You spent time, money and passion preparing for your tradeshow. But will they come? Why should anyone stop at your booth? To ensure that your trade show is a success, you need to make some noise. You need reach out to and engage your audience prior to the event. We recommend that you start reaching out 2 months prior to your event.
So how do you make some noise? Be creative with your advertising; create different messages for your unique audiences. Utilize Social Media, your website, email marketing, or even set up a twitter hash tag for your booth and continue to promote the day of the event. To reach an even wider audience, be sure to also promote with more traditional means such as a press release, trade publications, direct mail pieces, newspapers, radio and TV ads.
It’s important to have a process in place, especially if you are looking for a meaningful ROI. At minimum, we recommend these 5 steps to prepare for and promote your message:
- Identify your target audience(s).
- Are you going to have a give-away at your booth? Include this in your message “Come to my booth and receive ______.”
- Start promoting to print publications two months prior to the show.
- Begin reaching out to your audiences about 1 month prior to the event.
- Reach out again near the end of the week prior to the event.
Tip: Include your booth number in communications so you are easy to find.
We find that one of the simplest and most cost effective ways to reach your audience is with an email marketing invitation, such as Constant Contact. With a Constant Contact invitation, you can then easily share your message via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn using their SimpleShare tool. Still have questions, contact me via email or call me at 724-612-0755.
About the author: Autumn Edmiston is the CEO and owner of the Edmiston Group ~ The Edmiston Group provides senior level marketing management services to businesses and non-profit organizations on a short or long term basis. Core areas of service are business development, marketing, strategic planning and public relations. The Edmiston Group has consistently delivered and implemented real-world, proven business marketing ideas and strategies for business growth.