirts and promotional flasks.

Why We Love Bulleit Whiskey’s Trade Show Marketing Ideas?

• Interactive: Customers will have to taste and guess what type of liquor is inside the flask. They get exclusive customer giveaways if they win, which motivates them to participate. Once the customers taste their products, they might decide to buy them.

• Improves Experience: This trade show marketing scheme is a great way to appeal to the senses and make a great first impression. Customers will always remember the fun that transpired during the game, and this can positively affect their perception of the brand.

• The Branded Flask is a Collector’s Item: The small branded flask is a tangible reminder of their fun experience at the trade show. The shiny metallic body with an embossed logo looks high quality and resembles vintage liquor flasks. Collectors and drinks enthusiasts will love the design.

• The Branded Shirt Raises Brand Awareness: Customers can also use the branded T-shirt to help raise brand awareness outside of the trade show booth.

• Nice Presentation: The use of a custom POS display made their presentation more appealing to potential customers and clients.

Bulleit Frontier Whiskey succeeded in creating a wonderful brand experience during the trade show by incorporating games and contest prizes. The taste tests were also an effective tactic, as they gave customers an idea of how their products differed from other whiskey brands at the show.

2. Slow Down Displays is one of the attendees during the PPAI Expo 2024. The company utilized a mascot to attract an audience. Likewise, they also conduct content during the event.

Aside from the giant mascot, Slow Display also gave away custom keychains to participants.

Revisiting previous trade shows we attended…

Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) Expo is the largest and most important promotional product trade show.  Our team was able to participate in this event last January.

Cosmoprof Asia is the largest gathering of cosmetics merchants and key players in the cosmetics supply chain. The trade fair was held in Hong Kong, and we found a number of awesome merchandise on display.

Imbibe Live brings the entire drinks community together yearly to take part in invaluable networking opportunities and learn from our award-winning brands. ODM had the chance to join this event in 2016.

Over 30 companies were present at The 18th Intl Textile and Garment Industry Exhibition to showcase their products! The ODM team in Vietnam certainly could not miss this opportunity to network.

Asia World-Expo Centre hosted the most successful printing and packaging events from 27th-30th April 2013! Featuring hundreds of exhibitors, the fair will be booming with printing and packaging companies all over China and some overseas.

The 114th edition of the Canton Fair occurs every year in Guangzhou (southwest of China). The event is divided into 3 phases, and ODM staff have attended all of them.

To Wrap Up…

Trade show marketing is undeniably the best medium if you are looking to get leads, build connections, and boost brand visibility. However, in order to get all these benefits, you must know how to create effective marketing. The guides provided above can help you create a great one.

So, what are you waiting for? Start planning your next trade show and watch your leads and conversions skyrocket through the clouds, literally. For your trade show marketing needs, feel free to connect with us! We are here to assist you!

All you need to know about trade show marketing!