Events provide organisations with an opportunity to market themselves to potential clients and media. It also provides exiting clients and staff with an opportunity to engage with a company in a fun and interesting way.
Below are five tips to maximise the effectiveness of exhibiting at events:
1. Set objectives
Have a reason for being part of the event. Are you there to gather sales leads? Are you there to demonstrate your new products or services? Are you there to build brand awareness?
2. Have specific strategies to meet the objectives
Once you know your objectives build a strategy around achieving that goal. This strategy should include ways to increase traffic to the stand.
For example, if your objective is to make sales, do you send a sales person or a product designer to talk about product aspects? Set targets so staff can strive to achieve a clear goal and also so you can measure your success.
3. Make sure your booth is engaging
Spending a little bit extra on well-designed booth with prominent branding will let attendees know exactly who your organisation is and what it does. Your booth is a reflection of your organisation, so make sure it strikes the right balance of attractive and performance. Aspects to consider are brochures, flyers, branded merchandise, pull up banners and posters. You could also:
Run a competition
This is likely to increase foot traffic to your booth and generate sales leads.
Have iPads at your booth
iPads increase brand engagement and awareness, and are a unique way to educate people about your organisation and collect data to generate leads.
Generate buzz
Having a unique item at your stall increases foot traffic and generates positive hype around your brand. However, make sure the item aligns with your goal of exhibiting and isn’t distracting from your company’s message.
4. Market before and after the event
Let your current and potential clients know that your organisation will be at the event and where to find you. Constant reminders will help to ensure that your target audience is present at the event. Don’t forget to market any competitions or unique features that you will have at your booth in the lead-up to the event to create excitement about visiting your booth.
5. Measure
Make sure you measure the success of exhibiting based on how well you achieved your goals. Otherwise your organisation will not know how successful participation was and whether to invest more or less in events.