Trade show consultants are still a bit out of the ordinary for industrial and manufacturing companies. Typically a trade show is run by internal marketing in concert with sales.
However, as trade shows are under more and more budget pressure, the benefit of outside consulting is evident for many companies.
In the past reasons such as, “We always go to this show,” and “all our competitors will be there,” were good enough reasons to go to trade shows. Now not so much. You need actual ROI to go to an event. How can hiring a trade show consultant help the marketing for your industrial, manufacturing or construction company?
Outside perspective: The trade show consultant is outside the organization which gives him or her the benefit of not being swayed by internal company politics.
Oddly enough despite the work inherent in working a trade show, everyone wants to go.
For instance, a consultant can help you determine exactly who should go to the show and exactly how many people you need.
Also, because a consultant has access to a lot of different companies they can make sure that you take advantage of the newest techniques in trade show marketing.
Training: A trade show consultant can offer training to your trade show staff. You would be amazed at how many people working the booth have not been formally trained to work a booth. Not even for a minute. The training usually comes from someone who might or might not have worked the booth before and may say:
“Yeah people are going to come into the booth, and you are going to tell them about the product. Yep, that’s it.”
That is, in fact, worse than no training.
Planning: A trade show consultant can help with your planning for the logistics and marketing of your trade show. They can help with messaging, graphics and the layout of your booth.
They can also help with planning how to deal with leads effectively. If you are doing an Event at the Event, a consultant can contribute to making that better as well.
Having an outside eye can really help you break out of any marketing ruts and increase your live event ROI.
Post-show: An advisor can also help you analysis post-show. Not every show is successful, but you need to be able to measure how well each show was for your company.
Interested in talking to 366 marketing about our trade show consulting? Contact us here.