5 Great Reasons to Include Trade shows as Part of Your Sampling Campaign

In-store samples and demonstrations are extremely effective marketing techniques. They give your consumers something to remember about you, set you apart from those other guys who rely solely on virtual marketing, and send customers home with a unique experience as well as something free. But offering samples in-store isn’t the only way to reach customers or even the most effective use of sampling. Consider these five reasons to include trade shows in your sampling campaign, then start gearing up for the next industry trade show today.

1. You are Surrounded By People Ready to Buy

Just because someone walks into your store, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are ready to make a serious purchase. Often, customers want to get in, get the two or three items on their shopping list, and get out. But at a tradeshow, attendees are there specifically because they want to experience as much as they can, and they want to find companies they are eager to have a purchasing relationship with.

2. Tradeshows Offer a Unique Opportunity to Go All-Out

Since tradeshow attendees are there for the experience, you can really go all-out with the experience you give them at a tradeshow. Encourage your marketing team to come up with the best ideas they possibly can, three-dimensional demonstrations, and an array of things that they can touch, taste, and experience. It can and should be a feast for the senses, no matter what your industry.

3. You Can Meet New Industry Experts

A tradeshow isn’t just a place to market your brand. It’s also an opportunity to meet people within your industry with whom you can form lasting beneficial relationships. In other words, you can be both a tradeshow vendor and an attendee. When you have a little downtime, leave your display to an employee and go shopping around yourself, to see who you can meet and what sort of connects you might be able to make. Who knows — there may be someone there marketing to you.

4. You Can Check Out the Best of the Competition

While you are putting your best foot forward at your tradeshow booth, rest assured that the competition is doing the same. As you shop around looking for new connects, you can also keep your eyes open for those competitors who you might learn a thing or two from. If you’re really feeling ambitious, you can even approach their booths as a consumer and see how they interact with you, what sort of tactics they use, and what they offer that you don’t. You make the best mystery shopper for your industry.

5. You Can Connect with More Consumers

Just as tradeshow attendees are pumped up to engage with your brand, they are also more likely to respond to your brand after the event is over. You can encourage engagement later on by offering vouchers when attendees sign up for a rewards program, sharing your social media information in a prominent location, and directly asking for feedback through your website. Get creative with your feedback mechanisms, telling customers that “we want to hear from you.” While the average customer in your store may not be willing to give out their email addresses or friend you on Facebook, tradeshow attendees walk through the doors expecting to do just that.

Marketing at a tradeshow can’t be your only hands-on customer engagement strategy, but it is a critical tool in your marketing toolbag — especially if you are in the fashion, automotive, or technology industry. But just about any industry can benefit from this often-overlooked marketing venue. And with the creative experts at Superior Expo Services on your side, you can sample a piece of the tradeshow pie and come back home with real results.