Trade shows are a jungle - a jungle of trade show booths, so to speak. Your goal as a trade show exhibitor is to make your booth stand out from all the several other hundred trade show booths. Your booth is the needle in the haystack, and you want your prospects to find it among all that straw. So how do you accomplish this? How do you make your booth stand out and pull in lots of qualified traffic?

FIRST, DEVELOP A PLAN

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Develop a plan for success before you even sign up for the trade show, and then commit to and follow that plan. First you've got to figure out why you're exhibiting at the show and who your target audience is. You should, of course, look at the overall cost of exhibiting versus the potential profit from exhibiting, and confirm that it makes economic sense to be there in the first place. Assuming you find it potentially profitable, you need to determine who your prospect is (who you want to sell to, and who can and will buy from you - whether you have a product, a service, or something else...). Once you've determined who your prospects are, you'll want to confirm that enough of them will be attending the show you plan to exhibit at (or you should find a different show). Then you need to develop a clear and compelling message that targets your prospect and tells them how you will help them. You message should also include a call to action. After you've got your plan and your budget, after you've identified your prospect, and after you've developed that clear and compelling message, you're ready for step one.

STEP ONE - PRE-TRADE SHOW MARKETING

When you sign up for a booth space at the trade show or shortly there afterwards, you should get a list of registered attendees (or at least an offer to send a mailing to each of the registered attendees). You need to develop a printed mailing piece that tells the attendees you'll be exhibiting, where your trade show booth will be, and gives them that clear and compelling message of why they should stop by your booth. You want them to commit ahead of time (at least in their heads) to stopping by your booth. It's generally better to send out the mailer two or three times, and not just once.

STEP TWO - AT THE TRADE SHOW

At the show you'll want to be sure you have a great trade show display with a full-color, full-size, eye-catching image printed on it, as well as your clear and concise message (see "develop a plan" above). In addition to your message, you want to be sure your company name and what you do are prominently shown on your display. If you have an older and potentially outdated design on an already existing display, you should look at updating your graphics to focus on the message that you want to get across at this new show. Adding lighting is a nice touch that is often overlooked but that can brighten your booth and set it apart from the other trade show booths. You'll need to be sure to sign up for enough electricity at your booth. You might also want to consider upgrading the padding under the carpet in your booth. The extra cushioning is a nice, subtle, and subconscious way of telling prospects as they step into your booth that you are a "premium" company.

You should also consider having trade show giveaways (also referred to as "swag" in the industry) to hand out to prospects that stop by your booth. You need to have your company name and contact info on the giveaway. I recommend having two levels of giveaways - a less expensive giveaway such as a pen for people that are unlikely to become customers (be sure to give them your brochure and business card with the pen of course), and a more expensive giveaway such as a USB memory stick for your current customers or high-potential prospects. You should let people know about the giveaway on your pre-show mailer (i.e. Stop by Booth #224 at the show and talk with an associate about your fill-in-the-blank needs, and if you qualify, you could get a XYZ memory stick). The memory stick giveaway is a great idea because it can go in a prospect's pocket and easily make it back to the office with them (unlike many giveaways that end up in a hotel room trash can). Every time the memory stick is used, your prospect will see your company name and be reminded of you. If you're really creative, you can include a copy of your website on the stick that automatically opens up when the stick is plugged into a computer - though one should be able to at least temporarily disable the automatic opening after the first time).

STEP THREE - AFTER YOUR TRADE SHOW

So you planned carefully, developed a clear and concise message, and got lots of qualified traffic at your trade show booth with your pre-show mailer, eye-catching trade show display, and carefully-thought-out trade show giveaways. After the show you've got to follow up on your prospects immediately. Don't wait to call until next week, or next month. Your trade show exhibiting experience isn't really over until you've talked to each and every prospect after the show and done your best to convert them into a customer. Then you can enjoy the new business, and start planning for your next trade show.

If you're looking for portable trade show booths or trade show displays, please consider Ronmon Creatives. They produce both custom-printed trade show booths and velcro-receptive fabric trade show displays. They provide easy online ordering and offer free ground shipping on all trade show booths shipping to locations within continental India. Their website includes a gallery of one hundred actual customer trade show booths designs, which is a great resource to browse through to get design ideas for creating your own trade show booth design. For more information, visit them at http://www.ronmoncreative.in