Your trade show sales and advertising plan should inform any executive at your company why it’s a great idea for you to be exhibiting at the trade show you are planning to select. Consequently, it’s critical to include in the plan quantifiable, measureable targets and goals for the show. As you create your goals, you will want to bear in mind that when the show is over, you will need to gauge your success in regards to how well you achieved these targets and objectives. Keep them reasonable.
First, you have to have objectives and goals for the services and goods area of your organization. If your company offers a great number of products and/or services, then you will need to narrow your focus in this category to just a couple of targets. As you start this process, it’s important that you consider the needs, wants, and goals of your key prospects who will be attending the trade show. What goods and services do you offer that are going to be most appealing to your key prospects?
Goals in the services and products families should not necessarily be sales-based. Rather, they will work better if based on Return on Objectives (ROO) which looks to specific activity goals and checks to see if they were accomplished. Targets that might fall into this grouping might include any of the following:
– A demonstration of features, benefits, or data
– A comparison of your products and services with other solutions or vendors
– A demonstration of an improvement in a service or a product
– A spotlight on a new product or service
The second grouping for which you ought to have specific objectives and goals is specific sales and marketing topics. Even if you will already be engaged with your qualified leads when it comes to this topic, do not focus on just the potential sale! Think out of the box a little with this topic and network with some other departments in your company. Is project management or is the product development team working on something that could benefit from exposure at this trade show? Ask around. You may be surprised at what you learn and the new possibilities that grow.
Keep under consideration that each time you exhibit at a trade show, you ought to establish a new promotional plan for that show. Except that,when it comes to the networking as a goal in itself, you will probably notice that your goals and objectives are the same everywhere, show to show. It’s likely the only true difference you can see in this target area is quantitative – the number of events and contacts you target for the show will change depending on the specific show.
At the end of the targets section of your marketing plan, you need to list your measurable goals. These goals are what you may track to measure how successful your exhibition at the trade show actually was. Examples of quantifiable goals could be:
– Make contact with a certain number of key prospect decision makers.
– Set up a certain number of sales meetings per salesperson to take place at the show.
– Establish a certain number of new leads.
– Have a certain number of meetings with the media at the show.
When you arrive at the trade show, and during the course of the show, you will be able to tell who planned for the show and who did not bother to plan. You will see how much better your team looks and how much more successfully your team functions solely because you took some time to make preparations for the trade show and set these goals.
Before investing a lot of money in your next trade show, do yourself a favor and grab your FREE report on trade show ROI. While on our website check out the many other resources that can help you find the absolute best trade show display for your next show.
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