How To Create a Trade Show Marketing Plan That Drives Results

If you’ve ever exhibited at a trade show, expo or conference and walked away less than thrilled with your results, let me ask you this:

Did you create an actual marketing plan that mapped out how you would promote your booth presence before, during AND after your show?

If not, you may want to reconsider your strategy for your next and upcoming trade show.

Without a strategy, you are left “winging it” and could potentially waste the money you invested to participate in the expo. It’s expensive to exhibit at a trade show!  Who want’s to do that?!

So, how do you ensure that you don’t waste your marketing dollars?  We suggest you create a marketing plan, or what we like to call an Event Promotion Strategy.

An Event Promotion Strategy is a marketing plan that lays out the steps you need to take before, during and after your trade show to make sure your audience knows about your presence, will want to come visit you and take their next steps with you.

In case you were wondering, here are 4 basic steps you need to create your own Event Promotion strategy:

1. Set yourself up for success by assessing information and data from previous events to gather the information you need to create promotion strategies for your current event.  Also take the time to set your intention, your goals and your budget for the event.
2. Create a “Pre Event” promotion strategy to get the word out so your audience knows where to find you, why they should come to your event and where they can find you (aka your booth number!).
3. Maximize your event, at your event.  This consists of creating a “day of” promotion strategy you can implement during your event to maximize your presence, your leads and your engagement with leads.
4. Make sure you don’t leave money on the table by following up after the show.  As one of the more important steps you should take (I say this because most people skip this step!), following up with your leads will help you close the deal after all your hard work of collecting leads at the show.

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