Ensure that Your Exhibition Results are Measurable

Ensure that Your Exhibition Results are Measurable

It’s important to create measurable actions in order to determine your success and ROI at an exhibition or event.

What you want to achieve from your next exhibition will determine what factor you want to track and how you will ensure this is measurable.

Generating Sales

An exhibition can also be an opportunity to sell to a whole new audience, however, this may only be relevant to a few businesses with physical products to sell or simple services.

But, if you are one of the lucky few businesses to be able to physically sell at an exhibition, it is a great way to track and measure the success of that show.

You can do this by tracking the number of sales you make, the profit made and then ultimately what your return on investment is for the day.

Use a similar, if not the same, system that you use day to day in your office, whether this is your tablet or a written document. Ensure you record all of this data appropriately.

Lead Generation

An exhibition is a perfect opportunity for a spot of lead generation, whether it’s for marketing purposes or even direct sales, it is always useful.

Lead Generation can take many different forms, you could collect business cards, ask visitors to fill out a survey on your tablet, or ask them to enter competitions.

This is a really simple way to measure the success of an event. Every business knows the worth of one of their customers, so you should be able to decide how much you would be willing to pay for one new prospect.

Once you know the cost you’re willing to pay for one prospect, you can then work out how many prospects you want to get from that one event. You’re then able to work out your success and importantly your ROI.

Social Media Activity

Social Media is a great tool to raise brand awareness and build connections at an exhibition, it can also provide you with a means to measure that brand awareness.

This is notably the most difficult factor to track as brand awareness has no generic metrics in order to track. However, you can track social media hashtags, mentions of your business name or any phrase of your choice. This can help determine whether there has been an increase in conjunction with the event.

Tips for Making Your Next Exhibition Stand Sustainable

Tips for Making Your Next Exhibition Stand Sustainable

Sustainability is something that is on a lot of peoples’ minds at the moment and for a good reason. It seems to be the top headline of most news outlets and a real concern to many of us.

We all want to do our bit to help the environment and make everything a little bit more sustainable. So, what can you do at your next exhibition?

Avoid Single Use

We’re used to hearing about single-use plastics, but we’re actually talking about exhibition stands. Single-use stands are not only an expensive way of doing exhibitions, but they’re also not great for the environment.

They may seem useful but investing in a stand which is made to last is a much better investment in the long run. In addition to this, invest in some metal fasteners for your banners to avoid using copious amounts of cable ties at every event.

When designing your stand, think about the information which will be timeless and something modular which can be customised depending on your exhibition space.

Not only will it cut down on your plastic and material waste every show but once you have made the investment, your costs will plummet for every exhibition.

Paperless is Best

Nowadays there are so many great alternatives to using paper for marketing. You no longer need to print hundreds of leaflets and brochures to give out – in fact, most of these get thrown away anyway, so this isn’t a cost-efficient way to market your business.

Stationery is a great alternative to paper leaflets and is far less likely to be thrown away compared to a piece of paper. Print your branding and contact details on pens, pencils or coasters.

Use digital marketing strategies to follow up on any exhibition leads, and you can even use tablets or laptops to collect visitor information. This will make following up on the expo quicker, easier and much more effective.

Cutting out paper from your exhibition day prep will reduce your costs on production, transport and waste as well as the environmental impacts which come alongside this.

Think About Your Gifts

You by no means have to give out gifts or ‘freebies’ when you’re exhibiting at a show, but some stalls do like to give branded gifts to help visitors remember their conversation.

If you do want to give these gifts, avoid plastics and paper gifts and sway more for the bamboo or hemp-based gifts, for example, pencils, rulers or wooden coasters.

Not only will this help them to remember conversations that they have had with your team, but it will also help to reinforce your sustainable values as a business. Sharing the message of sustainability is a selling point for many customers.

Reusable water bottles and coffee cups are extremely popular at the moment, and there has been a huge push to increase the number of people using these reusable products. These are really useful products, and the people will use them every day.

Benefits of Outsourcing Your Exhibition Event Management

Benefits of Outsourcing Your Exhibition Event Management

Running a successful event or exhibition stand can be complex and sometimes stressful, so the option to outsource is taken by many business owners, but what are the benefits of using this service?

