Three Ways to Increase your Trade Show ROI

World of DMCs knows just how expensive it is to exhibit at a trade show!? We also understand that the budgets our member destination management companies do have for marketing and promotion must stretch a long way!

Trade shows, however are excellent ways to actually meet global suppliers face to face, build personal relationships, and grow your mailing list.?

Once you've made the decision to commit, you need to make sure you get the very best return on investment.

Here are Three Ways to Increase Your Trade Show ROI

?Social Media

Having worked so hard to build your community via your social media platforms (you have, haven't you? If not - that is a topic for another newsletter) use these social media platforms to promote the trade show, and your participation. Share pertinent details, such as your stand number, the days/times you will be there, a link to your diary. And share it regularly in the run-up to the actual event! Don't be shy about boring people - remember that not everyone sees every post, and we all need to see the same thing repeated multiple times before it sinks in!

Exhibitors Dashboard

It is astounding how many companies pay to exhibit at a trade show, then fail to complete all the information on the platform the trade show organiser gives you access to - and in a timely fashion!

You should be ready to fill in all your information the moment the platform goes live, after all, this is how most of the attendees will find you. That includes any documents you can upload, information about your company and your destination etc - never assume attendees already know what they need to know about you!? Make sure your logo is there, loud and clear, and that the name you are using on your stand is also highly visible.? You’d be surprised at how many companies book a stand in their umbrella company name, and have different signage on the actual stand – or are participating on a stand that does not clearly identify just who is there!?

Media Communications

This is your opportunity to see your name in print!? The travel trade media will be focused on this trade show, and its exhibitors. They have pages to fill, and need content to fill them! Check the trade show platform for the media sponsors, and contact them first. Have a story to tell, images to support it, and make yourself available for interviews during the trade show. Your story doesn’t even have to be earth-shattering!? Pick a ‘trending topic’ and talk about that (in relation to your own business, of course).

Then widen your reach to your own local travel trade and other media - let them know what you are doing, and why. Let them know how you are supporting your tourist board’s promotional activities, and take this opportunity to blow your own trumpet a little.

A local interest story never did any harm!

Keep in mind that most media information is now digital (even if they still have physical copies at the trade show), so your story has potential to reach far and wide, and to be found online long after the trade show has come to an end.

At World of DMCs, we support our member participants in all the above ways.? Is the professional network you are a member of doing the same?

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