How to Prepare For & Market Your Business at Your Next Trade Fair or Show

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Trade fairs or shows are quite popular in Nigeria, especially in the MSME space. It’s one of the best ways to showcase your products to customers, network with fellow business owners and industry thought-leaders and also stay updated with what’s happening in the entrepreneurship space.

Every year, hundreds of trade fairs happen for businesses in Nigeria, from some of the more popular ones like the NBC (Naijabrandchick) Trade Fair, and Wodibenuah Fair to smaller ones created by communities, churches and companies.

As a business owner, you’re likely going to attend a trade fair or show at some point to give your business more visibility, differentiate yourself from your competitors and make more sales. The most important question though is, how prepared will you be?

In this article, we’ll cover how to prepare for and market your business at the next trade fair or show you attend!

Related: How to Keep Daily Records of Sales for Your Business Easily

What is a Trade Fair or Show?

A trade fair or show, often sometimes called an exhibition as well, is an organised event where businesses can gather to showcase their products and services to potential customers, network with other business owners like them and bigger companies, explore new business opportunities and learn about what’s new in the industry!

With most trade fairs, business owners don’t need to worry about attracting people but need to focus on getting these people to turn into customers, as there are other businesses there as well that are competing for the same audience. This is why it is important to prepare, and also stand out.

Some trade fairs in Nigeria often require business owners to pay a participation fee, while some are completely free! Some are also focused heavily on particular industries, and others are more generic and any business owner can attend, no matter what they sell.

Related: 5 Ways to Reduce Shipping or Delivery Costs for Your Business & Customers in 2024

Why You Should Go To Trade Fairs or Shows

Trade fairs are an amazing avenue for business owners for so many reasons, and if you have the opportunity to attend one that benefits you, you shouldn’t think twice about doing it. The reasons why include:

1. Giving your brand more visibility: The more people see you and buy from you, the higher the chances they’ll remember you. For new customers, it’s a chance to try your product and come back, and for people who are already your customers, it’s the chance to meet people behind the brand, and for you to reposition your business in their minds as their go-to brand.

2. Spying on your competitors: Having a unique business is important, but so is knowing what other business owners like you are doing. At trade fairs, you have the opportunity to check out what your competitors are doing, and know if you’re on the right track or need to do more!

3. Getting feedback from customers: Hearing from the people you’ve created a product is one of the most important things for your business, and a great place to get this feedback is a trade fair or show. You can get valuable information from customers about similar products they’ve tried, why they stopped using them and what they’re looking to see in that product or service you’re selling.

4. Collecting details of potential customers: Trade fairs create the opportunity to collect the details of everyone who comes to your booth, whether they buy from you or not. This way, you’re generating leads that you can turn into new and loyal customers down the line.

5. Connecting with other vendors: Collaborating with other vendors is a great marketing strategy because it expands your business to related audiences and can impact your sales positively. Trade fairs and shows are a fantastic place to start building connections with other vendors for possible collaborations in the future.

Related: We Found 8 Amazing Tips about Cross-selling for Small Businesses! Check Them Out Now!

How to Prepare for a Trade Fair or Show

Before marketing, comes preparation. In other to make sure that your trade fair outing is a hit, there are things that you should do beforehand.

1. Do some research

You should start by researching about the trade fairs you can attend, but that’s not the only thing. It is also important to determine which of these trade fairs align with your business goals. Research important details like expected attendees and their interests, the rules for the trade fair, space allocation and the average number of attendees from past ones. Doing these will help you decide what trade fairs can bring you a higher return on investment and create more opportunities for you.

2. Set goals for your trade fair attendance

It’s also very necessary to create goals for your trade fair attendance. You can have goals like how many new customers you want to sell to, how many leads you want to collect, and how many items you want to sell on that day. This gives you clear focus and direction on what you’re trying to achieve with each trade fair you attend.

3. Create pre-event buzz

Leverage your social media channels to create pre-event buzz for your business, thereby letting your customers and audience know that you’ll be attending the trade fair and inviting them to come join you. You can share content on how you’re preparing, what they should expect to see, and even the promos and discounts they’ll be getting if they do attend.