Time and Cost Efficient

A big problem for many companies is the amount of time that they have to spend on their exhibition planning as well as the number of team members they can spare on the day.

An outsourced company will help your business before, during and after the exhibition. They will help to plan your stand, put it up, staff the stand as well as disassembling your stand and passing on all the information your team will require to follow up.

An exhibition requires businesses to put in the time in order to have success and get the most results possible. A management company will have the time available to put this work and planning into your stand to get the best results possible.

You and your team can work while the event is happening which means you aren’t losing a day’s work and therefore a day’s worth of payment from customers.

 Increased Focus

Many companies cannot afford to put their entire focus on an exhibition in the lead up to and even on the day of the expo. Work needs to be prioritised, and many businesses will not  have one team member spare to focus solely on the expo.

For an outsourced company, exhibitions are their sole focus, so they have the time to focus completely on your event for the planning stage but they also won’t be distracted by emails or calls on the day of the expo.

It also means you can focus on your work and building your business with the peace of mind that your exhibition stand is being taken care of.

Creativity

Event management teams spend the majority of their time at exhibitions which means they will be up to date with the latest trends and be able to find the next big thing for expo stands.

They will constantly be coming up with new and innovative ways to improve the exhibition experience for visitors at your stand and improve the number of results produced.

An outsourced company are a fresh pair of eyes for your business. They may be able to see an aspect of your business that would really appeal to consumers which may not even cross your mind. They can then capitalise on this for your event.

Results

Professionals are often used to sitting behind their desks and only really talking to customers on the phone, but at an expo they need to be constantly approaching new people and selling your brand to them. This is much easier for an agency to do as they are doing this practice every day and they know what works.

They are used to selling on behalf of other companies and will be aware of the aspects of a business which people will want to know more about or the USP’s to sell to a visitor.

The most important advantage of using an outsourced company is the fact that they will not be afraid to approach visitors in order to get the sales.

Tips for Finding an Exhibition for Your Business

Tips for Finding an Exhibition for Your Business

Exhibitions are a great marketing tool; they allow you to talk face to face with prospects as well as network with other industry professionals to build relationships.

However, it cannot always seem easy to find an exhibition which will suit the industry that you’re in. This blog post will talk you through a few of our tips to finding the perfect trade show for your business.

A Specific Venue

Travelling across the UK for a trade show may not be how you want to spend your day, especially if you’re a smaller company. So, decide where is the closet and biggest venue for your workplace and visit the venue’s website directly.

The venue lists future events on their website with information about the day and an option to either visit or exhibit at the event.

This can be a great way to find out what kind of exhibitions are on in your local city. You will have the bonus of being a local business to the visitors attending – this can be a big selling point, especially for smaller companies.

Remember, if you want to exhibit at one of these shows, look in advance as the exhibitor slots may sell out fast at popular events.

Companies in Your Industry

Word of mouth can be a really powerful marketing tool for exhibitions, and this is for a good reason. If a business has previously exhibited at an expo, enjoyed their day and had a lot of business from the show, it will mean more to other business owners than a Facebook campaign ever will.

Ask other owners whether they have attended any good trade shows both as visitors and exhibitors; remember to ask for extra information like how many people to expect. This can prepare you for the type of event you will be attending and give you a bit of insight as to which shows are actually worth attending.

These don’t even have to be business owners that you know well, maybe you know of another MD from a similar company, you can start building a relationship just by asking.

Exhibition Directories

Now, this may be the most straightforward and quickest way to find an exhibition to attend, but you could miss out on a few gems that aren’t listed in a directory – check elsewhere to make sure you aren’t missing any smaller events.

A directory will list a whole range of exhibitions located in the UK or Worldwide; filters will allow you to narrow down your results.

This can be interesting to find out what shows are out there and available for your business to attend.

Expocheck.com is a worldwide exhibition directory with a large number of categories and locations around the world.

Social Media

Social media allows you to find out what people are talking about and their opinions on different events.

