Tradeshow Secrets From An Industry Insider
Trade shows remain a major marketing opportunity for companies of all sizes. Most industries have a trade show somewhere around the world at least once a year. Many industries have regional shows throughout the year. You can find shows around the U.S. and in many locations around the world.
Getting Ready for the Trade Show
If you are thinking about setting up at a trade show to give your company a marketing boost, you are making a smart move. You will get the right people to pay attention to your company, its brands, and its products/services. However, to have the most impact, you need to keep a few things in mind:
- Prepare far in advance – You need to get all of your pieces ready weeks ahead of time, if not months. You know when the trade show is scheduled. You know when you need to get all the paperwork in to get listed in the trade show guide. You need to get signage in order and personnel trained. It is better to have everything ready to go a week or two in advance than be scrambling at the last minute to get things in place.
- Come prepared – You will need more than your smiling face at the trade show. You will need eye-catching signs to capture the attention of everyone passing by. You want to have handouts and brochures ready for visitors to take home. You can have promotional items printed and ready to go as well. If you need special T-shirts or badges printed, get those on order well in advance. You want nothing left to chance as the time of the trade show approaches.
- Get the right people in place – Do you have enough staff to take with you to the trade show? More than likely you have some sales people who are going. However, you will want to have extra hands available to bring people into the booth and to hand out promotional items. By hiring some trade show models your sales people can then focus their efforts on higher-value selling activities. With the help of an experienced and widespread talent agency, you will have the extra hands you need and make a splash at the trade show.
A Trade Show Success Story
How important is it to have the right people in place for your trade show presence? Let’s look at what happened when Genentech chose to go with trade show models. This company is one of the world’s leading biotech companies. They needed to have facilitators on hand to help with their booths at key industry trade shows. The company wanted facilitators who had a college degree and have a professional appearance. At least half would need to be bilingual.
Genentech partnered with CMT Agency to make this happen. CMT was able to offer a deep pool of talent who had the talent and experience to handle what Genentech needed. They held training sessions for the facilitators before the trade shows to get the trade show models up to speed on the theme and the logistics of the booth. At the show, they stationed these facilitators at all the entry points to the booth. They generated buzz like never before.
That is just one example of how much success a company can have at a trade show when they come prepared. Call CMT Agency to get ready for your next trade show.