Every year, millions of people representing different companies and organizations gather to share ideas, display their wares, publicize their brands, network with people in the same industry and adjoining industries, and show the world how they can be relevant to other businesses.
This means, therefore, that businesses often develop for these trade conferences in order to try and get the best results from it. Companies or organizations that don’t prepare for these conventions often find that they do not get leads, prospects and clients from them.
Those who do, however, are often able to generate significant leads and prospects from these events. If you want to experience the latter, here are some tips that will help you prepare for a successful trade convention.
Ascertain the Purpose for Attending
Sounds pretty basic, right? Well, you’ll be surprised at how many companies just send their representatives without any other goal other than “show face” at the events. This is a waste of resources considering that trade shows and conventions are not cheap to attend. There are hotel bills to pay, transportation costs, allowances and so on. So, going without any preparations or without a set goal in mind is not a smart move. So, determine before time if you’ll be going to the convention to
- Connect with old clients and meet new ones
- Generate leads and prospects
- Solidify your brand and get even more popular
- Meet your competition
- Create and establish contacts that will help your business break new grounds, enter new markets and find companies that can complement your business’ goals.
Having a clear idea of what to do will help determine the next few moves.
Order Embroidered Shirts or Polo
Most attendees will come to the conference with either an ID card or tag and something to identify them by. We recommend ordering specially customized embroidered shirts or polo. Depending on the industry, you might want to wear something particularly bright colored. Bright and lovely branded polo or shirts will always draw attention to your brand and get people interested in your products and services. It is an excellent way to generate decent foot traffic to your stand at the convention.
Get Bright or Outstanding Trade Stand
Find an excellent trade stand design company to handle the design of your trade stand, the logo, the theme and so on. Remember you are going there to get noticed. So, do something that others are not doing. Setting up a generic looking trade position will at best get you mediocre results. However, if you do something bolder –maybe even outlandish if you have the nerve- you’ll get more people who would be interested in you and whatever it is you do.
Mail Promo Products and Materials to Attending Organizations
Okay, this is one of the simplest things to do, yet organizations routinely overlook this. Find and get a list of the organizations that will be attending the conventions and send them pre-convention promotional materials and products. Create and look for original and innovative product ideas that will help your brand standout. Doing this alone will generate significant foot traffic for you. Many attendees will be on the lookout for you and want to check out your position.
Have a list of Organizations, Speakers or Individuals You’d Like to Connect With
Most people who attend these events do so in the hope that they can connect with different organizations, individuals and speakers. Moreover, here’s something even more interesting: people and organizations that clearly have to something to bring to the table tend to get the best results. The lesson here, therefore, is to not go empty-handed. Always have something that you can trade or an asset that would be perfect for a win-win situation.
Featured images: image source
Oscar King heads up his company’s marketing department and uses trade shows as a way to pick up new ideas and promote his business. To help go that extra mile, he will often show up with t-shirts and other promotional items, and he gets these items from DG Promotions Inc. You can learn more about Oscar by visiting on Google+.
