It's vital to have a plan

• Elaine Vandelli (Hi 2 Events)
• Monday 18 June 2012

When you're paying to have a stand at an exhibition it's absolutely vital to have a plan of action and a required outcome from your investment. However, many small businesses neglect this and fail to achieve a reasonable return on investment. Exhibition marketing can be very profitable so try to develop this plan.

So what can you do to make sure that exhibiting works for you?

The first thing to consider is what you're aiming to get out of exhibiting. It's no good just turning up with some leaflets and a bowl of sweets and then hoping for the best, you need to have some objectives.

These objectives could be quite simple, for example: grow the marketing database, raise the company profile, launch a new product or service, connect with other suppliers, and so on.

But having a plan is an absolute must.

Then you need to consider what you're going to do at the exhibition to begin that process and to take you towards those goals. In other words; you've set your objective so what are you going to do to make it happen?

The next thing to consider is what to do with the information that you gathered from the exhibition. Are you going to just add these names and details to your general marketing database, are you going to make them a special offer for visiting your stand at the exhibition, are you going to call them up and try to make an appointment to see them, or are you going to just let the information sit?

Whatever your action the key is to take action. Always follow up.

We hope that gives you some idea of the things to consider before you spend money on exhibiting. Over the coming months will be giving you more information and filling in some of these gaps to help you turn your exhibiting into a profitable return on investment.

www.leicesterbusinessevents.co.uk

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