Trade show marketing: what to do before, at and after the show

A trade show stand costs a lot of money for three days of conversations, and most of what decides whether it pays off happens before you arrive and after you pack up. The stand gets the attention. The weeks either side of it do the work.

Before the show

Pick shows by who walks the aisles. A big show isn't a good show if the people walking past don't buy what you sell. Ask the organiser for last year's visitor breakdown by industry and job title, and ask a couple of past exhibitors whether they'd go back.

Invite people, with your stand number. Your customers, the people you've quoted in the last year and the prospects you'd like to meet should all hear from you four to six weeks out, and again the week before. Give them the stand number and a reason to stop by, like a new product they can see working. It's far easier to have a good conversation with someone who planned to visit than with someone walking past.

Book meetings. If there's someone you really want to see, ask for twenty minutes at a set time. A show is one of the few times a busy buyer is in one place with an hour to spare.

Decide how you'll capture leads before the doors open. That means agreeing on the three or four things you need to know about everyone you talk to, like what they're after, how soon and who else is involved, and having somewhere to record it that goes straight into your CRM. A shoebox of business cards isn't a system.

At the show

Write down what they asked as well as who they were. "Wants a quote on two units for a site in Mackay, needs it before February" is worth more than a name and a scanned badge. It's also what makes the follow-up worth reading.

Sort as you go. Hot, warm or just looking. Your team knows the difference in the moment, and a week later nobody will remember.

Get it in the same day. Enter the day's leads that evening, while the conversations are fresh. Leaving it until you're back in the office is how leads go missing.

After the show

This is where most of the money is, and where most of it gets lost.

Follow up within two business days. The people you met spoke to a dozen other exhibitors too. The first useful follow-up usually gets the conversation.

Make it specific. Hot leads get a call. Warm leads get an email that answers what they actually asked, with the brochure or the spec sheet they wanted. People who were just looking get added to your regular emails, so you're still in front of them when they are ready. I've written more on what should happen after someone enquires.

Follow the quotes through. Show leads turn into quotes, and quotes nobody follows up are where a lot of the value leaks away.

Count what each show produced. Leads are a start, but count the opportunities and the sales each show led to, at three and six months. That's what tells you which shows to book again. More on that in counting opportunities, not enquiries.

What to ask a trade show marketing company

If you're looking for help with your shows, plenty of companies can design a stand or print your banners. Fewer handle the parts above, and in my view those are the parts that pay. I'd ask:

• Do they invite your customers and prospects before the show, or is it all about the stand?
• How are leads captured at the show, and where do they end up? (The answer should be your CRM, not a spreadsheet emailed to you a week later.)
• Do they run the follow-up, and how quickly?
• Will they report on the opportunities and sales from each show, or only on the number of badges scanned?

If the answers are mostly about what the stand looks like, you'll get a good-looking stand.

That's the part of trade show marketing we do: the invitations, the lead capture and the follow-up, connected to your CRM so you can see what each show was worth.

How we help with this: Conferences and trade shows →