10 reasons to exhibit at a trade show

Wondering whether a trade show is the right marketing avenue to explore for your business?

Between fees for space rental, the exhibit stands, marketing materials, travel, and accommodation, costs can quickly add up, so they must be justified as being worthwhile.

Top 10 reasons to exhibit at a trade show

1. Connect with a receptive audience

Often, one of the most difficult parts of marketing is simply getting your message in front of your target audience. At trade shows, your audience comes to you!
This human interaction can help you to not only clearly communicate the benefits of your products or services, but also build trust and genuine relationships with potential customers and partners.

2. Strengthen your reputation with existing customers

While making new connections is always important, nurturing existing relationships is no less vital for encouraging customer loyalty and repeat business. At a trade show, you can connect with existing customers face-to-face, offering you the chance to upsell and build upon preexisting arrangements.

3. Receive more media publicity

A strong public relations strategy has never been more important for businesses and with trade shows, you’ll benefit from indirect advertisement. In a bid to attract more exhibition attendees, it’s common for trade show operators to use social media, radio stations, and other forms of marketing to shout about the businesses attending.

4. Explore partnership opportunities

Trade shows draw in professionals from across the industry and supply chain. While your sales team focuses on driving sales and connecting with potential customers, your marketing staff can network with industry peers and prospective vendors, helping them to explore new, invaluable business opportunities.

5. Secure sales and new customers

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of exhibiting at a trade show is the potential for sales! Thanks to the large receptive audience that has a keen and genuine interest in the products and services on display, sales teams have a natural advantage in this environment.
This goes against traditional outbound marketing where rejection is not only likely, but to be expected.

6. Build your brand

Trade shows provide businesses with a valuable opportunity to shout about their brand. From business cards, banners and brochures to flyers, trade show giveaways, and other branded gifts, a long list of marketing materials can be adorned with your name, logo, and products or services.
With your exhibition stand sitting side by side with perhaps larger or more established businesses, you can position your brand amongst them or even highlight yourself as an industry leader.

7. Learn from your competitors

Assuming you’re doing everything right could be your downfall. At a trade show, you can keep a close eye on your competitors and their tactics. Which competitors are attracting the largest audience? What are they doing differently to your business and how can you replicate their success?

8. Network with industry peers

One way to stay ahead of the competition is to keep up to date with the latest product developments and insights from industry leaders in your sector.
Fortunately, trade shows bring together experts from across the UK (and even further afield in some cases) and offer them the perfect platform to share their knowledge and unique expertise, extracting crucial information that you can use to shape your strategy moving forward.

9. Receive direct feedback from your target market

Concerned about the low response rate with email surveys? Get straight to the source by initiating a straightforward conversation at a trade show. Rather than reading off a list of questions from a seemingly never-ending survey, you can receive more valuable and useful instant feedback through genuine conversation that focuses on understanding customer pain points.

10. Provide a hands-on experience

In contrast to digital experiences, trade shows give customers the opportunity to physically interact with products. Being able to touch and test products of interest can have a substantial impact on their buying decisions as customers feel reassured with the product quality and effectiveness.