Why This Matters
A trade show (tradeshow) (trade fair, trade exhibition or trade exposition) is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and customers, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities.
Trade shows can be an incredibly valuable element of your marketing mix, an effective way of having face-to-face conversations with your customers and potential partners in your industry. In order to make the most out of participating in a trade show, you’ll want to have a plan that starts before the show dates, establishing goals, budget, communications, booth design, lead follow-up and how you’re going to measure success.
To find trade shows that make sense for your business to part of, know your industry and the associations that represent it. These associations are typically the ones putting on trade shows as part of their annual general meetings.
Resources
Trade Show Marketing: How to Become an Expert in 30 Minutes – A comprehensive guide from pre-show to post-show including how to
What Is a Trade Show? (Everything You Need to Know) – Includes 5 reasons why trade shows are so valuable.
Trade Show Attendance Tips – How to network and maximize your Time.
Trade Shows and Conferences – A podcast episode that chats through the do’s and don’ts of trade shows and conferences.
Recommendations
Trade show planning timeline – A good breakdown you can use as a template of what to do when in the lead-up to a trade show.
10 Times – A tool for finding trade shows relevant to your industry, you can search by location, dates, categories and formats.