The role of the trade show has been in decline over recent years because of the rise of the internet and social media into the way we do business. However, the trade show is still maintaining an important role in the way we do business as the vehicle for personal interaction and networking.
This article will serve a guide to trade show attendance for small businesses, who are trying to decide how to spend their limited resources in order to effectively market a product and their company. The trade show could be a viable pathway for a small business, but the level of involvement in the event is tied to a certain level of cost to your small business.
I will draw upon my experience working in a variety of industries, representing each company at trade shows or conferences. I also will utilize my experience handling all aspects of the logistics for trade shows for a medium sized company which attended about 14 trade shows per year.
Costs of involvement
A small business always has to be aware of the costs surrounding the traditional methods of marketing their respective company. The decision on whether or not to attend a trade show is a big decision for many small businesses that I have worked with in the past.
The cost factors of a trade show to your business are multi-layered. Some of the typical questions that must be considered are:
Where is the trade show? How will the location impact travel costs?
How much man power is needed to attend the trade show? Can we spare the time?
What is the value of new business potential by attending? What is the total cost of attending?
The location and cost of travel to that location is a key component to whether or not your company will attend a trade show. The man power or personnel question is also an important one. The time you would need from the employees sent to attend the show has a set value. The decision has to be made on how many people should attend based on the value of the new business potential.
In my past experience, the contacts made at a trade show were all logged into an Excel sheet. Then I coordinated with the sales team to tag the projects that came in which were a direct result of the trade show. We would track those projects into converted sales and mark that on the Excel sheet as well.
The following year when we were meeting to determine the level of involvement we would have in the various trade shows, I would pull up the Excel sheet for each trade show, and show the total new business amounts for each one. This exercise provided us with a benchmark for the potential cost – benefit analysis of attending the particular trade show.
Decision to attend: large booth, tabletop, or attendee?
Once the decision has been made to attend the trade show, then your company must decide the level of involvement it will commit to the respective event. It is the age old central question for trade show attendance: do we go with a large booth, a tabletop, or just as an attendee?
In my experience, depending on your budget, you should avoid using a large booth unless the show is a very big event with broad exposure and measurable new business potential. A small booth could be leased for the event if you do not want to own the booth and have to deal with storing it when not in use.
The tabletop space is a very effective way to attend larger shows, which may have higher exhibitor fees associated with them. In this regard the tabletop provides your company with a presence at the show, and the ability to have one or two people staff the booth while your other employees explore the trade show floor.
Some trade shows are more difficult to discern the potential for new business opportunity. In those cases, my advice would be to go only as attendees. You could spend a lot less money on attendee badges for a few employees to effectively do a scouting trip on a particular show versus renting a tabletop or booth space, only to find out that the show was a waste of time and money.
The trip to a trade show as an attendee, in my experience, is a very different one. You have a lot less pressure on your time without having to deal with all of the logistics of setting up and managing a booth. The trip as an attendee allows you to focus more on the networking and socializing aspects of the show, which could definitely help drive future business development.
Nevertheless, there are certain trade shows where the only way it makes sense to go is as an exhibitor. For instance, one company I worked with attended two different trade shows that were each held once every two or three years. The decision was made that it only made sense to attend these shows if we exhibited with a large booth space.
Exhibitor challenges at a trade show
In the event that your small business decides to make the trip to a trade show as an exhibitor, many decisions have to be well thought out and executed for a successful presence at the event.
First, you have to decide whether you are going to lease or purchase a trade show booth, as I stated earlier in the article, both options have positive and negative attributes.
Next, you have to determine the staffing of the booth: How many people go early to set up the booth the day before the show?
How many people will be needed to staff the booth at a given time?
Do you have a schedule of hours each employee will be responsible for certain shifts at the booth?
Are you going to have product samples at the booth? If so, what are they?
Will you have promotional materials to give away? If so, what are they?
I find that the schedule of people to staff the booth works the best. I also find that if you order promotional materials in huge bulk at the start of the full run of trade shows you plan to attend, your savings will be much better than if you made three or four small orders per year. The flip side is that the one large order is a big payout to make at one time, however you could work with the vendor to break it up into smaller installments if the vendor is willing to do so.
An out of the box solution for new or start up businesses
If you are a new or start up business and you want to attend a trade show but are having trouble with the cost factors associated with attendance, I have a solution for you. The solution: share the cost of the booth or tabletop with another company.
I was working with a small company that shared the cost of a tabletop with a company that provided a service for them. This way, both companies got exposure and they spent half the amount of money.
Another way your small or start up business can accomplish this, is to go to the website for the trade show and pull up the attendee lists and exhibitor lists from a prior year. Then research the companies by visiting their web sites. Once you have identified a list of companies you feel have a synergy or a potential for a relationship with your new business venture: call them and propose to share the cost of the space at the upcoming trade show.
In conclusion, the trade show circuit can be a valuable method for networking and building lasting new business relationships. It must be done in a prudent and cost effective way to maximize the potential for your small business. I hope that this article will help you in the process as you identify and plan your level of involvement in the trade shows for your respective business.