Step Directly into your Target Audience at a Trade Show

Place your brand in the very middle of hundreds of members of your target audience at once – literally!

Trade shows are a brilliant promotional strategy to acquire new prospects whilst in a competitive environment. Trade shows are generally industry-based, where consumers interested in beauty and skincare can attend a beauty convention, or passionate photographers can visit a photography trade show. Since only specific customer segments attend, you can sell and promote directly to customers interested in your industry and area of expertise, whilst avoiding uninterested by-passers you would come across during general shopping centre promotional activities. Attendees of trade shows attend due to their keen interest in the industry and are therefore likely to take to your brand offerings.

Additional benefits of participating in a trade show include the following:

- Create brand awareness. 

- Enhance existing customer relationships by providing a physical touch point between the brand and customer, if the brand is currently only available online.

- Widen customer database and expand distribution through acquisition opportunities. Encouraging membership sign-ups of attendees allows gathering of personal customer data.

- Generate leads and prospects.

- Form new B2B relationships and opportunities for future partnering.

- Trade show hosts are briefed on your brand to ensure sufficient knowledge of your products/services, so they can project your brand’s energy and vision within their interactions with customers throughout the day. Outsourcing trade show staff allows your own employees to remain focused on core business activities in your office, for improved productivity.

- May include product demonstrations which attract attention, directly show benefits and features of the product, or even encourage attendees to touch or try it out. For example, a VR company at a gaming trade show encouraging attendees to try a game.

Some factors that your team should consider when contemplating getting involved with a trade show include:

- Time. Unlike many promotional activities (such as flyer distribution) that generally last only a few hours, committing to a trade show means committing at least one day – if not two or three – to the event. A longer running trade show, although tiring, means longer exposure time to generate and build meaningful and impactful customer relationships. On the day of the event, travelling, setting up and participating can be time-consuming, but pre-planning, organising and designing promotional content before the event, and measurement of results after the event take additional time but are worth the effort.

- Cost. Trade show events can be costly to participate in, as well as the promotional and planning activities beforehand and potentially measurement afterwards.

- Competition. The nature of the industry-based event is competitive, with a high chance of significant competitors also attending.

- Measurement of results can be difficult, as much of the data is qualitative and subject to interpretation. However, quantitative data such as numbers of goodie-bags given out, and number of sign-ups collected are quantitative and easily measured.

- Ensure marketing objectives, goals, strategy, event plan/process, event promotion, time constraints and speaking scripts are all met.

For trade show host inquiries call AMS Promotions on 1300 368 969 or email info@amspromotions.com.au