How to Prepare For an Effective Trade Show.
By Sofia Prado-Irwin
Why Participate in Trade shows?
Trade shows are a key component of business growth in the relationship-based industry of Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT). Trade shows provide excellent opportunities to build relationships with potential customers, industry peers, and key stakeholders. Savvy companies use trade shows to generate leads, increase brand visibility, grow sales, and demonstrate thought leadership by engaging in industry discourse. By syncing trade show events with your next product launches, press announcements, and data-driven content, CGT companies have perfect opportunities to maximize the benefits of their participation in these live events as well as drive growth.
Pre-Show Preparation
Preparation is key for a successful trade show experience. Before even deciding on the best trade shows to attend, your organization’s desired outcomes should be clearly defined. For example, if your firm is in a growth phase, trade show efforts could focus on lead generation and brand awareness. If you’re launching a new product, you can focus on marketing, increasing product awareness and winning new customers. Pre-show preparation also includes establishing KPIs—key performance indicators—to measure success. These KPIs depend on your business goals, but often include a number of leads generated, engagement metrics, and sales conversions. It’s also important to consider the trade show audience. Understanding the demographics and interests of trade show participants allows you to more effectively target your marketing efforts and boost trade show outcomes.
Before even deciding on the best trade shows to attend, your organization’s desired outcomes should be clearly defined.
Once goals are set, it’s time to develop clear tactics to achieve them. It’s important to develop a comprehensive strategy that outlines actionable steps for each goal. Trade shows are fast-paced and chaotic—by establishing clear and comprehensive plans in advance, your team can focus your efforts and maximize your trade show ROI (return on investment).
Pre-show marketing and promotion puts you ahead of the game before the trade show even begins. Marketing emails, social media posts, and company website updates are all valuable assets that should be utilized well ahead of time.
Once the trade show begins, you should be prepared to hit the ground running. All collateral, promotional materials, and any physical set-up have to be ready to go from the moment the trade show starts. Logistics like booth rental, set-up, and on-site support need to be confirmed. Brand identity is essential for business success, and all marketing materials, including booth design and flow, must be consistent with the brand. Personnel also cannot be overlooked; staff should be fully briefed and ready to represent the company. Role-play scenarios can be a useful part of staff preparation. Staff must come armed with plans for lead management, recording campaign activities via the customer relationship management platform, and have post-trade show follow-up strategy.
During the Show
Trade shows are bustling, dynamic, and fast-paced. They provide companies with endless opportunities to engage with customers, peers, and stakeholders in the Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) industry.
Creating an inviting and interactive booth is a fantastic way to encourage open dialogue. Draw in traffic with free SWAG which encourages not only booth traffic but brand recognition in the future. Product demonstrations and presentations showcase your company’s successes and draw in new clients, customers, and collaborators.
Trade show action is not solely limited to the company booth; countless formal and informal conversations occur throughout the event. It’s important that company messaging is consistent in all contexts, but specifics should be tailored to the audience at hand. Foster genuine relationships by initiating conversations, asking questions, and showing interest in others’ work or challenges. Attend networking events and talks and take advantage of every opportunity to make new connections. Check out your competitors and stay informed about emerging technologies, market development, and industry trends.
Trade show action is not solely limited to the company booth; countless formal and informal conversations occur throughout the event.
Keep sight of your organization’s goals throughout the trade show. Collect leads through a streamlined process, using predefined criteria to prioritize follow-up efforts and maximize ROI.
Finally, expect the unexpected. Flexibility and adaptability are key to success. No matter how much you prepare ahead of time, you never know what complications may arise. Be prepared to adjust strategies as needed based on real-time feedback.
After the Show
Although the trade show is over your work is not done. Now you get to dive into the results of the show. Develop a structured plan for following up on leads generated and prioritize the leads you collected by assigning scores or rankings based on business priorities and begin post-show outreach. Be sure to customize follow-up communication based on conversations and information gathered during your conversations and interactions.
Conduct a post-mortem on your trade show performance. Analyze KPIs and any other data you collected (e.g. lead counts, conversion rates). Compare these results to the goals you defined before the tradeshow and determine ROI. Gather feedback from the booth staff, attendees, and colleagues. Debrief with your team; share insights, lessons learned, and suggestions for the future. Continue to activate your network, engaging with industry peers and stakeholders to build strong relationships.
Finally, apply all you’ve learned to the next trade show, and continue to grow your network, knowledge base, and business.
What’s Next?
Trade shows are an important component of an effective CGT marketing strategy. Our team of CGT industry experts can help you with every step of the trade show experience, from determining which trade show to attend to optimizing your ROI. Reach out today to discover how to take your next trade show to a new level!
