When determining whether or not to exhibit your product or service, weigh the advantages and dangers for your company. Although the benefits of promoting your product in person in a different atmosphere will vary from event to event, there is a lot to be gained from doing so.
Benefits
Trade exhibits are typically aimed at a specific sector and the people who work in or are interested in that business. The ability to advertise to a target market and raise brand awareness can be achieved by participation in a trade show.
Exhibitions are open to a vast and sometimes diverse variety of people who are interested in seeing them (usually the general public). The opportunity to promote your product or service to a larger group of people who may have little or no knowledge of your products and services is provided as a result of this arrangement.
Product and market testing can be carried out during trade shows and exhibits, depending on the nature of your business, in order to obtain insight into how your offering is perceived by the industry or the general public.
Participating in a trade show or expo can provide you with options to expand your firm into business-to-business selling while also allowing you to build a customer database from the people that come to your display booth.
Risks
It is also critical to conduct thorough study before attending a trade show or exhibition, and if you have a business counsel, you should consult with them about your plans.
There are dangers involved, and you must be aware of those risks during the planning stages, which include the following concerns:
- Trade shows will take at least a day of your time, and most likely much more.
Traveling to trade exhibitions may be an expensive endeavour.
Exhibiting at a trade show can sometimes be quite expensive.
At all of the shows, there will almost certainly be a lot of competition.
Choosing the wrong trade show to display your company’s products or services can result in your products or services being displayed to the wrong audience. Because of inadequate promotion, the expenditures of attending a trade show may outweigh any money you generate.
Making the decision to attend
If you have any of the following, you may find that attending trade exhibitions is worthwhile:
sufficient monies to pay the costs of attendance, display, and any connected expenses
Have you calculated the number of prospective customers/clients you’ll need before you see a return on your investment?
have gone to an exhibition where you are thinking about participating and are convinced that a sufficient number of contacts will be there have devised a strategy for capturing people’s attention and have prepared an adequate amount of product material
Prospective clients should be met and connected with.
Have you ever tried to follow up on a sales lead only to end up leaving one message after another in their voicemail inbox? It’s a frustrating experience. In outbound marketing, getting your message heard is the most difficult part. When your company is one of many competing for a new client or customer, messages that go unheard and a lack of attention are the usual.
It is one of the most significant benefits of participating in a trade show to meet and engage with prospective clients in person rather than having to communicate with them over the phone. You are simply another voice on the phone; however, when you meet in person, you become someone that they know, recognise, and want to connect with.
Although some prospective clients will purchase your product or service while visiting the trade show floor, the majority will not. When people recognise you as a genuine individual rather than simply another salesperson, they will be lot more responsive to your sales efforts. Those who are unwilling to commit to a purchase in person will, on the other hand, become far more responsive to your sales efforts.
Increase the strength of your relationship with existing consumers.
Exhibiting at a trade show not only provides you with the opportunity to better interact with prospective clients, but it also provides you with the opportunity to meet with existing customers face-to-face. While the majority of today’s business is handled over the phone or over email, face-to-face meetings are unquestionably a terrific way to conduct commerce.
The Wall Street Journal concurs with this assessment. An article in a well-known financial journal, citing a study by Oxford Economics, states that face-to-face interactions are the most successful strategy to improve relationships with both prospective and existing consumers.
Have you ever had a customer who, after receiving an email from you, doubled their monthly spending? While it is rare for customers to commit to major purchases over the phone or over email, trade shows are frequently the setting in which customers approach you with long-term plans and huge orders — orders that can be quite profitable for you as an exhibitor.
Despite the fact that technology has made it easy to dismiss face-to-face meetings as a thing of the past, the evidence reveals that face-to-face meetings at trade fairs are extremely beneficial to your company’s relationship with its clients.