Exhibitions are the kinds of thing that you get better at with practice. Like playing a sport or pretending not to hear your wife (or husband) when she/he is nagging. But if you put in the right research, even your first exhibition can at least leave you firmly in the minds of your customers.
Whilst the way you target your customers may evolve and differ the more often you do them, and whilst the way you display your company may be trial and error (simple may work for some, whilst huge technological displays may be best for others), taking the right promotional materials along with you will always ensure that consumers and potential clients at least have one cause to remember you the next time they see you.
Perfecting your pitch will come with time, but choosing the right stands and promotional products can be something you get right from the start. Whilst things such as computer displays and lighting may also evolve with time as you understand your competitors and your customer’s needs better, the simple things will often stay with people longer and are the ones that only need preliminary research to get right.
Promotional items are the things that people will leave your stand with and making sure these are things that don’t just go straight in the bin is the difference between them remembering you and you being just a distant memory. The trick to having people keep such items is to make them something they will actually need. If they are interesting or useful enough you won’t even have to try to force them onto people, but people will happily take them of their own accord.
There will probably be many different companies giving out similar items in such an environment, so you need to ensure your design is eye-catching, making them either quirky and unique or simply very attractive. Another way of standing out is by producing an item specific to you – for instance a phone company could give away a promotional and fun app to its potential customers or a hair stylist may give out personalised bottled of hair products.
Ultimately, you need to be focussing on what products will best benefit your business. Think about what products people will use and which products you can best make interesting enough for people to keep. Remember that quality is important too – if you start giving away interesting items that fall apart within a few hours, your company will be associated in their minds with failure and disappointment. But at the same time you don’t want to spend a fortune, so check out comparison sites to see how you can best merge these two criteria.
So, when looking to improve your performance at exhibitions, don’t just think about your sales patter and the banner stands around you. Make sure that your promotional merchandise is going to be flying out, and that they are going to be items people use as often as possible. Because, ultimately, the more they use your product, the more they will be reminded of you.