Fall is almost here and that means another round of tradeshows as the year moves to a close following the summer. Maximizing a tradeshow is as much about the pre-show and post-show work as it is showing up for and working the tradeshow itself. The key to a successful show is to generate pre-show buzz, traffic to the booth on the day of the show, and solid follow-up to new contacts made at the show. Below are 9 tips that will help maximize your tradeshow investment. Pre-show It is extremely important to run an outbound marketing campaign in order to generate traffic to your booth on the day of the show. Attendees should arrive at the show wanting to specifically seek out and stop by your booth. Try these tips to increase pre-show buzz:

1. Obtain a list of registered attendees from the show organizers as soon as it becomes available and integrated it into your CRM or marketing database.

2. Conduct multiple regular marketing campaigns through the attendee list using email, hard mail, and telemarketing. In your marketing message, be sure to give attendees reasons to visit your booth on the day of the show by marketing a great giveaway. This should begin roughly 2-3 weeks before the date of the event.

3. Promote your upcoming show participation on all of your social media platforms letting people know you will be exhibiting, why they should stop by your booth, and what they can expect when they do.

Day of Show The day of the show is all about having the most engaging and active booth. at the show. At every tradeshow, there is always usually “one booth everyone is talking about”. Try to make that your booth by doing the following:

1. Have your the most outgoing and personable employees work the show because they will be more likely to reach out and try to start a conversation with everyone in attendance.

2. Dodge the classic “I am out of cards” line by having pens and pieces of paper ready to go where people can fill out their name, company, phone, and email address.

3. Make sure you have multiple employees working the event with a team of at least two people in the booth at all times.

Post show Follow-up is the most critical part of any trade show strategy. Most show attendees will not have immediate needs for your services that day, so continuing to market to them after the day of the event is important. Get everyone entered into your CRM as soon as possible following the show so they begin to receive routine marketing pieces. Here are a few more tips for following up after the show:

1. Send a LinkedIn connection request, with a custom message mentioning the show, to everyone you personally met at the show that day. Use a custom message mentioning the show. This will allow you to socially touch show prospects down the road on LinkedIn.

2. Instead of an email, try a team wide telemarketing blitz thanking everyone who came by the booth. This is something your competitors are not doing.

3. Announce the winner of your contest giveaway with an email blast to everyone that entered. Include a photo of the winner with the prize and also pump it across all of your social channels.

A tradeshow can be a great opportunity to get quality face time with the people you want to do business with, but if you are not doing the work before and after as well, it will not be as effective in generating new opportunities. Hopefully these tips help you get the most out of your next show! For more information on how AltaVista Strategic Partners can help you with marketing a tradeshow or your overall marketing plan, please fill out the form on this page, email us at [email protected], or call us at 410-760-6680