Your first question may be why am I focusing on a Trade Show Marketing Strategy? I have to work on the actual trade show! Won’t the trade show marketing strategy take care of itself?
Unfortunately it will not.
People get so caught up in the the logistics and the design of the booth that they forget that this is just one huge marketing tactic. And we all know that all tactics need to be guided by a solid marketing strategy.
Especially one that takes such a huge outlay of time and money.
Look at it this way. Let’s say you have a modest budget for a show, say 10k. Let’s assume it is a 3 day show and you have 7 hours a day. Out of that you have 21 hours of actual show time on the floor.
Multiply that out and you have 1260 minutes on the floor. Now if you divide the $10,000/1260 m you get $7.93 a minute that this marketing is costing you.
That is pretty expensive. Not to mention the cost of the people you have working the show, travel meals, opportunity cost, etc.
Shouldn’t you maximize your ROI?
Much like any strategy, this is a physical manifestation of your goals and objectives for an individual trade show. It lets you know where you are going right and when you need to correct.
This gives your team an idea of where you are going. It should be shared and used as a training document for all of the staff attending and supporting the show.
It illustrates to upper management that there is a plan, and proves an ROI for events and for you. Best of all this is customizable for you and your team, and will work for huge shows to smaller niche ones.
Want to download our trade show marketing strategy guide? You can get it here.