Strategic Marketing for Trade Show Exhibitions – Exhibition Marketing Strategy Consultant Brighton, Sussex

Lets Start With Some Facts

Fact 1: Exhibitions are about doing business. Not ‘stands’. Companies cannot afford to ‘stand’ at these fast paced events of they are to generate real business and exploit full return on investment from their exhibition involvement.

Fact 2: I help companies escape the ‘market stall’ approach to exhibiting. This is where companies set out their products on their exhibition stand like a market stall and wait for customers to come on to their stand and do business. Exhibitions are costly, time consuming, highly demanding and extremely competitive sales environments.

Fact 3: NEVER go to a ‘stand builder’ for your exhibition stand.

Confused… Read on to find out why…

Companies tell me they’re attending exhibitions for different reasons including generating sales leads, raising their brand profile, ‘flying the flag’, launching new products, to network, and sometimes just because they feel they need to be at the event because they are market leaders so it’s expected of them to attend.

Whatever your company’s reason for attending an exhibition, the fact is you have invested your hard earned money, time and marketing budget into being there to improve your business and to essentially generate sales – the lifeblood of any business.

Exhibitions therefore MUST be a business driven strategic sales and marketing event for best results and best return on your investment.

Exhibition Basics

When you go to an exhibitions stand builder you get… an exhibition stand. Errr yeah? …No! Exhibition stand builders are very good (some not so good) at designing and building exhibition stands – but that’s exactly what you asked for, wasn’t it? What you essentially get is a shiney glossy ‘market stall’. A place for your products and leaflets to display and hang your graphics. This is what you asked for and this is what you got. Right? …. No! What you needed is a ‘exhibition sales environment’. A place and space to communicate your company and brand, to sell, to convert visitors to customers and generate leads – a business stand delivering tangible results and ROI from your exhibition investment.

Unfortunately stand builders do not understand marketing, selling, your business, your products, your customers, target audiences, market sectors, objectives and even exhibitions themselves – So what you really need is a ‘selling environment’ – not a market stall – an efficient and effective environment for marketing your company, products, meeting and engaging with potential customers, networking, communicating your key messages, and essentially doing business at the event.

I work with some excellent exhibition stand designers and stand builders whom I am very pleased to recommend and introduce to clients to play their part in the exhibition project. I do not build stands. I understand EVERY aspect of the exhibition sales and marketing environment. I help clients exploit the FULL potential of their exhibitions events.

Exhibitions have changed - like all marketing in keeping with the various changes around us. Companies therefore need to change the way they exhibit and market themselves at events if they are to FULLY exploit exhibiting potential.

You cannot afford to ‘stand’ at an exhibition. Your selling environment is about doing business and the business is the event visitors who are there for a limited time, at a large event, with hundreds of your competitors, competing for their time at the event. If you ‘stand’ at an exhibition, you lose business. I can show companies how to do REAL business at an exhibition.

Booking big exhibition space at an event, doesn’t mean you will do big business at the event. However, it will mean greater event event show overheads, logistics, and management. Location and size have an impact on your exhibition presence and needs careful consideration. Early booking of the right location and space will have a greater impact on your exhibition presence.

Exhibition Tips :

1) Exhibitions begin the day you receive confirmation of your exhibition presence and space – not the day and time the event opens. This is when you MUST start planning and creating your exhibition presence.

2) I was at a recent major trade exhibition in Madrid (CPHi) and looked across at a stand that must of cost in excess of £150K – saw their logo but couldn’t see what they did, what they was offering. Show visitors just do not have the time to find out what your company does and offers them – the sales message must be loud, proud and evident to passers-by – then the logo – or you will find more than 50% of your event business opportunity will be lost.

3) Have you planned a pre-show, show and post show marketing campaign?

How I Work

I provide clients with a total exhibitions management service from stand strategy and design, to build, event contractor liaising, event campaign strategy, press lounge and PR support, display graphics, hospitality, merchandising, stand promotion, staff training, transport and logistics, build and dismantle, storage, lead generation – everything from start to booking. You are free to concentrate on your core business.

I work with companies and their stand builder – Ensuring clients FULLY exploit their investment and presence at an exhibition. I have considerable – and I mean considerable – UK and overseas exhibitions and event experience in squeezing every ounce of business potential out of an event for clients.

I have a proven method and strategy for clients attending exhibitions that brings success. I work closely with clients before, during, and after the event.

Strategic Marketing For Exhibitions

Do you have a contact database? Typically this database contains thousands of potential customers and contacts – but at best a very small percentage of that database will actually attend the show you are attending. So, how do you get the majority of the contact database to attend your show?

Where are your customers at an exhibition? If you don’t know the answer, you are already missing out big time. I have proven to increase sales leads by 75% showing clients where their customers are hiding at events.