Collaborative Corner: Conny Millard

Posted By admin / 6th April 2010

This week on Collaborative Corner, Conny Millard talks about the importance of promoting your trade show booth and creating a strategy that will deliver results after the event.

It is the season for conferences, trade shows and business events with thousands of dollars being spent on generating more sales leads and key business connections in your industry.

Getting a good return on the company’s investment on these events is crucial and is typically monitored by the management. From organizing the booth, to getting marketing materials ready, inviting key clients, to planning staff cover, every aspect of a trade show undergoes careful planning and meticulous execution and takes a lot to time to prepare.

In all the busyness surrounding the event, two things are often overlooked, one is promoting your booth to existing, past and potential clients, suppliers or target audiences and the other is the lack of follow up with every visitor to the booth afterwards.

As a sales executive, I have been attending many trade shows either as an exhibitor or as a visitor. As senior management during my corporate years, I have also had the task of measuring the returns and consider the true value to the company of investing into attending these events.

It is proven, that however well the booth and preparations are taken care off, only with the right communication strategy as well as committed immediate follow up with all connections made, are the returns worth the investment.

Therefore when planning your next event, allow for additional funds for promotion starting at least 4 weeks in advance to ensure, your target audience is able to attend.

After the event, implement a system that captures all contacts to receive a written communication within 48 hours, thanking them for their visit to your booth and arranging follow up actions.

This is the proven way to a successful trade show marketing strategy!