START THE YEAR PLANNING YOUR FAIR MARKETING STRATEGY
A new year begins, and despite our business not being dramatically altered by the new calendar, it is though the perfect time to take stock and seek those strategies, alternatives that will draw public in not only in big numbers, but also quality wise: that target public that will be genuinely interested in our services.
And where is this public? At fairs and congresses. Therefore, now that it is the beginning of a new year, it is also the perfect time to start planning our fair marketing strategy. Here we tell you how to carry it out with only four simple steps:
HOW TO UNDERTAKE MY TRADE FAIR MARKETING STRATEGY
Step 1: pick the fair
You probably have in mind the leading fair in your sector. However, you should be aware of the wide offer available, and your choice may rely upon different factors such as audience size, their specialization, etc. On the other hand, there are other trade fairs that even thought may seem strictly sectorial, they still offer plenty of opportunities for other aspects of business. You don’t need to be 100% in the telecommunications line of business for you to have a stand at the MWC, provided that your venture is linked with the trade; it is very common to see automotive stands as connectivity is deep rooted in the industry.
Keeping these aspects in mind, take a trade fair calendar and pick the fair that suits your needs best according to your travelling possibilities, budget, and projection. Do not lose sight of your standpoint given that by choosing between a national and an international fair or a corporate congress, you will reach a public with a keen interest in your services to a greater or lesser extent.
On the other hand, consider that the optimal time for the preparation of the participation in a fair is from 6 to 12 months before the opening. Thus, if you are interested in being part of the Mobile World Congress, take advantage of the 2023 edition to test the waters, and then have a whole year to prepare and present your company at the MWC 2024 edition.
Do you still want to participate in the next year’s edition regardless? It’s all right, as long as you do it together with professionals who can guide you all the way. However, what you should never do is to set off on this journey without an experience team and good advice next to you.
Step 2: set your budget
A fair with a wide commercial sense is not only setting up a stand and wait for customers to come to you. In fairs as prestigious as the CPhI, FITUR, ISE, SIMA or Construmat to name a few, you should have a considerable margin in order to adjust your budget and get financing to allow an impeccable presentation.
Bear in mind that the success of the fair marketing depends on how it is used to advertise and draw the attention of possible customers to your stand. Therefore, it is not advisable to cut corners on the design and building of the stand; instead, have the finest materials and rely on the best technical team and professionals to make the work easier.
Adjust the budget to the scope thinking that the wider the international projection is, the greater the investment will be, and if cuts are necessary, allocate them in accommodation, subsistence allowance and transportation before those areas that are directly related to the fair stand such as the stand itself, merchandising, customer material or personalized service that, at the end of the day, will be the ones making the operation profitable.
If you want to have a benchmark of the budget average you should count on when participating in a trade fair, a 20% of the amount budgeted is the advised standard participation ticket. In other words, you should have approximately 5 times the amount charged for the space at the fair.
Step 3: rehearse your participation in the fair
As stated in the case of a designer stand for the MWC 2023, it would be best to visit the next edition before deciding on joining the fair. This way, not only we can live the experience from the outside, but we can also facilitate the decision-making in relation to space, total of the most suitable number of square meters, location and so on.
Even so, it doesn’t have to be an essential requirement and we can have resources such as seeing our 3D stand design, which together with the promoter’s fair experience, can be used as advice and an example of how we could operate within the fair.
Either way, we must insist, and not only because we have more than 15 years of experience in the most important international trade fairs, but because it is vital not to fly blind at any time, or in other words, to rely upon suppliers that know exactly how to meet our needs and how to be ready for success the day of the grand opening.
Step 4: finalize the details of the fair
Once we are clear on how our presence at the fair will look like, the next step is to bring the space to life by hiring the necessary staff (hostesses, waiters, your own staff, etc.), as well as ordering and purchasing the material to be distributed at the stand such as flyers and catalogues, and also the catering services we would like to offer in order to make a good impression on our potential investors.
Next, we would have to finish up with logistics and travel, from equipment and staff transportation to the site, to hotel and restaurant bookings among others.
Following these four simple steps, we would already have deployed the foundation for a good fair marketing strategy, where everything rests upon knowing how to have the best professionals in the sector around you, so they can help you implement it.
