Category: Trade Shows

A Guide for Using Social Media at Your Next Trade Show

A Guide for Using Social Media at Your Next Trade Show

Social media allows you to connect with people both at the trade show and those who couldn’t attend. It is a useful tool for before, during and after an event and something that you should definitely be utilising at your next show.

It can be difficult to keep your feed updated at a trade show or even just trying to think of what content to post. This is why we have created a short guide to using social media at your next trade show.

Being in the Moment

It is really important to keep your social media channels updated throughout the day but remember you are there to talk to the visitors and engage with other exhibitors. If you cannot bring another team member or the social media account manager with you, be wary of how much time you’re spending on your device and when you’re using it.

Try to use your device when there are no visitors around or a limited number, this way you are not putting them off coming over to your stand. Another way you can make your device look more professional whether it is a personal phone or work tablet is to get a branded case for it. This way it does look more like a work device rather then you checking your personal phone all day.

Photos

Social media is such a visual form of content, and it is no lie that photos do much better on social media than just text posts. It is also a shareable form of content so make sure you’re tagging your location, the event organisers and using the right hashtags to get your posts seen.  

Photos can be shared directly from your Instagram to Facebook and Twitter to save even more time when you’re at the expo, and it will give your other channels exposure.

Another form of visual content you could think about using is Instagram stories; this is a story of photos and videos only available to users for 24 hours. Using hashtags, locations and tagging other users in these will help you to gain views and attention from these stories.

Photos are not only great for your social channels, but they will also aid your visitors in remembering who you are and what you do. When a visitor sees your photos from the day, they will remember who you are and be able to put a name to a face.

Seminars, talks or other exhibitors you know will be great to snap photos of throughout the day.

Schedule

Some trade shows get extremely busy and, especially if you’re on your own, there may be no time to post on social media. This is why it is a good idea to schedule some generic posts about the day beforehand. This way if you are rushed off your feet at least there are some “live” posts about the expo going out – your followers won’t know that they were scheduled.

These posts can be generic posts about the trade show that you’re at; they won’t include any photos or specific details about the people you have met. They could mention about any guest speakers you’re hoping to see, the timings for the day or even just to say that it has been a great day so far.

Remember to schedule information like any offers or competitions you’re running on the day to keep people informed and attracted to your stand.

Live Video

Facebook Live Video is a brilliant platform to use in general and especially at a trade show. Facebook gives a slight push to live videos as well so it will help all your followers see this post and even notify them when you’ve gone live!

Seminars or talks are great to video, make sure you have an unobstructed view and good audio though. Even though it is live, you will still want to keep the quality good.

Another idea for a live video would be a tour of the trade show space, showing people who are there and some of the stands – this may help attract people to the event.

There are so many ways you can use social media to your advantage at an event like a trade show, so find the way that works best for you and run with it. These are just a few ways you can use your channels to your advantage, and we would definitely recommend using your social media throughout shows.

Tips for Attracting Visitors to Your Exhibition Stand

Tips for Attracting Visitors to Your Exhibition Stand

Having a stand at an exhibition has so many benefits for both small and larger businesses – we all approach the idea of an exhibition thinking of the leads we can gather and will follow up afterwards to bring in new clients. However, these leads aren’t going to simply fall into your lap – you need to work to bring them in and grab people’s attention!

In order to be successful at a trade show it is important to have a plan and a strategy for all stages of the exhibition from first attracting visitors to your stand, then to engaging them and finally following up after the show to try and convert them to a customer.

Here are a few of our tips for the first step in the process – attracting visitors to your stand.

‘Stand’ Out

Your stand is one of the things that will give visitors a first impression of your business so it is important to get this right. Make sure you have a professional stand – a table and a roughly printed poster probably won’t cut it.

Show your branding through your stand and your team, if you have a brand colour scheme try and use this throughout your stand; you could even give your staff branded clothes to wear. Include your logo and information on your stand, such as: what it is your business does and who you are. This will give the visitors an idea of what services you can offer and will in turn attract interested people to your stand.

