Business expos, shows, and conventions are widely underused by business. Yet, one of the best ways for you to advertise your business is through expos, trade shows, and conventions. But, how exactly do you do that? Here’s how the pros do it.
You have to know the 4 Ps of promotion at trade shows and exhibits. They are:
- Promote
- Prepare
- Present
- Pursue
Promote
First, promote. This means you must reach out to your customers, clients, followers on social media, and let them know that you’re setting up a booth for an expo. Hang flyers in windows and hand them out to whomever you meet by using staples printing alternative. Send out an email blast to your list. Let people know what booth number you will be and let them know about any promotions you might be running at the expo.
Post the event on Facebook, tweet it, and promote it on other social media sites. Another way to promote the event is to use something like a lanyard from Dynamic Gift in Australia.
Prepare For The Event
Businesses that succeed are ones that prepare in advance for the event. You’ll avoid a lot of headaches the day of the expo if you do this one simple thing. Determine who will be in charge of the booth and consider putting shifts on it so that someone is always there to take customer inquiries. This way, everyone has the opportunity to walk around and meet other business owners and enjoy the event, which supplements your other efforts.
Giveaways are common at expos, so determine which ones you’d want for your own event. How will you capture the attendee’s information? Will you use a traditional fish bowl for business cards, or an iPad for people to enter their email address?
If you run an email list (which you should), capturing their email address up front while they’re walking around is probably the best idea. That way, you can start sending them email promotions right away, in the event they don’t buy from you at the event (most people won’t).
Present
You have a booth. Now you need to make the most of it. So, how do you do that? You need to be there, first of all. Which seems obvious but it’s something a lot of business owners miss. They buy a spot, build a booth, and then spend half the day roaming around and not tending to attendees at the show or playing on their phone.
Consider the expo your opportunity to present your business, products, and services, like annuity services, to hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Make sure that your booth presentation reflects you and your company. You should consider practicing your talking points in advance so that you can get your main points across quickly and without stumbling over yourself.
Also, consider trying to schedule appointments with your attendees right there while you have their attention. Get to know the other businesses that are near you, whether in Vancouver, Tasmania, or anywhere else in the globe. This is a great time to network.
Pursue
When the expo is over, most businesses pack it up and call it a day. Wrong. This is when you should be following up on all of the interest generated in your business. Rather than try for sales at the expo, you should be collecting names and emails of potential customers so you can follow up with them later on (to sell them, of course).
The best way to do this is to simply reach out to them via email and send them information about the products and services you sell. Then, ask for the sale.
Most of the time, you won’t get it on the first try, which is why you have to keep following up with leads.
The best marketing strategies for email always revolve around drip campaigns, where you introduce case studies, stories, and other non-salesy material that helps potential customers connect with you and understand how your product or service helps solve their problems. This is straight up direct marketing, and it’s one of the best ways to sell to an audience of interested buyers.
How do you know the people on your list are potential buyers? Because they wouldn’t give you their name and email if they weren’t at least a little interested in what you have to sell. Remember, they are there knowing that businesses will try to pitch them. So many small businesses get squeamish when it comes to selling because they don’t want to come off as being pushy. But, most prospects won’t see you as pushy as long as you set expectations up front.
But, by not making an offer, you’re not helping your prospect. And, at the end of the day, that’s why you’re in business, isn’t it?
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