Months of preparation has gone into the production of your stand, your staff arrived at the exhibition stand early to make sure everything looked professional and you spoke to what seemed like hundreds of potential customers at the show itself.

So why haven’t you gained any more leads than if you’d hired someone to hand out a leaflet outside the exhibition hall? The answer might be something to do with the way you market your products or services.

There are some key marketing solutions that could make all the difference at your next exhibition and have you walking away with enough leads to keep you going until your next show.

Don’t rely on the organisers to get people to your stand. Your marketing activity surrounding an exhibition should be concentrated on encouraging prospective customers to come and see you at the show so they can look at your product and meet your staff.

Define Your Market
One of the first tasks is to research your target customer base. Go through your database and choose the clients you want to concentrate on. The next step is to determine your key messages and objectives and create an integrated campaign to communicate your key messages.

Target Customers Before the Exhibition
Make them feel special by sending them a personal email inviting them to exhibition. Use this invitation to highlight any special deals you will have at the show as part of your pre-event marketing.

Link Marketing with a Sales Promotion
An effective way to build you client database is to have your stand visitors give you some basic information. As an incentive to fill in the form they can be entered into a draw for a major prize or be given a small branded token. This relatively simple task allows you to attract, qualify and retain customers.

Hold On-stand Activity
This activity could be tailored around the sales promotion, for example your promotion is to give away a car so have the car on the stand and people can see what is on offer. Attendees always respond to a fun activity so try a chocolate wheel that can be spun for a prize, or a game. Brochures can be given to people with their tickets inviting them to take part in your stand activity. Another alternative is to have staff handing out branded gifts, like coloured chocolates, sweets or sample bags.

Effective Stand Design
Keep your stand design simple with a range of graphics, media and new technology to showcase your product or message. Concentrate on one ‘hero’ product/service and focus your marketing around it. Stick to the theme by using toning colours and images and, if you can, have an element positioned above the stand, like a banner or revolving sign. This will draw exhibitors’ attention to your stand as soon as they walk through the door.

Sing from the Same Hymn Sheet
Ensure everyone working on your stand is using the same information. There’s nothing worse than two customers comparing notes over a drink and discovering one got a completely different deal simply because they spoke to a different staff member. Have a marketing plan prepared before the exhibition, including costs and show deals, and give it to everyone working on the stand. Outline the end cost, not just the percentage off or multiple sale discounts, in the plan and your stand marketing material so your staff - and the customer – know exactly how much they will save by buying at the show.

Follow Up Your Prospects
Finally, once you have packed up your stand and your feet have recovered from the exhibition, it is important to follow up on your leads. Contact your potential and existing customers via email, letter, phone or in person and reinforce the exhibition deals to remind them.