One of the main reasons for attending or taking part in an exhibition is to generate new leads and bond relationships with existing customers.
At the beginning of an exhibition commitment it’s useful to set objectives.An objective which can be measured can be used make positive improvements for the next time.The size, investment required and nature of the exhibition and goals and objectives of the exhibitor will help to determine exactly what the objectives should be but typical ones may be for example:
Obtain 20 new potential customers contact information.
Attract 10 new engagements with website.
Attract 10 new likes to the Facebook page
Generate awareness of product range
A good way of planning for the exhibition is to use a project planning spreadsheet. This will help you to list out all of the activities which you want to and tick them off when they have been done.
Things to consider are:
Media to communicate information to your stand visitors. This could be printed information, information on a power point presentation, offers etc.Advance communications to attract people to your stand. Visitors may have to decide which to visit from competing stands so twitter, emails and letters can be deployed to create a buzz around you.Capturing information from visitors. An exchange of information often works well. E.g. a small give-away in return for a business card. You may be able to order promotional gifts or could design useful pieces of literature etc. Asking for a visitor’s business card is one of the easiest ways of capturing information for further communication. It’s also a good idea to have a visitor sign in sheet as there will be plenty of people who have forgotten their business cards.
You will want to have interesting literature on your stand so that you have something to show visitors. A talk with your marketing consultant can help you come up with ideas for offers and display material for the stand.
Don’t forget to think about staff for the stand. If you want to go round and talk to other exhibitors you will need someone to be on your stand otherwise you could be missing interested enquiries.
Find out what the exhibition hashtag is so you can communicate with twitter to visitors –many visitors will have their phones switched on.Prepare a handy box of kit for the exhibition with essentials such as bluetack, scissors, pens etc.After the event sent out thank you communications to your stand visitors and keep in touch with them.
I’ve put together a project planning sheet which you can download here.
Exhibition planning
or copy and paste the following link into your browser; http://51fe0341dfa4dd169f9d-dddc1aace0ed1209a18373ea68efe93d.r65.cf3.rackcdn.com/exhibition and event planner.xlsx
If you have any really good tips for preparing for preparing for an exhibition please share them here.