Exhibitions are a great way to make your company known to a massive audience – but you do have to work for it!

Simply being present and having your name in the catalogue is not enough. Remember that there will be countless other companies exhibiting, all competing to attract attention of visitors. Many of those visitors will only be present for a few hours and during that time, they are looking to discover as much as they can about exhibitors, trends and products which means you only have a few minutes to try and capture their attention.

It has been reckoned that around 76% of exhibition visitors arrive with a clear idea as to which companies they want to see and what they are trying to accomplish. Promotion is needed to get those visitors to your stand – very few of them are likely to be simply strolling around and coming across your stand by accident. Visitors need a reason to come to you.

As soon as you have decided to take part in an exhibition, you need to start looking at your promotional campaign:

• How do you attract visitors to your stand?
• How do you make your products and services memorable?
• How are you going to interact with visitors?

Promotional activities worth considering are:

• Social media campaigns
• Email marketing
• Website marketing initiatives
• Direct mail
• PR and media opportunities
• Sponsorship
• Experience based activities that encourage interaction
• Advertising
• Eye catching signage and stand style
• Costumed mascots, promotional staff
• Sampling

Use as many promotional opportunities as you can

Take care to ensure that they co-ordinate with your company’s overall style and marketing objectives.

Hire additional staff to ensure that your stand is never left untended during the exhibition. There is nothing worse for a visitor than finding a stand full of literature, but no one to talk to. It makes visitors feel unwelcome and unwanted. Employing additional promotional staff or meet & greet staff to make sure that there is always someone around to deal with basic enquiries creates a good first impression.

Don’t leave hiring extra staff until the last minute. Talk to your events staffing company as early as possible to ensure you get the best staff available. This gives your temporary staff members time to train and learn about your company.

An exhibition is only for a short time, usually two or three days. In that time you need to make your participation count. Prepare your campaign in advance, and allow time afterwards to do a post-exhibition survey of what worked and what didn’t.

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