Next
Oldest

Add Trade Shows and Conferences to Your Marketing and Speaking Blueprint for Success

Category: Marketing & PR Strategies You Might Try

Published: Thursday, July 02, 2009

Have you built into your marketing and speaking materials trade shows and conference attendance? If not, you are missing out on a valuable tool that can immediately bring results to you and your business. It doesn't matter whether you sell a product or service, there is a trade show or conference just for you. Trade shows can fit all budgets, so the key is to first identify how much you can afford to spend in a year and plug that amount into your marketing budget. The next step would be to look at what trade shows and conferences are available that fit into your type of business. Your ultimate success with any trade show depends on having a clear understanding of specifically what you expect to gain from exhibiting and/or speaking and whether that trade show is the proper venue for your expectations. It is very important to pick the right show. You need to ask yourself some questions, like is this show drawing the specific customers or contacts you seek? Are the people who attending coming to buy or browse? Determine the most cost-effective way to participate. Look at all the costs. Do you have the funds to rent the space and also to design and furnish and staff the booth? If exhibiting is too costly there are other options. Working a Show Without Exhibiting This is one of my favorites. Here you attend the show or conference and view all the exhibits and talk to all the people who you meet and learn what they have to offer and see if there are any opportunities for you to work together. Always have plenty of business cards and brochures with you, as well as a bag of some sort to gather all the materials you will be picking up. There are times that I personally find that for some shows it is more effective for me to attend rather than be an exhibitor. Some shows I attended as an an attendee were the Governors Conference in Long Beach and a big health fair in Pasadena. I came away from the conference and the health fair with some great leads for business and some new friends. I also found an opportunity to leave information on my business as well as some of my clients businesses, and from those contacts several business opportunities have unfolded. Become a Conference Presenter This is a great opportunity and allows you to get to the conference and in many cases you can negotiate a speaking fee as well as get a free booth. Sometimes you get the booth in lieu of a fee. I have used both of these methods for different shows that I have done and they have worked great for me. Finding the Right Show � Biz Tradshows.com http://www.biztradeshows.com not only has US Shows and contacts for the organizers it also lists the contacts as well. � Albaba.com http://tradeshow.alibaba.com is also another source for global shows on the two above you can search for the town, state and/or country and or the category that you are looking for as well as contact information. Looking ahead later in the year for upcoming conferences is also a great way to make contacts for possible speaking engagements as well. Also you can look at past conferences that have just been completed and find out when and where their next conference will be and who will be in charge of the speakers/presenter submissions. Your local convention centers and hotels with convention centers can give you some ideas of what conventions have been booked at their location for the coming year. They also have the names of the contacts that have booked the event that they can share with you. � The calendars of your newspapers and magazines list upcoming events. Take time to review the information and use the contact number to follow up if you need additional information. � Other directories I like and use are the National Trade and Professional Associations Directory of the US and State and Regional Associations of the US both published by Columbia Press in Chestertown, MD. (888-265-0600) These directories not only list the names of the associations, but the number of members and where their conferences are being held for the current and the future year and the contact person So if the association market is a good place for you to be for your products and services these directories will help you to easily contact the association that best fits your products or services. Most of these events also have the opportunities for vendor displays booths that are usually a lot less expensive than a major trade show and all offer you the opportunity to network. These are also great directories to use if you want to be a presenter at a given event as it lists the location of the conference, their budget and the number of expected attendees, it usually lists a few years of upcoming events for each organization and also provides the contact person, telephone number, mailing address and e-mail address. Why trade shows? They offer incredible opportunity for networking with prospects, competition and other vendors. They also have like companies featured, which attract many buyers in that field. You also get the opportunity to test your marketing presentation and your marketing materials as well as how your products and or services are received by the attendees, so you can quickly evaluate what works and what doesn't. This allows you to adjust your presentation and even look at possible changes you may need to make to your presentation and marketing materials. Trade shows also help you to establish credibility. But they can be expensive, so it is important that you carefully evaluate the show, who the attendees are and if the show fits the market base for your product or service. Also look at the costs and the expected return on your investment to see if it is the right place for you to be.

Visitor Comments ( 0 ) | Post a Comment

Be the first to share your Comments...

Belief in yourself can get you through anything...

Category: It's All About Showing Up Stories

Published: Tuesday, September 06, 2011

I always wondered what people felt when their doctor gave them bad news. I myself have not been much of a doctor person over the years. Recently I had to give in and SHOW UP at my wonderful doctors office as I was having some knee pain. While I was there she asked me if I had any other problems and so I thought that I would share with her that I had been having a little breast pain on my left Breast for awhile.

SHOWING UP IS LIKE A TREASURE MAP

Category: It's All About Showing Up Stories

Published: Tuesday, April 12, 2011

SHOWING UP IS LIKE A TREASURE MAP, AND THE POWER IS IN THE ASKING...HERE IS A WONDERFUL EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE THAT ASKED, GOT SOME IDEAS AND THEN TOOK ACTION.