Trade shows – either expos and conventions play a big marketing role for companies who want to showcase their products, services and engage with prospective clients personally. Trade shows, when done successfully, can actually generate more business or close deals compared to other marketing strategies.
If you want to launch a successful trade show, you need to consider a lot of things and prepare for it financially. Below are some trade show planning tips to help you set up your budget.
Establish Trade Show Goals
When planning for a trade show, the end must be visualized in full-detail. The set-up, logistics, manpower, projected sales or registrants, etc. must be clearly outlined. This way, it will be easier to draft and finalize a budget. Be sure to set goals that can be monitored and measured so that the data can be used for the next trade shows or company sales drive.
Selecting The Right Event
Another thing to consider when planning for a trade show is to be very meticulous in choosing the right event to participate in. On average, there are more than 10,000 trade shows held annually in the US which might seem to be overwhelming to choose from.
Although it might be daunting to choose among the numerous trade shows available, keep in mind that each of them has a specific theme or industry to highlight. This will make the selection process easier because you can narrow down your choices based on the industry that you are working in. After the selection process, you can then modify your draft budget to ensure that you will gain a high return on investment after the event.
Early Bird Gets The Early Worm
In almost all events, there are always early bird promos, right? Well, this goes the same for trade shows. More often than not, organizers offer early registration promos and discounts, so it would be best to take advantage of said kind of offers especially if it can save you some extra bucks for the exhibit space. Also make sure that you get a breakdown or quotation of the total event fees so you won’t have to make unnecessary budget adjustments for hidden fees.