If you have not considered exploiting exhibitions and taking your business to attend, it may be something that you should give some thought. It does not have to be a daunting task planning for an event, and there is a lot of excellent information available freely online at various business sites. The secret to any successful trade event or exhibition is in the planning, and getting this right or wrong can either make or break how successful an event is for your business.
Here are some tips to make sure that you make a success of your first exhibition and ensure that your business benefits from attending.
Attend the Right Event
One of the most important things to consider is to make sure that the event that you are going to attend is going to benefit your business. Before committing to spending money to exhibit at an event, you may wish to visit the event and see what it has to offer. If you think it is a good idea to attend, then you can start planning for next year’s event, giving you plenty of time.
Plan an Awesome Exhibition Stand
When you visit an exhibition, you will be in competition for the visitor’s attention so you will need to try and ensure that you stand out from the crowd. One of the best ways to do this is to create custom built exhibition stands designed uniquely for both yours, and your visitor’s requirements. A purpose-built stand can make an excellent first impression, and you can also draw in visitors by offering things such as free Wi-Fi or charging stations.
Take Your Best Employees
No matter how big or small your company is you will want to make sure that you do not go to your exhibition alone. For as long as the event is open to the public, you will want representatives attending your exhibition stand, and if you attend it alone, you will not have any help, and will even have to close if you need a bathroom break. Make sure that you take your best representatives to the exhibition and that they are friendly, approachable, and knowledgeable, and reliable.
Make Sure to Network
Another good reason to make sure that you have additional staff to help you run your stand is to allow you to go around the event and network with fellow exhibitors and company representatives. Although you can consider some of these as direct competitors, it is always beneficial to have a healthy working relationship with the competition.
Follow Up All Your Leads
You will no doubt come back from your first exhibition with a lot of potential leads, whether they are with potential suppliers or customers. Make sure that you follow up all your leads from attending an event, and you can see over the next coming months the direct benefit from attending these types of events.
When you have attended your first event, you will see just how beneficial these can be to your business, and you will probably come back and start planning the next one straight away!