When using text on your stand ensure it is big enough to read from a distance but try to hold back using too much text – use images instead. People love high quality visuals and these can be much more eye catching for a passer-by.

Run a Contest

Contests can be a great opening line when trying to attract someone to your stand. Run a contest to win a materialistic prize or it could even be your services. This covers two goals of running your stand – attracting and engaging. By asking people to enter your competition you are generating leads as well as engaging in a conversation with them. The worst thing your team can do at an exhibition is stand quietly and let attendees pass them by – a competition will help give your staff a reason to make eye contact and engage potential prospects in conversation.

To aid in your lead generation you could get the visitors to use their business cards in order to enter the competition – this way you can contact them after the show. Using your service as a prize allows you to tell the visitors a little more about your business and what you do.

Be Positive

I’m sure we have all had an experience at a trade show when there haven’t been quite as many people as we wanted and we may have felt a little deflated. A key to being successful at these shows is staying positive. You are much more likely to attract visitors to your stand if you are positive and energetic as opposed to looking moody, sat in the corner hunched over a phone.

Trade shows are all about networking and building relationships so it is important to present the best version of yourself. Start the conversations with visitors as they pass by and find out a little more about what they do for a living – this will also help you market to them.

Spread the Word

Don’t rely on the event organisers to promote the show, get the word out to your audience. You could use social media to post about the upcoming event and make sure people know that you will be there – prospects may see this and decide to come along because they need a service you offer and want to talk to you about it.

Don’t forget about your clients either, you can promote the show to them via your mailing list – just because they are your clients doesn’t mean you can’t upsell to them or they may even tell their own customers about it. Personally invite a number of your clients or prospects to come along and see what the show is all about – all visitors give you a chance to get your name out there and network.

Our Top Three Tips for to Get the Most Out of Your Conversations at Expos

Our Top Three Tips for to Get the Most Out of Your Conversations at Expos

When trying to make sales and conversions at an exhibition, conversation with visitors will be your key to success. All the stands in the venue will be trying to sell to every visitor so you need to make a great sales pitch and conversation to catch their attention and stay in their mind after the show.

Here are our top tips to get the most out of your conversations at an exhibition…

Get Personal

Start the conversation by getting to know your visitor and what they do for a living, understand what problems they could encounter in their business and how you and your business could solve this.

Thinking about what challenges they face in their work life could help you personalise your sales pitch and make it relevant to them. The key for the first half of your conversation is listening.

Try not to use technical language when speaking to the visitors, use language they will understand when talking about both their business and your business.

This is a great time to find out how they think your business could benefit them or address any concerns they may have with a service such as yours.

Sell Yourself

By this point you have informed your visitors of how you can help solve their problem, so now it’s time to take the great opportunity to really sell your business to them.

Think about clients who have had similar problems which you have solved with your service or a client where you have really gone above and beyond for amazing results.

Showing them past successes and work will help to create a level of trust – that you do actually know what you’re doing. To aid this you could think about having some visual examples in a slide show or testimonials that people can see.

Ask for a Conversion

Don’t finish a great conversation with a simple ‘thank you’, this is not the most efficient way to finish a conversation and although polite it is not guaranteed to help to get you a conversion.

Give your prospects a call to action – what do you want them to do after the show? It could be call you up for more information, make an appointment to talk more, send you something via email or even just answer the phone when you call for them.

End your conversation with the method you wish them to take, for example, you may end the conversation by saying ‘when is a good day to give you a call this week to talk about this more?’ – this is creating a conversion for you because they are giving you a time where you can call and try to make a sale.

Another way to get that conversion is to give visitors an incentive to use your call to action. Using trade show exclusive discounts and vouchers is a great way of people getting in contact with you. For example, if you want people to call you, you might have the offer of if they call within that week they will receive 10% a service or product.

These are just a few ways you can make sure that your exhibition conversations are beneficial of your time and working towards those all-important conversions.

