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Exhibiting at trade shows can bring benefits to your business. You can meet directly with potential customers and generate sales leads. However, success is not guaranteed and there are costs involved. Consider the pros and cons before you decide to invest your time and money.   

Advantages of exhibiting at trade shows

The benefits of exhibiting include:

Raise awareness

Exhibiting at industry events is a good way to raise your profile and generate brand awareness. As well as taking a stand at an event, there are usually other advertising and sponsorship opportunities. These opportunities can include branded goody bags, branded seating or even sponsoring the event itself.

Meet your target market in person

Meeting face-to-face with potential customers is a great way to start building relationships. 

Networking

Trade shows are a great way to meet potential new customers, suppliers and to learn more about your competitors. 

Launch new product

Trade shows are a good place to introduce a new product or service. Being able to explain your offering in person and answer questions is ideal if your product is innovative.

Generate digital content

Trade shows can offer great content for your digital marketing. Share posts about your stand and experiences. Use live video to boost social media engagement. Run competitions and prize draws at your stand to create more PR opportunities.

Build your database

Meeting with potential customers at an exhibition helps you to start building your marketing lists and generate qualified sales leads.

Disadvantages of exhibiting at trade shows

Some of the downsides of taking a stand at an exhibition include:

Costs

Costs include; stand space, stand design and build, travel and accommodation for staff.

Staff training

You may need to invest in staff training about your products and services.

Competition

It is likely your competitors will also be exhibiting at the event. You'll need to stand out to get the attention of potential customers.

Results aren't guaranteed

Despite the investment in exhibiting, you are not guaranteed any sales leads.

Potential low turnouts

Without big name speakers or the right publicity, trade shows may not have enough delegates to make your presence worthwhile. Do your research before choosing to exhibit at a particular event. See choose the right trade fair. 

Finding the right trade fair is essential. If the area of interest it covers is too specialist or too broad, it is unlikely to attract visitors who want to buy what you have to sell. Not all events will attract large numbers of delegates.

Do you research and find out how popular an exhibition has been in previous years. Plan and set specific goals about what you want to achieve at the trade fair. Doing this will help you evaluate the success of your attendance to decide whether it is worth going back to next year.

If you are exhibiting

Start by making a profile of the customers you want to reach. Identify their special interests and where they are located. Then take a look at the most likely trade fairs for your industry sector and try to match them with these customers. See understand your customers' needs.

Most established exhibitions will be able to provide a detailed breakdown of the number and type of visitors from previous years. This will give you a good idea of whether the types of customers you are targeting are likely to be there.

Attending as a delegate

Work out what you want to achieve before you go. What kinds of product or service do you want to find out about? Who do you want to meet? Match your requirements against what the most likely trade fairs have to offer. You should be able to get a list of the companies planning to exhibit before you attend. This will help you avoid a wasted journey.

Identify the right trade fair 

You can also contact specific venues, ask a relevant trade association or contact your local Chamber of Commerce to find out what's on in your area.

Before booking, find out more about the characteristics of any fairs that look promising. You should consider:

• the delegates
• delegate spending power
• the other exhibitors
• any data from past events

The organisers of a good trade fair should be able to supply this kind of information.

Search for business events in Northern Ireland on the .  

When exhibiting at a trade fair you must ensure your stand:

• meets health and safety standards
• meets accessibility requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act
• complies with regulations applying to the sale of goods
• complies with data protection and privacy rules if you collect any contact data at the event
• complies with intellectual property law only displaying products or designs you have the rights to use

Designing a safe stand

When designing your exhibition stand you should ask yourself:

• Will every visitor be able to get to the stand and take part in any hands-on demonstrations?
• Is everything you want to do covered by the venue insurance?
• Have you made sure there's nothing for visitors to trip over or injure themselves on? For example, ensure there are no trailing leads and stow away promotional materials.
• Is the electrical supply suitable for your installations?

Selling and the law

If you plan to sell goods or services at the exhibition, you should also consider:

• The Consumer Rights Act - this states that all goods or services must match the description given, be fit for their purpose and be of satisfactory quality.
• Product liability law - if anyone suffers damage to personal property or is injured or killed as a result of using your product, they could sue you.
• Weights and measures - if you sell any of your goods by weight or measure you will have to comply with a number of rules.
• Pricing - there are laws that affect how you must give prices and protect customers from misleading pricing tactics

Exhibiting at a trade show can help you generate new leads and build business relationships. There can be substantial costs involved, so it is important to get things right. Follow these tips to make the most of exhibiting at trade shows.

1. Do your research

It's important to pick a trade show that will attract your target market. Find out demographic information about the delegates, for example, industry and job title. The organisers of a good trade fair should be able to supply this kind of information. You should also find out how popular and well-run an event is before committing to buying stand space. You could initially go as a delegate and decide whether to take a stand the following year.

2. Get your stand design and location right

Many other businesses will also be exhibiting, including your competitors. You should design a stand that is eye-catching and has a clear message. Stand location is also important with the prime space being near the entrance or break-out areas. Choosing these locations may not always be possible so it may be worthwhile to work with a designer to utilise your space as best as possible.

Using technology such as digital displays, interactive kiosks or virtual reality can help you engage with potential customers.

3.  Marketing opportunities

Beyond attending the event itself, there can be several other opportunities. You could create a public relations (PR) or social media campaign to raise awareness that you will be attending. You could also reach out to trade publications who are attending and ask them to feature you in trade show coverage. You may be able to work with the organiser to send email marketing communications to their database of attendees.

Bring a range of marketing materials with you to the trade show to promote your business. These might include brochures, flyers, pens and bags.

4. Build your database

Be sure to take business cards or contact details of the potential customers you meet. Exhibitions are a great way to source qualified sales leads. You could prepare some questions to ask potential customers. Running competitions, giveaways or promotional offers in exchange for contact details can be effective.

Some exhibitions offer the option of using an electronic scanner to collect contact details from delegate badges. Be sure to adhere to rules around personal data and direct marketing - see privacy and data protection in direct marketing. 

5. Network

Introduce yourself and speak to not just potential customers, but also suppliers and competitors. This can be a valuable source of market research.  See understand your competitors.

6. Follow up and evaluate

A personal follow-up phone call or email to potential customers you've met can help turn leads into sales. Using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system can help manage your leads. Evaluate the success of your attendance to decide whether it is worth going back next year. Weigh up the number of leads and sales against the costs of attending. 

Attending trade fairs abroad, either as an exhibitor or a customer, can be an excellent way to test and open up foreign markets and find new suppliers.

If you're thinking of exhibiting, it's a good idea to make an exploratory visit first. This allows you to:

• make contacts
• do some research
• see the competition

You should then be well placed to find the right fair and position your business effectively.

Tips on preparing for an international trade fair

If you鈥檙e considering attending a trade fair overseas, you should consider:

• researching the culture of the country
• if you need to create marketing material in multiple languages
• the budget available for travel and accommodation
• logistics so your materials arrive on time and intact

Getting help

Some obvious issues to consider are differences in language and legislation. More difficult to pin down are the cultural aspects of doing business in other countries. Try getting information from:

• the country's embassy in the UK
• international Chambers of Commerce
• foreign trade associations

Read more about the to help local businesses to take part in overseas exhibitions.