Attending a convention soon? Follow these 7 tips for marketing trade shows to make the most out of attendance.

Have you attended a trade show in the past without properly marketing your appearance beforehand? How successful was the trip?

For most companies, trade shows and conventions are ideal opportunities to meet existing customers, to learn from industry leaders, and to find new prospects. To make the most out of attendance, however, companies should also spend the time and money necessary to inform customers of their attendance.

Here are 7 strategies for marketing trade show appearances to maximize your profits.

7 Strategies for Marketing Trade Show Appearances

1. Announce the trade show on your company website. This may seem obvious, but too often in planning a trade show appearance, a company will neglect baseline marketing efforts. Use blog posts, press releases, or landing pages to highlight all public appearances for the company, not just trade shows.
2. 

   Use a magnet in a direct mail campaign to market future trade show appearances.

   Employ a direct-mail campaign to encourage customer attendance. If your company has the budget for direct mail advertising, then consider creating a campaign to announce the trade shows that the company will be attending over the course of the year.
3. Feature the appearance in your email marketing campaigns. If you have an active email newsletter, discussing a personal appearance at a trade show is a good way to motivate subscribers to attend the show as well. Consider offering hands-on training at the show, so customers will receive an added benefit for attending.
4. Broadcast news of your attendance on whichever social channels your company uses. Social media is a growing component to many companies’ marketing strategies. If your company is active on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, make sure to leverage these sites to their fullest. Encourage employees attending the show to announce it on their personal profiles as well—assuming they are willing to be ambassadors for the company, of course.
5. Contact customers that reside near the convention site. Make sure you call customers that live close to the convention site to see if they’ll be attending the event. If not, consider offering them complimentary tickets to the event or paying their office a visit before heading home.
6. 

   Market your trade show appearances by giving customers a token at one event good for a high-value gift at another event.

   Mention future appearances at other events. If you attend a series of shows every year, inform the customers and prospects you see there. You could even encourage attendance to future events through a series of promotional items or vouchers. For example, you could give visitors at one event a custom token good for a higher-value giveaway at the next event.
7. Run a Facebook contest to give customers a chance to win tickets to the trade show. Get your customers excited about the event by giving them a chance to win tickets to it with a Facebook contest. Need help getting started? Make sure to read our post about preparing for a Facebook contest.

The Bottom Line

Marketing your trade show appearance to customers will help you make the most out of attending a convention. Following these tips will make the trade show as productive as possible.

How do your company market trade show appearances? Have you had success using a strategy not mentioned above? Share it with us!

All products mentioned in this post about marketing trade shows are subject to availability. Please call 800-554-0127 between 9 AM and 8 PM ET Monday through Friday to confirm stock.

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