Going into tradeshow season with a plan is key. You should carefully craft and implement your plan in an effort to get the most return on your investment. In the our final blog post of this series – we’re focusing on what you can do post-show to get the best return on everything you’ve planned.
Smart phones and tablets have made it very easy to take advantage of scanning badges and collecting contact information from those you visit your booth at a trade show. You should also be making personal notes for yourself about converssations with attendees. But what do you do with all that information?
Simple, follow up!
You tradeshow planning should include a solid and valuable follow up mechanism.
Getting outside the box is also key. Everyone can make the obligatory follow up calls; but those who want to have the most impact have created a compelling reason for attendees to want to hear from them. You need to make a connection at the show and implement a follow up portion of your promotional product that will give you a reason to call or email the attendees.
One idea is to take a picture of your booth (with you and your staff in it) just before the tradeshow begins – use this picture in an email immediately after the show that expresses the sentiment that you were happy to meet them and look forward to partnering with them in the future.
Another idea, if you decided to do a game or drawing in your booth, is to take a picture of the winner and send it out in an email (preferably through your email marketing tool) and say “Here is the winner of our XYZ drawing at the ABC tradeshow! Thanks to all who participated.” You can build on this and maybe offer a special just this prospects – whether it’s a discount, free gift, etc.
As you read this and plan for your next event, make sure to contact your promotional consultant to come up with more memorable tradeshow ideas.