Just going to a trade show without a clear goal is not going to yield much! Formulate good trade show goals, set up a great stand concept and get the best results!
Before you can actually start preparing for your next trade show participation, it is necessary to first ensure good trade show goals. With good goals, you increase the chance of success!
Advantage 1: trade show goals ensure more return
The main reason to focus and formulate clear goals is that it improves your return. Participating in trade shows often means investing a lot of effort. With a clear set of measurable trade show goals, you ensure that you get the best return from your trade show.
Advantage 2: trade show goals provide direction
As Malcolm Forbes once said: “If you don’t know what you want to do, it’s harder to do it.” Without a clear and measurable goal, you don’t know when you’ve achieved something, so you don’t know what works and what doesn’t work.
Advantage 3: trade show goals ensure priorities
Without real goals, you don’t know where to focus during the trade show. This causes your stand team to struggle because they don’t know what to do or what the priorities are. If you create specific goals for your team, they have built-in motivation and direction that helps them stay focused during the event.
For trade shows, goals are usually focused on the following topics:
Lead generation: bringing in new qualified leads.
Awareness: brand awareness or increasing knowledge
Networking: making new contacts, finding investors or recruiting new staff
Five essential tips for good trade show goals:
- Make choices
Having multiple big goals is certainly not always better. If you formulate too many goals, it is unlikely that you will have the time and resources to achieve them. It is better to make choices; for example, lead generation OR brand awareness OR a product launch, instead of all three at the same time.
- Align your goals with the marketing plan
Whatever your trade show goals are, they must be in line with your marketing plan. It is therefore advisable to formulate your goals in consultation with management and the marketing teams. This way you ensure that your trade show plans are integrated into all marketing efforts.
- Build on past success
It is useful if every new goal you formulate builds on a previous result. For example, set a goal of scoring 15% or 20% more new leads at the same trade show as last year. If you are going to a trade show for the first time and therefore have no previous figures to fall back on, look at what others in your industry did to get an idea. Working with a professional stand builder also helps, of course.
- Ensure S.M.A.R.T. trade show goals:
All successful trade show participations start with a detailed plan and a number of well-defined goals. What makes goals ‘well-defined’? Make sure your goals are also S.M.A.R.T.
Specific
Measurable
Acceptable
Realistic
Time-bound
- Use hard figures
Goals work best when they are well defined, so it is good to use as many hard figures as possible. For example, if you want to attract new customers, quantify the important parameters, such as the number of leads and the value of those leads.
Also look at the expected visitor numbers. This can help you set more realistic goals. These figures are often available from the trade show organization.
Goals are fun! But how do you know if you’ve achieved them?
It is easy to see how many leads you have generated at a trade show or how much the order value has increased in a certain period.
However, it is more difficult to quantify and measure something like ‘brand awareness’. This of course goes far beyond just a trade show. In such a case, it is often more convenient to measure underlying goals, such as recording email addresses or the number of visitors to the stand.
There are also a number of useful tools for measuring trade show results, such as registration apps or visitor radar. Look at the possibilities of expo analytics.
Formulate good goals, set up a great stand concept and get the best results!
Do you want to know everything about formulating the best trade show goals and getting more return? Contact us!
Want inspiration in the field of stands and brand activations? View stands and activations here!