How to Reduce the Stress of Exhibition Day

How to Reduce the Stress of Exhibition Day

If you have done an exhibition before then you will know that it can be stressful and hectic. This may be the reason you love trade shows, the adrenaline of being rushed off your feet. For others however, this may be a daunting thought for you. We’ve come up with a few tips and tricks to help you reduce the stress for that all-important exhibition day.

Checklist

Travelling to an exhibition and forgetting something important is a nightmare! A checklist will help you make sure you never forget anything. Write down all the most important things that you need when you are planning your stand, this way you can add to the list whenever you remember something else you need. For example, have you got enough pens or somewhere to store business cards? It’s all the little things that can make a whole lot of difference at a trade show.

 The Employees on the stand

Bringing some employees with you means you can delegate roles and jobs to other people leaving you to focus on selling. You don’t need to do everything yourself so don’t try and do it all. Bring employees that you trust and who you can rely on to leave alone at your stand. Sometimes you need to leave your stand to network or even just for a walk to stay sane. You shouldn’t have to worry about the people in charge of your stand.

Give Yourself Time

Rushing to set up will only lead to mistakes, give yourself enough time to set up your stand before people start to arrive. If you have a new stand practise putting it up and taking it down before you go to the show. A relaxing start to the show ensures a stress free and a great start to any exhibition. Ensuring you have plenty of time to set up will means visitors will only see you in a professional light, not running around like headless chickens.

Give your Stand your Undivided Attention

Exhibitions usually last about a day, so for that day your stand and the visitors there deserve your undivided attention.  Leave the office at the office. Leave the employees that you trust at the office, so you can focus on the exhibition completely. The last thing you want is to be worrying about work at the office when you are at your trade show.

Having a stand at an exhibition is extremely worthwhile and if you are organised and sensible, it doesn’t have to be stressful at all. All the enquiries you will receive and networking you will do will outweigh any preparations that have to take place. Event Staffing or Exhibition Management is a great way to outsource some of that pressure to experts. For more information on this take a look at our dedicated pages.

Why is it important to visit trade shows as well as exhibiting?

Why is it important to visit trade shows as well as exhibiting?

Exhibiting at a trade show is a great way to build the awareness of your brand and generate more leads for your company. It is the perfect tool to go hand in hand with your marketing, this is why so many companies choose to exhibit at trade shows. What about if you weren’t behind the stand all day and experienced the other side of a trade show? This can be just as valuable to any business owner or anybody working for a company. Here are some reasons why you should take a day off from behind the stand and go to an exhibition as a visitor.

Networking

This is a fairly obvious reason, some of the best networking can take place at trade shows and with the freedom to move around you can decide who and where you would like to talk. Meeting like-minded people within your industry or just an industry that interests is a great reason to go. Good contacts are invaluable in today’s competitive marketplace, they help you stay one step ahead.

Learn

An exhibition isn’t just about stands and businesses vying for your attention, there are talks and seminars within the venue. These are usually held by professionals within that very industry, it is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about that industry but also another person’s perspective of it. There is always something new to learn and knowledge is power! You get the opportunity to learn about new innovative products within your industry or the up and coming trends.  

Benefit your Business

You can use an exhibition as the perfect opportunity to find what or who you need to grow and expand your business. This may be someone to help out with your accounts or someone to provide products for your next trade show, chances are you will find the people you need at a trade show.

Competitors

By not exhibiting or by employing enough staff to man your stand without you, you have the freedom to take a walk and see what your competitors are offering, both at the trade show and outside of the trade show. What are they offering to customers and how are they attracting people at the exhibition. This is also a great way to get inspiration for your next stand and exhibition.

Finding Resellers

Trade shows can be the perfect place to discover new companies and business people who could potentially supply your product. Companies who supply customers with a service similar or a service that compliments your product are the perfect people to resell. They already have customers, so by bringing your new product to them you are growing your market very easily.

There are so many advantages to attending a trade show as a visitor, everyone should do it at least once, you can find out what it’s like to be on the other side of the stand. The advantages are completely different to exhibiting but in different ways just as useful.