Trade Show Success

Set yourself up to be successful at a trade show.

The term “trade show” could mean more than just one form of a trade show. When I say trade show, people often think of a corporate huge grand event, but it doesn’t need to be a massive event like that. It could also be a craft fair, and it could be a holiday market, it could be an auto show or an art fair, it could be a farmers market. It could be a local event that’s being put on like sometimes you could be going to something that’s like a holiday bazaar that’s maybe only 20 vendors. Perhaps it’s a smaller event collaborating with another company hosting the event, so when I say trade show, what I mean is a live in person event.

We’re going to be setting up some sort of table or booth to sell your products, so maybe you sell computers, insurance, greeting cards, perhaps you sell notepads or notebooks, or customizable widgets.

Any of those things you can sell at a trade show, or what I call a live event. So this article is going to equip you to be successful, that’s the point of this whole article. It’s not just to discuss these events, but it’s to give you the ability you to sell at these events because that’s what matters. The thing I love about trade shows or live events is you can create a lot of income in a short amount of time. That’s the beauty of these events, and that’s why they’re so valuable.

They’ve changed my business, and anytime I’ve done a live event, I found a massive spike of not only sales at the event, but also when I got home, and I looked at my computer or my phone. I found my online store also had sales. It’s because when you go to a live event how to kick up the dust, and you get everyone’s attention, you get a whole bunch of eyeballs, even over social media. If you’re posting about the event or obviously at the event, you may have people taking photos of your booth and then having a hashtag new in posting about you, so you are just going to put up a whole bunch of publicity which is excellent.

So trade shows, live events, holiday markets, art fairs, all of these types of events or trade shows are hugely beneficial to your business. This article teaches how to be successful at trade shows and how you make an income while you’re there.

We’ll cover how to generate awareness about your brand. We don’t want only to make an income, we want to create awareness. Market your online brand, which is what you’re building here.

The event checklist is an overview of what you need to know for every event. You’re going to go down and check off all the different things you’re going to be implementing for that event because not all of us are created equal. You’re not necessarily going to need every single thing on the checklist, but I find a checklist helps me to stay on target. They help me not to forget things.

And so I wanted to create a checklist you could at least look at it and refer to it every single time you take an event so you’re prepared in advance getting to the event. The last thing you want is is this: You get to the event, maybe you’re out in the middle of a field or under a tent somewhere, and all the sudden you realize, oh my gosh, I forgot to bring a visa machine, I forgot to renew my square reader, or oh my gosh, I didn’t even bring an email list sign-up. What was I thinking?

And all these easy-to-forget things cost us. Little things add up, and we forget stuff like that. It affects the entire success of the whole event, and sometimes you can spend a lot of money getting into these events.

I don’t want you to be spending any money to get into an event and not have a positive ROI, return-on-investment. You want every single event you do to grow your business; so, that’s what this article is going to be. So let’s get started. Again, if you want, you can download the checklist now. You can also download it later. Whatever you want to do, it’s more of a referral thing for when you’re doing a live event.

Trade Show Success

Is exhibiting at a trade show the right thing to do?

The Pros and Cons of A Trade Show

Determining whether you’re ready to exhibit at a trade show isn’t an easy choice to make.

Having a great trade show display is not the only component. One of the most obvious components is having a true passion for your industry and ambition to license your work, which motivates you to take such a big step in the first place.

But passion and drive alone do not mean you’re ready, nor does it automatically equate to a positive show experience when you exhibit. So how do you know when you’re ready to take the leap?

Well, there are two popular methods you can try that can help you decide whether exhibiting at a licensing trade show is right for you.

The first option is to walk to show you’re interested in as an attendee. Though attending and exhibiting will be vastly different experiences, walking the show can give you lots of helpful insights as to whether it’s something you’d like to do. You’ll see exhibiting designers interact with clients in person.

Deciding to exhibit can be a difficult decision to make, especially if you’ve never been to or worked at a show before. By walking the show first, you get your authentic glimpse of how it all works. You’ll get to see how much attendee traffic there is and if you’re lucky and a bit brave, you might even be able to talk one-on-one with a few exhibitors.

Though if you do decide to approach an exhibitor, it’s important you do so discreetly, when there’s no one at their booth. And if a client does walk by while you’re talking, it’s common courtesy for you to step away, even if you’re not finished chatting with the exhibitor.

Con: Timing can become an issue.