4. Scope out the trade fair space

Before the day(s) of the trade fair, take some time to visit the space where it’ll be happening and see the layout, especially where your stand will be. This will help set up on the day of the trade fair so much easier, and help you plan how you’ll bring customers to your stand or booth.

5. Set up an easy payment process for customers with Bumpa Terminal

One of the best (and most stressful) things about trade fairs is the crowds. It’s great when customers flock to your booth to buy items, but it’s often stressful for them and even you when the queue isn’t moving quickly because you need to confirm payments, update your stock and balance your books right there at the fair. It’s important to make sure that this process is seamless for both you and your customer.

One of the best ways to do this is by setting up Bumpa Terminal. Bumpa Terminal is a great (and super fast) way to collect payments from your customers and get a confirmation in minutes! When you set up Bumpa Terminal, you get a bank account that you can use for transactions and if you also record the orders you get on the Bumpa app, you can match your orders to each payment you get, making sure you don’t miss any payments in the rush!

You can also print out your Bumpa Terminal account details, making it easier for customers to copy your account number or scan the barcode to pay!

Get started with the Bumpa Terminal now in a few, easy steps!

How to Market Your Business at a Trade Fair

Getting customers to come to your stand at a trade fair is another thing, especially since people who go to these trade fairs will be spoilt for choice. I mean, it's a gathering of vendors selling different things.

Also, remember that customers coming to shop at a trade fair probably have earmarked a certain amount that they want to spend, so it’s up to you to make sure that they spend some or all of that money with your business.

How do you then stand out and market your business at the trade fair?

1. Make your booth stand out

An eye-catching booth will immediately make people interested in you, and automatically elevate your stand from everyone else’s. You should take time to make sure that you design your booth in a way that attracts visitors.

2. Do product demonstrations

Often when you attend a makeup trade fair, you see business owners doing product demonstrations right at their booths. It could be things like showing customers how to apply makeup with brushes, showing them what lipstick color goes with what, and so much more. A product demonstration helps the customer see how your product can be used, thereby increasing the chances of you convincing them to buy.

3. Offer promotions

One of the reasons most people go to trade fairs is because of the possibility of getting much-needed items at a cheaper rate. You can create discounts and coupons to attract more people, get them to try out the product or even get them to buy more than just one item. Of course, before you decide to run a promo, check to make sure that you’ll still be profitable, or at least achieve your goals by running the promo.

4. Have side attractions, like a contest or giveaways

You can also make your booth stand out by creating engaging activities like a contest where people can win items by participating! This is a great way to market your brand at a trade fair in a super fun way.

Following Up Post Trade Fair

This part is just as important as well. All of the leads you’ve collected from the trade fair can turn into potential or repeat customers, and it’s up to you to make sure you follow up with them.

Here’s how you should go about it:

1. Collect customer data. This way, you have leads to follow up with. You can do this seamlessly by recording your customer’s order on the Bumpa app, thereby saving their details for easy access later.

2. Send out thank you messages. This shows appreciation to these leads for coming to your booth, engaging with your brand and making a purchase, and also opens up an opportunity for you to communicate with them more.

3. Start nurturing your leads. Offer them additional value via email or SMS through important information, product updates, solutions, exclusive promos and more. Remember to engage these leads with purpose and stay persistent, but respectful. You can set up your email or SMS campaigns on the Bumpa app, making it easy for you to contact these people again without having to set up a whole new CRM system.

4. Ask for feedback. Beyond just getting new leads and following up on them to turn them into customers, it’s also highly important to get feedback from them. So ask questions, encourage them to answer honestly and even incentivise them with a discount or coupon!

Conclusion

Trade fairs or shows are a great place to make money and hit revenue targets for your business but even beyond that, gain more visibility, get more opportunities and network with people. As a business owner, you should take advantage of them as much as you can. Just remember to prepare properly, and also make sure to use the opportunity to leave a lasting impression in the minds of the audience.

Good luck at your next trade fair!

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