Are trade shows worth the effort any more? Around 36% of B2B marketers feel so, saying that trade shows give their companies the highest ROI in comparison with other channels that they use.

Trade shows can be quite great, they can help you network, bring in customers, find investors and more but quite often the experience becomes an exercise in futility. The ROI simply just doesn’t justify the effort Here’s a quick guide to getting the most out of each one you attend to.

Start with finding the trade show for you to attend, there’s quite a few of them all year round and ending up a wrong event would be a giant waste of money and effort.

• Work backwards, find out where your target customers are and attend those events.

• If you are on a low budget, going as an attendee will give you opportunities without having to break the bank

• Setting up a booths is generally more expensive but will give you more opportunities to grab the attention of attendees.

Targeting

Once you’ve got the targeting down pat, you need to tell people about it. Getting some attention before the event is priceless. Start researching the people/companies that are likely to be at the event.

• Prepare a list of your targets among them and reach out to them on Linkedin or elsewhere and try to set up plans to meet at the event

• If you are setting up a booth at the trade show, generating some early interest will definitely help in increasing the number of footfalls to your booth.

• Trending hashtags on the event are a great way to drum up some interest.

• While doing that make sure you give a clear idea of what attendees can expect from you. Here’s what we would do.

Tell people you are going to be there

In most trade shows you are going to competing with over thousands of companies for attention. Ensure that you do something to grab the attention of the attendees at the event.

• We’ve found that having a fun, engaging product video running in a loop on a display works great way to grab the attention of people in the vicinity.

• Using giveaways can also help in creating interest.

• Location can mean everything for a booth, of course the prime spots are going to be more expensive, be a little creative study the floor plan and pick up spots that people have to take to get to lunch or the refreshments section.

• Break out of the mould occasionally, doing something unexpected can create a lasting impression. Trade show history is littered with examples of this. One recent one is the stunt Zoho pulled off at the Dreamforce event.

Generate chatter, grab some eyeballs

Different people might be interested in your product for different reasons. Giving all of them the same spiel simply will not work. Work on a few different versions of your pitches so you aren’t caught unawares.

• Start with some research(pre-event) into the needs of the brands/people likely to be there. Use this to create different versions of the message you’d like to convey.

• Do ensure that you are building up on your pre-event efforts to generate interest. Any responses you get will give you more info on what to expect with your research.

• Once you’ve managed to get someone’s attention or you have people in your booth, ask them questions, adapt your message and give them answers that will solve

Adapt and deliver your message

Most attendees at a trade show are likely to meet more companies/people than they can remember, leave something behind with them so they don’t have to struggle to do so.

• Make it easy for people to remember you. Very often all they have is a visiting card. Make sure that connects back to your product in some way. We leave a four word description of what we do on the back of ours.

• Leaving a simple, visually appealing one-page document on your company with clear descriptions of how you intend to solve any of their problems is also a great idea.

• Follow up with people immediately after the event. So what do you folks think? How do you prepare for trade shows? Do let us know in the comments section below.

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