Most shows usually run only once a year. So if you’re hoping to exhibit sooner than a year from now, this option might not be a possibility for you. However, if you’re on the fence or still feel like you’re a beginner in the field, I’d say in most instances, it would be worth it for you to wait and walk the show to determine if it’s for you.

Also, some trade shows run twice a year. But most of the time, one of the shows would be bigger than the other. If that’s the case, you’re better off visiting the larger of the two shows.

Pro: You’ll see what styles of products are being presented and whether yours is a good fit.

Each licensing show caters to a different blend of companies and markets, and sadly not all artists will do well at every show. For those that don’t do well, many times, it’s because they didn’t do enough research to know their product isn’t exactly what the attending traffic was looking for.

So by walking the show, and taking notice of the booths with the most traffic, you’ll get a good sense of what products and services are the most popular, and can better assess whether yours will fit into a particular show.

Con: It can be expensive to attend a trade show.

It can cost anywhere from $50 to more than $500 to purchase a ticket as an attending artist. For many people, that’s simply too expensive, especially after factoring in travel costs, and the fact you’re not allowed to approach attending companies as an attendee yourself.

However, one way designers can get around this is to contact an exhibitor before the show and offer to help them during the show. If they agree, you’ll receive a free badge from the exhibitor and get a first-hand look as a helper in their booth. Overall I think attending a show can be a valuable method for determining whether your niche will do well, and it’s best for people who prefer a little more time to reflect on their decision.

However, if you’re looking to make your decision quickly or can’t afford the expense of traveling to and attending a show, you can choose option number two, which is to schedule a consultation with a working professional in your industry.

Many artist agents and service designers, myself included, offer one on one consultation which can provide a much clearer idea on whether you and your work are ready for a trade show within a single hour-long session.

The good news with this option is, you’ll get quality feedback on your portfolio and can implement their advice immediately.

By spending the bulk of your consultation on a portfolio review, the advising creative should not only be able to tell you whether your product or service is ready for the market, but also give you ideas on ways to improve on and add to your existing body of work.

If you tell them you’re thinking about exhibiting at a trade show before the session, you’ll also hopefully have some time to ask them any major questions you may have.

The main downside to the consultations is, they can be expensive. While paying for a one-on-one session with an expert will not be as pricey as a plane ticket and hotel costs for attending a trade show, it can still set you back a couple hundred dollars. In my experience, though, the experts who value their time and set a high but fair price will usually provide the most value.

My best trade show advice for who you consult with is choose the person or people you most often go to for guidance, especially if you’ve developed a bit of a mentor to mentee type of relationship with them already.

I’ve paid for several consultations myself. Those with whom I developed a rapport with were more insightful and encouraging than those with whom I had not.

How to Choose The Right Trade Show

One of the things you might be wondering, off the bat, about trade shows and live events with your product is this.

Which trade shows should I apply to?

The only trade shows you want are the events your people are hanging out at.

What do I mean by that? Your audience. Where is your audience being drawn? What events are they going to be at? I said it before and I’ll repeat it. Your audience determines your marketing. So this is a marketing strategy because you’re outreaching through an external event. It’s kind of like a third-party event outside your own business. So you want to find out where your audience is going to be, what events do they go to? For example in my own life I do art prints. I do greeting cards. So a lot of my art is behind me.

An art piece is something which could be hung in a child’s room. I’ve done events specifically targeted to young moms. I did a tech trade show at the tech show in Chicago, USA. It was a big event, and I sold a lot of products to people, including pregnant moms. I saw a lot of bellies that weekend.

It was great because of such a targeted, specific crowd. And that’s one of my biggest buyers—young moms, young women, or just women in general, doesn’t matter their age.

And so this whole event was mostly women. There was a bunch of dads walking around too, carrying all the bags for the pregnant moms. But the ones that were shopping at the trade show were women.

I’ve also done what’s called the national trade show. That’s also an Indianapolis event.

It was a big success for me. Why? Because I know my customer is usually women, like 90% women, and a lot of times they’re in their mid-to-late twenties up to about 40. and they’re buying art prints and cards. And a lot of times they are buying art prints not only for their own space, so for their bedroom, their dressing room, or their bathrooms, kitchens, and so forth. They’re also buying; they want their modern style to be also related to their children’s room; consequently, they’ll also do modern prints for the kids’ rooms. They’ll come to me for sets and things for the kids’ rooms. And so I know that. I know that’s my customer, so again, it’s dependent on where your customer is. Now, if you haven’t already, make sure you know who your customer is, so write it down somewhere. Make it clear.

