09 November 2022

Guide To Trade Shows

Trade shows are an excellent sales and marketing tool but some businesses still need to be convinced as to whether attending a trade show is worth the money and time. We’re here to discuss some of the big questions surrounding trade fairs.

What Is A Trade Show?

A trade show can vary in size but is typically a large event focused on a particular industry where businesses can go to network with clients and potential business partners.

What Is The Goal Of A Trade Show?

The goal of trade shows is typically to create leads, and network within your industry and on face value is a marketing strategy. Sometimes brands will go to a large industry trade show just because it’s expected! That doesn’t mean that trade fairs aren’t worth it though, done right, they can be well worth your time.

Are Trade Shows Worth It?

People always wonder if trade shows are still relevant but we’re here to say they are and depending on your industry they are worth it!

The benefits of trade shows include:

• Being able to meet your customers face-to-face allows you to develop a stronger working relationship
• The opportunity to network with customers and other people within your industry for business partnership and recruitment purposes
• You can meet up with customers that are far away in a central location
• Meet new people to create new business opportunities
• Assess what your competitors are doing
• Advertise your brand on a large scale

When debating whether to attend a trade show you should also know the potential disadvantages of trade shows. Trade fairs can have high costs when you add renting the stand space, the stand design and build costs, plus travel, accommodation and time out of the office for your team.

When you consider the costs plus the potential that a trade show might not provide results, it can just be seen as wasted money. This is why trade fairs should be seen as a marketing tool and then a sales tool. You are going to be competing for audience engagement with your competitors so you need to stand out which is where costs on design and build could affect your costings.

There is also the risk of a low turnout at trade fairs. This is where research is essential. Consider trade shows that are only relevant to your industry, maybe if it’s something you’ve been thinking about speaking to partners within the industry can get you started to know which shows are worth your time and which aren’t.

Another option is to attend the show as a delegate rather than an exhibitor in your first year so you can get a feel for an exhibition. If you have an existing partnership, have you considered creating a joint stand so that the cost is shared between your business and your partners? This can help with the cost burden for both parties and might offer excellent business opportunities to prospective customers.

How To Design A Trade Show Booth

When designing your trade show stand, you need to know whether the fair allows custom design stands or whether they offer booths. This will often depend on the size of the trade fair, plus the type of space you have purchased, whether that’s a large space that requires a custom build or is smaller and only suitable for a pop-up stand.

There are a number of professional design service companies that can help you to design a bespoke exhibition stand that stands out against your competitors or speak to a design agency that can help to create banners and pop-ups for a trade fair booth. If you have an internal graphic designer they may also be able to help with your exhibition stand design!

What to consider when creating your trade show stand?

You should consider if you’re taking products, how many and what will you be taking as this will impact the design of your stand.

You should also consider if your stand will have a theme or something to bring in customers. Sometimes people have games or sweet treats to draw in customers. If you opt to include a coffee stop on your stand, then offering some seats would be ideal to entice customers in and then encourage them to hang around so you can start a conversation.

If you’ll be selling a service then a seated area would be ideal to sit with potential customers and talk them through what you can offer them. So as you can see there are a lot of things to think about when designing an exhibition booth.

How To Generate Leads At Trade Shows

A key reason for going to trade shows is to generate leads so how will you do that? Here are a few tips:

• Take your best sales team
• Make sure you have information on the stand that customers can take away such as brochures
• Have a system for taking customer details – some trade shows will offer a platform but if they don’t you’ll need a way to keep track of everyone you speak to and how you’ll contact them
• Have something that will draw people to your stand, whether that’s a game, having your physical products for people to look at or something simple like cake!
• Discuss an upfront incentive such as a special trade show offer for anyone who places an order on the day of your show or within a week

There are so many more ways you can generate leads at trade shows but here are a few to get you started!

Trade Show & Exhibition Venue In Stafford

If you’re looking for a new trade fair venue, Yarnfield Park offers a wide range of facilities that mean we might be the ideal venue for you. With a number of room capacities and layouts, we can meet your trade fair requirements. We’re also part of The Venues Collection, offering a number of venues across England that are ideal for a number of corporate events, exhibitions and more.

Discover all of our exhibition venues

A number of our venues can offer comfortable bedrooms for your guests and exhibitors, plus catering options. Explore our bedrooms at Yarnfield Park.