Day 1: Goals

Did you know?

The third week of February is Build a Better Trade Show Image Week! (Cue the confetti!)

This week was created as a time for exhibit marketers to focus on their marketing strategy. (FYI: I also published a book with the same name.) So I want to celebrate this week by sharing a collection of tips from the Trade Show Insights blog & podcast archives.

Each day, we’ll focus on a different stage of your planning strategy, and so we begin today with setting goals.

3 Answers to Know Before Your Next Show

How successful was your last exhibit? Did you meet your goal? Did you even have a goal? If not, how do you define success?

The sad fact is that less than 25 percent of exhibitors bother to set goals, yet it’s fairly easy to do. There’s no one right answer — you must figure it out for yourself based on a number of factors. (Yes, you have to do your homework!)

For advice on how to determine this (and how to define success), listen to this episode from the Trade Show Insights archives. (Hint: “Because we always go” definitely isn’t the right reason to exhibit!)

Let Your Goals Be Your Guide

When I ask exhibitors about their goals for a particular show, the most common answer is either brand awareness/visibility or generating leads.

While these are valid reasons for exhibiting, they’re what I call “squishy goals.” That’s because there’s nothing definitive or measurable about them.

So I want to help you use your goal as a North Star to guide all your trade show decisions: what your exhibit should look like (what it should or shouldn’t include), how to promote it, what to give away, and even how to craft your follow-up strategy.

Discover how to do that inside this episode of Trade Show Insights:

When you place your goal at the center of your exhibit marketing strategy and know what you want to accomplish, it helps everything else come into focus.

What are your goals and how are you using them to guide your trade show strategies? Please share in the comments!

And if you'd like help coming up with specific ideas for your next trade show, please reach out to me. Whether you're a show organizer or exhibitor, we can set up a brainstorming session to discover the best ways to accomplish your goals.