Twitter, for example, is a great tool if you want to find out what people think about certain shows, search the name of the show and you’ll find all the tweets containing the event’s name. This may help you find new recommendations as well as answering any questions.

Another way you can use social media is to ask your followers, find out if any of them have experience at a trade show for your industry sector – remember to use hashtags to reach the most people.

Finally, most exhibition social pages will have optimised their accounts to be found using key phrases, so try using your social search like Google with phrases like “Car Exhibition Birmingham”, this will bring you up lots of Facebook pages which meet this search.

Once you have found a few exhibitions which work for your business and who can find you the right customers, you will be able to stick with these rather than trying to find new shows all the time.

4 Exhibitions That Are Happening This Summer

4 Exhibitions That Are Happening This Summer

There are exhibitions for all industries or hobbies nowadays, so you are sure to find at least one that you want to attend. What better time to travel somewhere else in the country to attend a new or well-loved trade show.

We have compiled a list of four of the expos taking place this summer, so hopefully, you will feel inspired to either attend as a visitor or even an exhibitor.

  1. The Creative Craft Show – NEC Arena, 29th June – 1st July

This trade show is perfect for all enthusiasts of arts and crafts including dressmaking and paper crafting. This show offers a wide range of supplies, ideas and new innovative equipment to both the individuals who enjoy crafts as a hobby or the professionals.

Not only are there going to be hundreds of exhibitors from industry experts to suppliers, but there will also be talks and demonstrations from some of the industries best, like Bex Raven who will be taking you through a history of Japan.

This is not a trade show to be missed; it is sure to be a whole lot of fun as well as inspiring for all attendees. Don’t miss out on getting your tickets and maybe you will want to consider exhibiting there next year?

Go to their website to find out more.

  1. Outdoor Trade Show – Event City, 3rd – 5th July

The Outdoor Trade Show sees a whole range of industry specialists, leading brands and suppliers as well as buyers and retailers descend on Event City in Manchester for this three-day event.

It is the perfect event for all things outdoors from clothing to equipment you will find it all here as well as being able to network with like-minded individuals and businesses.

This is going to be the 13th year that the show has been running so you will not be disappointed by this well-established exhibition.

There are lots of events and displays happening over the course of the three days from a party to the red devils display over the hall. If you don’t want to miss the Red Devils make sure to head over on Tuesday 3rd July!

There is still time to buy tickets as a visitor; whether it is for fun or business, it will provide you with endless business connections and maybe even a stand for next year.

Go to their website to find out more.

  1. The Allergy and Free-From Show – Olympia London, 6th – 8th July

This is the world’s largest ‘celebration’ of free-from food and drinks that are becoming an increasingly popular and in-demand market in the food industry.

It is sure to bring new, innovative and exciting options for your free-from menus or supplies – the perfect event for anyone in the food or retail industry. This market has grown massively in the past few years, and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down so make sure you are taking advantage of this niche market.

There will be experts in their fields and the brains behind some of the biggest health and well-being charities with new innovative research and information into allergies and general health; they’re ready to share their knowledge and answer questions.

It is the perfect event to meet new and interesting suppliers with something a little different which you could offer your customers. An added bonus of this event – free food samples!

Go to their website to find out more.

  1. Amaze Expo – Olympia London, 17th – 19th August (Formally known as “Big Boys Toys”)

This is a luxury exhibition which is launching in the new location of the Olympia, London this August. There will be hundreds of global suppliers at this event, providing all of the luxurious products that you could wish for including private jets, holidays and technology.

This is one of if not the most luxurious trade show that the UK has to offer. The show is set to be full of innovative, jaw-dropping products and experiences ready for you to try or learn more about.

Whether you supply goods to the luxury market or want to learn more about what this clientele is looking for, this could be a great learning experience that we recommend. Who knows, you could walk away with a private jet!

Go to their website to find out more

Exhibitions can be really useful is they are related to the industry that you’re in or even for a hobby that you have. Attending exhibitions is a great way to broaden your industry knowledge as well as network with like-minded business owners. There are exhibitions for every industry and they are held all year long so it could be beneficial for your business to find an industry expo for you.