With the online marketing tools upgrading on a daily basis, it’s important to not overlook offline promoting tools. Yes, digital marketing gives entrepreneurs a lot, like advertising online, targeting the right audience & measuring the results precisely. In the end, it’s the real emotions and live impressions that really remain in the memory of customers. And, how else can that mission be the best completed but taking part in exhibitions?
Taking part in exhibitions(or, in other words, at trade shows) is an exciting and unique opportunity for any business sector to make a splash in its industry. At such events, you can demonstrate your products and services directly to the visitors. Those visitors, by the way, turn out to be your potential customers! Isn’t that amazing?
Long gone are the days when business owners strive to think out of the box 24/7 in order to impress. Who would imagine that in this digital age sometimes customers do get tired of online experiences and seek in-person connections? And it’s exactly here, where exhibitions or trade shows come in handy.
Catch a crash course into 5 benefits of taking part in exhibitions and how to get maximum exposure for your brand.
1. Brand awareness
Taking part in exhibitions will fuel huge growth in your brand exposure. It’s a nice opportunity to get people to learn about you, be it for the very first time or as a second reminder. Attendees at today’s small-to-medium exhibitions, they all, are there for the primary purpose: to listen to brand stories, to their ideas and visions. Of course, being just present is not fully beneficial yet.
Firstly, well-thought promotional materials such as eye-catching stands, posters, or banners with your brand signature play a key role. Not to mention that your brand presence is firstly seen in your way of introducing yourself. The design and the quality of your exhibition stand truly matter if you want to draw people in. Having put enough effort into this phase, then comes the phase of the social buzz about you being part of that major expo! Can you imagine the brand awareness you’ve already increased? We bet you do!
By the way, you learn about designing an impressive trade show display here.
2. Research The Market Directly
Well, you are at the location, armed with your powerful marketing materials surrounded by other industry players. Now, it’s time for some investigation… Your competitors are right in front of you, or next to you. Anyway, exhibitions are very industry-specific and targeted towards one industry, so 90% of your competitors are probably around you. This means you can do your market research directly. Check their services and products out, go along and find out who else is doing what you’re doing… How do they do it? Do they do it better than you? And what can you learn from that analysis to improve your brand presence?
3. New Partnership Opportunities
Having a powerful business partner is a paramount element in up-scaling your business. And, as long as exhibitions or trade shows are meant not only for direct customers but also decision-makers who have some cooperative initiatives visiting those events, exhibitions are your chance to build new partnerships! Who knows, maybe you will meet some supplier interested in your services and you will make a long-lasting relationship together, having successful projects and collaborations.
4. Networking
First impressions count! The main goal of such events is not purposely to sell services and products but to inform and collect information. Firstly, the primary purpose of exhibitions or trade shows is to bring together businesses in the same field from far and to gather at one location all at the same time. To win leads you need to gain trust. To gain trust you need to socialize! The experience and expertise exchange is enormous at these events. Having fruitful conversations with the veterans of the industry and meeting new entrepreneurs in the market in person, discussing some ideas, and sharing advice; it’s priceless.
5. Face-to-face connection with customers
However, today’s consumers are dramatically different from those of 15 years ago. It seems they have seen a lot of newnesses and tried a lot already. Moreover, with a huge amount of digital solutions existing in the tech world, people seek more and more natural touches. It’s the authenticity and genuine face-to-face connection that customers strive to achieve recently.
Of course, marketing and advertising do their best to provide the best customer experience online, but, in the end, what remains are the human interference and memories they associate with the brand. On the other hand, you get to know your target in a much more detailed way; you get to know about their needs and requirements thoroughly. Maybe, if you’re lucky and all 5 points have been successfully achieved, you can gain their attention the best way possible, which is – selling them products and services right at the event.