I have a photo I printed out of my ideal customer. I even gave her a fake name. You write down the attributes of your customer. So, for example, mine is, I just imagined she’s probably in her late twenties, she’s artistic, she likes fashion blogs, she likes to go to cool events and trade shows and to find unique products. She’s that kind of girl. She’s a crafter herself. She’s artistic, and so she can appreciate those types of things. And even in her children’s room, she likes to explore that. And also have that art up in her children’s room.

I wrote down this person would probably be in her late 20s, I wrote down 29, and I gave her a name.

You may be thinking, This is crazy. What are you thinking?

This is a marketing strategy I’ve learned from several of the top marketers of our time. And the reason why you do this is? There are real people out there to whom you’re reaching out. I find sometimes when we have internet companies, say we sell online, like e-commerce websites. Like on Etsy or Amazon or wherever. It’s almost like these people become pretend to us. They’re just money coming in the bank. And that’s not what you want to do. You never want to lose sight of the fact that you’re selling to real people. It sounds strange, but it’s true. You can start to see names and emails and price amounts when you start to do selling online. And that’s where the disconnect comes.

So always put yourself back into the shoes of your buyer. Who are they and where are they hanging out, not only online but at live events. So obviously online, you talk about where they would hang out on social media and so forth. But in this article, my main focus is what trade shows they would be at. Where would they go with their own family?

Let’s say you are an artist and you are setting up at an event that caters to pets. Somebody might say, wow, that’s weird to have an artist at a pet show.

Not at all. Why? Because pet portraiture now is a huge trend. It’s not going away anytime soon; because people want to have a photo of their dog rendered in watercolor, or in pen and ink, or in some cartoon illustration. That’s a big thing now. I find it that’s a cool trend now. So they want to have a beautiful portrait done of their dog because our pets are like our family. So those of you for pet lovers, you would probably agree. Dog lovers, cat lovers, you would love to have a picture of your cat fluffy up on your wall because she’s part of the family. And that’s just that’s the psychology behind that. Suppose you do that, you might want to look into a pet show. It sounds so funny, but guess what, that’s where the pet owners are hanging out. Now, if you’re doing art for young moms like myself, you may want to check out baby shows, women shows, stuff like that. You may even want to check out like home decor shows, like modern home decor shows. Another trade show I did well at was called the One of A Kind show in Chicago.

And I know that buyer is looking for unique things. Just the name of the store, people are not people coming to that trade show are looking for holiday gifts that are not going to be found in a department store. They’re not going to be found anywhere else.

And so I encourage you always to research where your audience is going to be hanging out. Find out what trade shows they’re going to be at, and then try and apply to those shows. in this next article, you’ll learn about the application process for most trade shows and how to apply and to get the ball rolling in the following steps.

How to get into a trade show

You’ve learned how to choose the right trade show for you, and you’ve discovered the trade shows or live events you want to be a part of, the next step is how do you apply. Every single event is going to be a little bit different, but the way that you apply to these events is as follows.

You go to their website. One of the shows I love doing at the Indiana Convention Center is called Manufacturer and Distributor Innovation Conference. You can go on eventbrite.com and check it out if you want. They do a variety of different cities as well, but this is an event I love to go to, and when I applied to it, I go to their website; and a lot of times it’ll say on the site when is the application window of time.

Many times, there was a window for when the applications are open, and then when they close. So, for example, for a holiday show, it might be in September when they open up their doors for applications. So you have to be aware of that. Frequently, people think they can apply in November for an actual holiday show, and the truth is, it’s usually months beforehand.

Make sure you’re following the trade shows and events you want to be a part of to know when is the open window of time that they are allowing you to apply. So for example, say it’s between the first and the 20th of September, for example. That might be a fitting window of time.

If it’s a big trade show, frequently it might even be in august, I know it sounds funny, it’s summertime, and in North America, it is anyway, and in August, it’s like– What I’m not thinking about the holiday season yet. But trade shows have so much planning to do that often you have to apply in advance.

So what you do is, you’re going to go on to their website, and you’re going to look at their navigation bar, and I guarantee you somewhere in the navigation bar it’s going to say something about vendors. So you’re going to be called vendor. That’s how they’re going to refer to you, not as a trade show entertainer, as an artist, or as a creative. Or it might just say applicant. I’ve seen “applicants,” but usually it says vendors or vendor application. That’s what you’re looking for on their website. You’re going to click on the application, and you’re going to go through the process to apply.

