Trade Show Marketing

Start with goals and a budget

Decide what the show is for before choosing a booth or a giveaway. A clear goal decides who staffs the booth, what you show and how you measure the result.

• Pick one main goal

  New leads, meetings with existing accounts, distributor recruitment, a product launch or press coverage. Set a number for it, such as qualified leads or meetings held.

• Define a qualified lead

  Agree with sales which answers make a lead hot, warm or cold, so booth staff qualify every conversation the same way.

• Budget the whole cost

  Booth space, build or rental, shipping, show services, travel, staff time, giveaways, promotion and lead retrieval.

• Choose the right shows

  Ask the organizer who attends: job roles, industries and buying interest. A smaller show full of your buyers beats a bigger one without them.

A trade show marketing timeline

Work back from the show date, and adjust the weeks to your own lead time:

Before the show: fill your calendar

The visitors most likely to buy are the ones you invite. Pre-show marketing should end in scheduled meetings, not just awareness:

• Invite your own list

  Email customers and prospects in the region with the booth number, what they will see and a link to book a time.

• Use the organizer's channels

  Complete your exhibitor profile in the event app and directory, and ask about sponsored sessions, matchmaking and hosted buyer programs.

• Give people a reason to visit

  A product launch, a live demo schedule, a short talk at the booth or a useful takeaway beats a generic giveaway.

• Post on social media

  Share the booth number, the show hashtag and what is new. Ask speakers and partners you know to mention you.

At the show: run the booth like a sales channel

Every visitor should leave the booth with a reason to hear from you, and every conversation should leave a record:

• One message

  The booth graphic should say what you do and for whom in a few words that can be read from the aisle.

• Clear staff roles

  Greeters, demo staff and sales, on shifts short enough to stay fresh. Staff stand at the aisle, not behind a table.

• Qualify, then scan

  Ask the same few qualifying questions in every conversation, then scan the badge and record the answers and a rating.

• Notes while they are fresh

  A line on what the visitor needs and what was promised makes the follow-up personal. Review every lead at the end of each day.

After the show: follow up fast

Leads go cold quickly. Send the first follow-up within a few days, starting with the hottest leads, and refer to what each visitor told you.

Subject: Following up from [Show name], [Your company]

Hi [First name],

Thank you for stopping by our booth at [Show name]. It was good to hear about [the need or project they mentioned].

As promised, here is [the item you promised: the demo recording, pricing, a case study or the spec sheet]: [link]

[One sentence on how you help with their specific need.]

Would [day] or [day] work for a [20-minute] call to [the next step: walk through it with your team, scope a trial, review a quote]? You can also pick a time here: [booking link].

Best regards,
[Your name]
[Title], [Company]
[Phone]

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LEAD QUALIFICATION CHECKLIST FOR BOOTH STAFF
[ ] Role and company
[ ] The problem or project they mentioned
[ ] Timeline: now, this quarter, this year, researching
[ ] Their role in the decision
[ ] What we promised to send
[ ] Rating: hot, warm or cold

How Eventdex helps exhibitors and organizers

Organizers on Eventdex give their exhibitors the tools to do all of the above, and exhibitors who get qualified leads and meetings are the ones who come back.

• Lead retrieval with qualifiers

  Exhibitors scan badges on their own phones, rate leads, add notes and ask up to 10 lead qualifier questions, then export the leads.

  Lead retrieval app

• Business card scanning

  Capture contacts from business cards when there is no badge to scan.

  Business card scanner app

• Meetings booked before the show

  AI matchmaking recommends who exhibitors should meet, and buyers and sellers schedule one-to-one appointments.

  Business matchmaking

• Exhibitor content in the app

  Exhibitors and organizers add brochures and product details that attendees can find in the event app.

  Exhibitor management software

• Leads into the CRM

  Send leads to Salesforce, or to other tools through Zapier, so follow-up starts in the system sales already use.

  Salesforce integration

• Promoting the show

  Organizers get promo codes, affiliate links for partners, a short registration URL and social sharing on the registration page.

  Event registration software