Ideas for Promoting Your Trade Show Event
What you do before a trade show is often just as important for meeting your promotional goals as what you do at the trade show. Pre-promotion can drum up excitement for your booth and ensure that you get at least some attendees making a deliberate appearance. It is a part of the general marketing strategy to help your brand get out there, be seen and be spoken about. You can find other ideas for this online (such as on this page: https://www.klamm.de/news/warum-ist-markenkommunikation-so-wichtig-53Nb9cc6.html), but advance promotion also helps solidify your brand’s voice by giving people a behind-the-scenes look at the people who make everything happen.
So make sure you engage in some earnest promotional efforts by trying the following trade show marketing ideas.
Create a Facebook Event
Creating an “event” for your appearance at an actual event may seem counterintuitive, but it provides both an anchor point for your attendance at the event and a solid call-to-action for your social media postings. Instead of just saying “come see us!” over and over again, asking people to visit your event page and RSVP to your trade show appearance provides them an early opt-in. It also helps you gauge how many people are interested in seeing your booth specifically while giving you an early marketing list to work from as you strategize for the appearance ahead.
A Facebook event page gives your social media profiles something to link to other than the event page itself. You get to control the information the online visitor sees and focus attention on what your brand is doing. The idea is not to somehow make them forget that there will be hundreds of other companies at the trade show but rather to show how your participation is a unique part of the whole.
Directly Engage People on Twitter Who Use the Event Hashtag
Event hashtags let brands quickly rally together as they build excitement for the upcoming trade show. Make sure to use this hashtag to connect to attendees who are searching for general event postings. You can also directly engage a few people using the hashtag to give a friendly “hope to see you at our booth!” reply to their post.
Try not to overdo this since it can get annoying, but if you target a few select attendees – particularly ones who have had conversations with your brand before – then it can be a personable way to encourage booth visits.
Consider Live Streaming Certain Demos, Presentations or Q&As
Since not everyone will get to come to the trade show event, going “Live” through Facebook Live or Periscope can give people a glimpse of what they are missing. Having an established presentation date also gives people something concrete to engage with on your branded pages. You can learn more about the benefits of live streaming your event here: https://www.smartworksevents.com/services/online-streaming/.
Just make sure you give people advance warning, especially if the Live stream will occur during typical business hours. Promote the stream strongly on your other social media channels, and consider creating a separate Facebook Event page for just the live stream if you anticipate high interest.
Don’t Forget Email Marketing!
Email marketing may be several decades old, but it has stuck around for a reason. Getting into someone’s inbox cuts the noise they see on social media and other channels. You can send out specific emails for your appearance, like “Come See Us At XEvent 2017!” as well as more general, value-add emails that subtly promote your appearance, like “Best Restaurants You Can Walk to From XEvent” with a CTA to visit your booth at the end. If you want to ensure your emails are delivered promptly and before the event takes place, then using software from companies like mailfloss can make that happen, without it ending up in spam folders in the process.
Remember That Great Trade Show Marketing Ideas Start With Great Exhibit Design
Part of the appeal of trade show marketing is showing a physical version of your branding. Play up this tangible aspect of your promotion by having a trade show exhibit design worth gushing about. You can take a look at our gallery for trade show booth design inspiration and then contact us for help making your booth stand out.
