Thank you for exhibiting at our Business Expo & Showcase! We realize that it’s a huge investment for your business so we wanted to put together some tips to help you make the most of this opportunity.
When exhibiting please think about the 4 P’s:
- Promote
- Prepare
- Present
- Pursue
Promote: Reach out to your customers, clients, Social Media followers, etc. to let them know you are exhibiting.
- Hang a flyer in the window and hand them out when someone comes into your location(s).
- Send out an email blast to your list with your booth # to let them know about any promotions and giveaways you are offering at the Business Expo & Showcase.
- Upload the Facebook cover photo and Twitter header provided by the GLCC to your Social Media sites.
- Post on your Fac ebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram profiles letting people know that you’ll be at the Business Expo & Showcase. Is there something you are offering that they won’t want to miss? Use #GLCCExpo when posting.
- If you exhibited last year, post a Throw Back Thursday (#TBT) photo of your booth.
Prepare: If you prepare in advance you’ll avoid a lot of headaches the day of the Business Expo & Showcase.
- Determine who will be manning your booth and consider doing it in shifts. This way everyone will have the opportunity to walk around, meet other exhibitors, enjoy the Tasting Room, etc.
- Decide what marketing materials you’ll be handing out. You may need to order some.
- What type of giveaway (promotional item, coupon, candy/food, etc.) or raffle will you have at your booth? Giveaways and raffles are always a huge hit and will help bring a lot of foot traffic to your booth.
- How will you capture attendee information? Will you have a fish bowl for business cards, an iPad for people to enter their email addresses or a clip board with an info sheet for attendees to fill out?
- What do you want your booth to look like?
- What is going to make your booth engaging and appealing? Remember: A smile ALWAYS goes a long way!
Present: You made the investment to have a booth at the Business Expo & Showcase, so make the most out of this opportunity!
- Make the commitment to be 100% present while you’re there. Attendees will pick up on it very quickly if you are not engaging them (this includes spending a lot of time on your phone).
- Consider this your opportunity to present your products, services, business/organization to hundreds of people. Make sure your booth presentation reflects you and your business.
- Practice your talking points in advance so you are able to get your point across quickly and effectively.
- You may want to consider scheduling appointments with attendees/exhibitors on the spot. (Imagine leaving with a calendar full of meetings!)
- Get to know your neighbors! This is a great time to network with the businesses and organizations that have booths right next to yours.
- Remember to capture email addresses and collect business cards so you can follow up with business and consumers. There are huge B2B and B2C opportunities at the Business Expo & Showcase.
Pursue: Just because the Business Expo & Showcase is over, that doesn’t mean that your work is done… It’s actually just beginning!
- Post photos and videos of you and your team at the Expo on Social Media. Encourage people to comment, like, share and interact. Use #GLCCExpo when posting. (Remember to post the winner of your raffle, if applicable.)
- Send out a thank you email blast with photos and videos to your existing list. Include a short recap of the day.
- Follow up with the contacts you made the day of the Business Expo & Showcase. You can do this through email, Social Media (why not send specific businesses a tweet to tell them that you enjoyed meeting them?), phone or direct mail.
- Start planning for next year’s Business Expo & Showcase. Make notes that you can go back to: what worked, what didn’t work, etc.