There’s really nothing like trade show lead generation. Word of mouth is still the most important marketing tool at your disposal. Better yet, it’s free! What’s better than most word of mouth, though? Spreading a fantastic message in a busy, targeted public arena.

Exhibition shows can be fantastic opportunities for you to engage potential customer and produce a real ROI for your business. Download our guide on how you can make the most of your exhibition with an effective strategy.

How trade show lead generation works

For ambitious managers looking to grow a business and attract new prospects, a trade show represents an incredible opportunity to reach out to new people who are there with the specific intent of seeking out the services you’re offering.

You stand a better chance of attracting and converting that interest if you build a strong, creative strategy to fuel trade show lead generation. How does this work, though? Isn’t lead generation more of a digital thing?

Trade show lead generation can potentially be far more effective than other forms of advertising. It allows businesses to begin to build professional face-to-face relationships on the day.

Working with a professional, experienced multinational and multifaceted trade show specialist can help businesses to make the most of their time exhibiting. Not only by supplying passionate, creative staff, but by working with marketing managers on a targeted strategy designed to attract the right prospects, engage with those people in the right way, convert them into leads and improve the brand’s trade show ROI.

Here are three trade show lead generation tips that we think are essential to your exhibition strategy:

1: Preparation, preparation, preparation

You’re not spending a large chunk of your marketing budget to turn up at a trade show and look nice. There’s a lot of competition out there. The better you prepare for the day, the more likely you are to succeed and get more impressive results and financial returns.

Working with a specialist agency can help ambitious marketing managers who are looking to enhance their business’s reputation, better identify the right prospects to approach, and create an engagement strategy which complements the abilities of staff members chosen to represent your brand on the day.

2: Work your exhibition space and be welcoming

That may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how hard it can be to convey the right emotions and keep energy levels high over the course of an entire day of exhibiting. As impressive as your strategy may be, it will count for little if the right people aren’t there to deliver it.

First impressions are important, but keeping those standards as high as possible is even more crucial to generating high-quality face-to-face leads. As an agency with access to over 2,500 multilingual staff worldwide, all with experience in proactive promotional activity, we know how vital it is to make the best use of your exhibition space and be professional at all times.

3: Offer something different with wide-ranging staff

A simple meet-and-greet strategy may keep you in a prospect’s mind for a few hours, but will they remember you the next day? Will they get in touch? Going deeper and creating a strategy that is more engaging and emotionally intelligent can go a long way to converting a prospect’s interest.

A trade show lead generation strategy can be enhanced with a little creativity. Utilise the differing skills of trade staff to present a better pitch, whether they are a brand ambassador, crowd gatherer, product demonstrator or spokesmodel. Find your staff members strengths to tell a brand story that sticks in a lead’s mind.

Alternatively, you can hire the ideal type of trade show staff for the job based on industry experience, skillset and even fluency in particular languages. We provide companies with a selection of handpicked trade show professionals, and can even offer Skype interviews pre-event to ensure that our clients are getting exactly what they need.

Find out more about attracting the right prospects at an exhibition and converting those leads with a strong, creative strategy by contacting the Expo Stars team today.