How To Guarantee Success For Your Trade Show Exhibit

Beyond having an impeccable exhibit designed by C2O Studios that attracts attendees, represents your brand, showcases how you improve the world, and provides multiple opportunities for capturing prospects, a comprehensive pre- and post-event promotion strategy is essential.

Did you know that most trade shows underperform because not enough relevant people show up? Maybe your experience relates to that. The secret is you have to promote your exhibit in the few months before the show and follow up with leads immediately after the event.

This article is a guide for business owners exhibiting at trade shows on marketing their event and following up with attendees.

How To Promote a Trade Show

Marketing before the event allows you to raise interest with the people who will most likely want or need your services. So, you won’t have to worry about wasting resources on attendees who won’t turn into leads. In fact, businesses that market before trade shows may improve the quality of attendees by 46% and lead conversions by almost 50%.

You should start trade show marketing 10-12 weeks before the event. Instead of cramming promotions last-minute, an early start helps you:

• Build awareness

• Test out messaging and adjust your marketing based on the response

• Introduce key themes

• Gradually warm up your audience

The modern way to influence attendance is using social proof, online content, email campaigns, and industry conversations. Your website should include:

• A list of events that your business is participating in with dates and venues

• A landing page that describes what you’ll display and offer to attendees who visit your booth and has a signup form

Link your email signature to your landing page and send targeted messages to those who sign up.

How Do You Prepare Your Audience for a Trade Show?

Before marketing, consider who your audience is and why they should care. Then, prepare your audience with useful insights. Let them see the value in attending your exhibit before asking them to sign up.

Media collaborations, like interviews, newsletters, and other organic editorial content, strengthen your visibility. Furthermore, when your audience trusts the people, you’re collaborating with, it’s more likely to trust you.

How To Succeed at a Trade Show With An Effective Core Message

When deciding on a theme or core message for your promotions, think about how your business improves life for your clients. Perhaps you can:

• save them money

• make them money

• save them time

• slash production costs

• free them up in any way that allows them to do better work

Event Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most effective tools for getting attendees to register for a trade show. Alert your current clients, even dormant ones, because a trade show is an excellent opportunity to reconnect. Your early emails should focus on building awareness, and your later emails can be about last-minute benefits.

Your communication should reflect the attendees’ priorities, like learning and discovering opportunities, networking value, and practical outcomes.

Is There a Best Time to Follow Up After a Trade Show?

You should begin following up immediately after the trade show. The more time that passes, the less you’ll remember, and the details may become blurry. So, review and organize your leads after the show.

Digitize your leads. You can use a business card-scanning app, or if you used forms at your booth, use your CRM’s import functionality to speed things up.

Exhibiting can be exhausting, so save energy by creating a follow-up plan with a timeline before the show. Another time-saving measure is to assign responsibilities and leads to your sales team.

Use what you learned at the show to perfect your follow-up strategy. Recall what products and services sparked the most interest.

How To Write a Follow-up Email After a Trade Show

The best time to send a follow-up email is 48 hours after the event. You can start with a general “thank you for visiting my booth” message and send another email 48 hours later, prompting a phone call with a set time and date.

When writing, be confident and display your natural personality. Use the contact’s name, and get right to the point, so they don’t miss any key information. 

Focus on the pain points that you discussed at the expo. Discuss their needs more than your products or services.

Always speak in terms of next steps. So, include a clear, specific call-to-action, like scheduling a call or a meeting, visiting your website, or downloading a resource. Consider offering a time-bound discount or promotion to speed up the decision-making process.

Simple Follow-up Email Samples

Here are some follow-up email samples from Romify.

Sample 1

”Hi [first name],

Great to meet you at [event] and hear more about [specific area you discussed]. You mentioned [project, goal, challenge].

Here’s [resource] we walked through at the booth, with your current process mapped compared to [vendor solution]. I’ve added [attachment, slide deck, link to guide/overview] based on what you shared about [company priority].

Would you be open to a 20-minute call on [day/time option 1] or [day/time option 2] to review it together? Here is a link to my calendar so we can connect at your convenience. 

Best,

[Your name]”

Sample 2

“Hi [first name],

At [event], you mentioned [challenge, need]. Here’s something you can use internally: A [resource] for [use case].

Teams can use this for [case study examples], so it should be useful for your next discussion with [team, stakeholder]. 

[Link to download/resource]

Best,

[Your name]

Book time with me.”

How Do You Professionally Follow Up Over the Phone?

No more than three days after the trade show, reach out to those who requested more information or replied to your follow-up email over the phone. 

Begin with a concise recap of your conversation at the show. Center the conversation around the lead’s pain points. End your call with clear next steps.

If you already scheduled a phone call or virtual meeting, don’t be late, be prepared, and get to the point quickly to show you value their time. Introduce yourself and your business, and remind them why you’re calling. If they don’t answer the phone, leave a message, call back in ten minutes, and aim for four more calls spaced three business days apart.

A Simple Follow-up Call Template Sample

Ede provides an example of a professional, polite follow-up call template:

”Hello [Name]. We talked at the XYZ trade show, and you asked me to follow up with you on a call. Is this a good time to talk?

Client: Yes or No

(If the client says it’s not a good time, ask for the best day and time to call.)

You: You remember talking about our [product] and how it could solve the problem you’ve been experiencing with [problem]. I’d like to set up a meeting for Wednesday at 10 at your office to make a short presentation. Is that a good time?

If the answer is yes, confirm the day and time for the meeting and complete the call.

If no, ask the client for a day and time that works best for the meeting.”

The Best Ways to Follow Up on Social Media

Social media engagement is an excellent way to meet your prospects where they are. It may be appropriate to converse with leads on LinkedIn or other platforms, but you don’t necessarily need to message anyone directly. You could take part in post-show discussions on social media or create post-show content and tag your contacts from the event.

For example, you could post a recap of the event, updates, or relevant industry news. Then, if you receive engagement, you may send a personalized follow-up message.

The process, from promoting to following up, requires vigilance. When following up, remember to keep focusing on the next steps. If you’re exhibiting in Orlando, Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta, New York, New Jersey or anywhere in the United States, call C2O Studios at (313) 207-7614 or fill out our contact form to email us about your trade show exhibition needs, such as:

• trade show exhibit design

• trade show exhibit detailing

• trade show exhibit graphic design

• custom trade show exhibit and permanent installation production

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