Read the full article on how to get into a trade show.

The Trade Show Booth

The Starting Line of Your Trade Show Adventure

Choosing your trade show booth isn’t just about setting up a table and a few chairs. It’s about creating a captivating, immersive experience that leaves a lasting impression.

Trade show booths are the physical embodiment of your brand’s story, values, and offerings, all condensed into a compact, creative space. Your trade show booth is the platform where first impressions are made, relationships are forged, and business deals are initiated.

We will embark on an exciting journey through the landscape of trade show booths. We’ll explore the art and science of designing an effective booth, delve into the latest trends shaping the industry, and share tips on how to maximize your return on investment.

We’ll highlight some of the most innovative and successful booth designs from around the world, providing you with inspiration and practical ideas for your own booth.

Whether you’re a seasoned trade show veteran or a newcomer stepping onto the show floor for the first time, this article will help you understand and master the world of trade show booths.

Taking Payments at A Trade Show

The more ways you can accept payments at a live event, the better for you. When it comes to setting up, you don’t want to be able to take only cash as payment. You want to be able to accept credit cards, debit, as well as possibly check. I encourage you to have as many options as possible so you have as many sales as possible. Nowadays, everybody walks with a credit card, so having cash on hand is a rare experience. I’ve never carried cash because it’s just so much easier to have a credit card on hand or debit card.

Make sure you can take debit and credit cards. Check out a square reader. You can go online and request Square to mail you a free Square Reader. And the cool thing about this company is they will send this reader to you for free and then they will take a percentage of your payment. Say you have a certain number of sales, Square will receive a portion of that, and it’s a tiny percent. It’s so handy.

The only thing is you need to be in a place where you can get good coverage for your phone. You either have to have an internet wireless internet connection or to have a real connected phone. For example, there’s one time where I was at an event, and the actual Convention Center was like a tank, it was like Fort Knox. I found the actual walls, they’re solid cement walls.

To have a cash box is essential. If you’re nervous about having a cash box because somebody could swipe it when you’re not looking, you could always have a cash bag you wrap around your body. It’s almost like what waitresses wear. It can hold your cash; it has a zipper at the top of it. I’ve used those in the past and work well. As a trade show presenter, the last thing you want is to feel paranoid about someone swiping your cash box.

Taking payments at a trade show

Trade Show Insurance

Insurance isn’t one of the sexiest thing to talk about, but often we have to deal with at trade shows. We have to deal with it, especially larger corporate trade shows. And when it comes to light craft fairs, holiday markets, smaller events where it’s only like maybe a hundred a few hundred or two thousand visitors, it’s not usually as much of an issue.

But if you’re doing a massive trade show where you have to pay for electricity at the indoor event for corporate, frequently they are going to request you have insurance on your booth.

In short, they want to make sure if something happens where somebody slips inside of your booth and break their arm, or if your trade show magician starts a fire, you’re going to be covered. It sounds like such a random thing, but it goes for things like fireproof. Make sure your booth is not flammable, or a hazard to the rest of the event.

The trade show venue needs to think about rare disasters. For their records, they need to know every booth vendor has insurance.

A lot of times when you’re applying, and you’ve received approval after being accepted into a trade show, the next correspondence with the trade show producers will be for you to show your proof of insurance.

You’re going to need to apply through their application process. You can even look up your own. Sometimes the trade show venue might have an insurance company they want you to work with. Whereas other times they say find your own insurance company and get event insurance.

The event Insurance pricing is going to depend on the space you are occupying at the event. You also have to verify you’re not using flammable materials.

You’re not using a product somebody walking by curling her hair might accidentally set it on fire. Make sure none of your products or your display is flammable. A lot of times, you can even get like anti flammable retardant spray to minimize any occurrence of fire at these events.

You may have to apply for trade show insurance and pick it separately. The cost of trade show insurance depends on the space you’re occupying. Depending on the size of the event and how long you’re going to be there. It’s going to depend on not only the width and the length of your booth space, but also the duration of time you’re there.

They need to know the start date and end date as well as your load-in day. Depending on where you go, the prices will vary. Shop around. Insurance is something you have to provide with the larger scale corporate trade shows. A lot of these shows do require us to prove we have trade show insurance.