One of the best ways to promote your business, participating in a trade show can be the catalyst that takes your business to the next level. However, if you don’t plan ahead of time, what you hoped would be a turning point for your business can become a big disappointment. To prevent this, here are five things you should always consider before entering your business in a trade show.

Identify if Your Primary Focus

Before entering any trade show, make sure you have clear and realistic goals. For example, will you focus primarily on promoting a new product, or are you instead of trying to position your company so that you can make a big sale to a larger company that will also be in attendance? Additionally, you may be interested in making your business more newsworthy by leveraging your involvement in the trade show. Some companies take the opportunity to use a trade show to create content that can be used for advertising and social media. Whatever your focus is, make sure that whether or not you participate in the tradeshow and how you participate in the trade show is focused on that. 

Research the Trade Show

Prior to entering a trade show, do your homework and make sure it will be a good fit for your business. Ultimately, you want the trade show to give you an excellent return on your investment. Most importantly, make sure those who will be in attendance are indeed your target audience since this will determine the success of your endeavor. This is heavily dependent on your goals for the event. If you want to reach new customers or new partners, then the audience you’re interested in reaching will be different. You can typically find details about the target audience on the website about the trade show. If you are having problems finding the details, you can typically get audience details from the salespeople working with advertisers and sponsors. Emails for the correct people to contact are typically on the website or can be found through sites like LinkedIn

Arrange for Equipment

Since you will need to take quite a bit of inventory and other supplies with you to the trade show, always arrange for an equipment trailer and other types of equipment well in advance of the show. If you don’t, you may find yourself losing out on an excellent opportunity to expand your network, grow your business, and make a large number of sales. Oftentimes, tradeshows will provide services such as table renting and electrical setup. They also typically have recommended rental equipment companies that may be able to bring the equipment as well as set everything up and take it down for you. It takes additional funds than picking everything up from the rental company yourself, but the saved time can help you focus on other parts of the event to make a better impression on your potential customers or partners. Whatever you do, make sure that you contact the company months in advance to ensure that you can get everything that you need.

Advertise Your Trade Show Attendance

After you have confirmed your attendance at a trade show, consider advertising your upcoming appearance to your customers and others. To begin, put a notice on your company’s website that includes the date, time, booth number, and other relevant information. By doing so, you may see quite a few familiar faces stopping by your booth to say hello, look over your products, and maybe even strike some lucrative deals along the way. Additionally, share your attendance on social media by including posts before and during the event. You can encourage people to visit your booth by doing so.

Don’t Skimp On Your Display

Last but not least, go all-out when creating your trade show display. While it may be a bit more than you’d prefer to spend, having a display that is eye-catching will have a crowd at your booth from the moment you arrive and get set up until you leave. By standing out from the crowd, your trade show visit is sure to be a success. This not only includes banners or tablecloths, but it also includes how you display your services or the products that your company provides. If they are products, then make sure you have the product with you on display. Additionally, if you provide a service, consider video or images that you can use to showcase them.

Proper Staffing for the Trade Show

Sometimes, businesses enter a trade show with the assumption that one employee will be able to handle everything. However, it is more likely that you’ll need at least two people if not more employees to staff the trade show. Being successful at a trade show often requires being able to talk to people who visit your booth when they walk by, which means you’ll need someone available to showcase your company at all times. Not only do you have to consider bathroom and lunch breaks, you also have to consider that multiple people may come by your booth at the same time so you’ll need staffing to cover both. Additionally, this not only means that you’ll have to pay for multiple people to work on the trade show but it also means that you’ll have to cover the employee’s normal day-to-day responsibilities while they are at the trade show. 

By taking these five important areas into consideration, you can attend a trade show and come away with new customers, a well-known brand, and hopefully some larger profits as well.