Exhibitions are a great opportunity for marketing your business direct to trade. With so many traders and or consumers located at one time, in one relatively small location, exhibitions offer an invaluable platform on which promote and advertise your product or company. Exhibiting is such a powerful marketing tool and also one where you get to meet clients and traders face-to-face. Additionally, exhibitions in highly accessible cities such as London can attract visitors internationally, offering you the chance to network far afield. There are though certain things you must consider such as which exhibition to best exhibit at, what goals and targets you should set, how you can best prepare for an exhibition, and what training your staff will need. Below we discuss how you can best use exhibitions as a powerful marketing tool for your business.

Choosing the best exhibition
It may seem obvious that you need to evaluate the best exhibition at which to exhibit, especially considering that it does involve a certain level of cost to market your business this way. Nevertheless, you need to consider the pros and cons of whether to exhibit at a trade exhibition or a consumer exhibition. A trade exhibition will offer you a great chance to build strong contacts within the industry itself, to talk with other business' you may be able to work with and also a chance to evaluate your competitors who themselves are exhibiting. At a public exhibition on the other hand, you have the chance to start honing in on your customers, to create sales contacts and to network.

Having decided what type of exhibition i.e. trade or public, it is a good idea to then evaluate the statistics for visitor numbers. If the show is held annually, evaluate the number of exhibitors who attend the show; this will give you some indication of the importance of the show. If you can, check to see if the leaders and your competitors exhibit at this show and if they do, are they re-exhibiting. This information will help to indicate the value of the show you are considering exhibiting at, i.e. if your competitors have used this exhibition before and feel that it is again worth attending. Spending time to find out this kind of information may perhaps seem like wasted time but when you consider the costs involved, you will want to ensure you choose the best show/s.

Goals, Targets and Planning
Exhibitions are invaluable as a marketing tool, but they do incur costs and this investment in time and money will be wasted if you do not have clearly set targets and goals. If you are exhibiting at a show for the public for example, you should have clearly defined sales targets. You also need to plan for the exhibition properly and in advance. You will be putting yourself in front of the public and also be making yourself visible to the industry as a whole. For this reason you'll want to ensure that you create a great impression to everyone who walks by. Do not overlook the small things even things such as where to store the coats and bags of your staff or access points for laptops.