You're planning your trade show budget. How do you decide where to allocate expenses?

To allocate your trade show budget effectively: Set Clear Goals: Define objectives like lead generation, brand visibility, or networking to prioritize spending. Analyze Past ROI: Review past trade shows to identify which areas, like booth design, marketing, or travel, delivered the best returns. Prioritize Essentials: Focus first on key expenses like booth space, materials, and staffing. Consider Marketing: Allocate funds to promote your presence pre-event through ads, social media, and email campaigns. Leave Flexibility: Set aside contingency funds for unexpected expenses. This ensures a balanced and goal-oriented budget.

When planning a trade show budget, allocate expenses based on the potential return on investment for each category. Key areas to prioritise include booth design, which directly affects your brand’s visibility, as well as marketing and promotional activities to attract attendees. Additionally, investing in lead generation tools and staffing is crucial for converting prospects. While it’s important to manage costs, quality should never be compromised in areas that impact brand perception. Regular budget reviews will help ensure that funds are allocated effectively.

booth design (your brand’s face), marketing (pre-show buzz and promotions), staff training (engagement is critical), and lead capture tools. Allocate a substantial portion to booth design and interactive elements, but don't overlook travel, accommodation, and post-show follow-up. Ensure each expense drives ROI and aligns with your trade show goals.

The goal of the booth is to be distinctive, eye-catching, and a destination for meetings and visitors. I've typically leaned into an overall theme to start with, and thought about how it would appeal to the target audience. For example if you know your audience is over 40, they might be tired of walking the show floor, so I've had masseuses there by-appointment. It hooks people in walking by, and gives them a reason to return if they've scheduled, and it increases word of mouth visits.

Does your booth staff know your goals? In fact, do you? Are you there to generate sales? Create leads? Network? Everyone should be on the same page. Sometimes the best approach is the personal interest salesperson where they're not trying to sell the product but rather the solution. Making sure your staff is prepared for that will make all the difference.

This is from the B2B SaaS perspective, but at the booth / show I always have: - 1 BDR to act as the booth quarterback and field all questions to the team - 1 AE "closer" who can come in and close any net new deals or meetings on-site - 1 Technical AM or Sales Engineer to perform any on-site product demos or deeper dives. You want to also get this person to sit on demo panels if you can get any scheduled. - 1 senior marketing or C-Suite member to speak and connect with though leaders I like to have that team on-site so you can also do a problem customer meeting in case you meet someone who's a churn risk and can solve their needs at the event (buying dinner helps), or do a quick demo + close for in-funnel prospects.

My designs will be the focal point of the event, with every area strategically utilized to optimize marketing opportunities and create a distinctive ambiance. We will incorporate interactive technology zones, dedicated podcast rooms, and thoughtfully designed catering and refreshment areas to enhance the attendee experience. Additionally, a Guest Relations Executive will be on hand to facilitate seamless meetings with my team, ensuring that every interaction is purposeful and effective

From personal experience, no amount of marketing material can make up for a lack of presence at your booth. I’ve hired professional models who, with just basic knowledge of our products, outperformed seasoned salespeople. Investing in models grabs attention, which is the first goal of any booth. Once you have their interest, your collateral—signage, brochures, and most importantly, freebies—can make a lasting impression. Conference attendees love free items, no matter how small. The better the giveaway, the more memorable your booth becomes. So, don’t skimp on giveaways—they can be the key to leaving a lasting impact. If they take a brochure, make sure it has everything relevant they need including QR codes to your social media.

My rule about materials is that most swag ends up in a landfill. Don't waste money on anything that will end up trashed. I've gotten so many more in-person event "leads" from investing in better booth position or experiential events instead of swag. I now typically leverage QR codes at booth that link to custom micro-sites instead of print materials as well (print it once with a big QR code and you can track it). Finally, if you must invest in swag, try to choose something that will get used often for repeated impressions, or appear in a Zoom meeting background. as a badge of honor. Self-heating mugs or high end water bottles. Laptop cases or keyboard pads. Something that makes the person who has it look smarter.

When budgeting for your next trade show keep in mind the following points : - Your booth must be an extension of your digital identity. - Your presence at trade shows is an opportunity to get more followers and give value to your online content. - You can also take the opportunity to create content during the trade show that you can use for further commercial purpose.

Micro Experiential events are gold if you do them right, I typically run two "flavors" of these during or adjacent to a large event (especially if you don't want to invest in an entire booth etc at a large event): 1. Customer Meetup: invite only for customer delight. Dinner, appreciation, and awards. 2. Experiential Prospecting: this is where you buy out a fun experience nearby the event, and add some exclusivity so it's only targeting deep funnel accounts from your ABM lists. Think about what you would want to do outside of work – an escape room, learning how to make sushi, etc –?it's not just cocktails and bites. You can also combine the two if you curate a short-list of customers that love you + combine with deep funnel prospects.

Where possible, re-allocate travel and accommodation to department budgets, this then focuses departments on if they actually need to be in attendance, or if they are just coming for a "jolly"