guest post: Is the Internet the New Substitute for Trade Shows?

I’m on a plane home after a fantastic 24 hours in Providence to speak at the Rhode Island School of Design, but today I’ve got a guest post to share from Kitty Vogen.  Kitty talks about how even with the rise of the Internet, trade shows are still a really valuable way to grow your business.

Do you remember the good old days when you when set up your exhibit at trade shows all year long and generated business yourself with old-fashioned face-to-face contact? Many businesses have scaled back on their trade show efforts in the past couple of years in an effort to cut costs. They’re focusing on less costly marketing options like developing their websites, blogs and social media plans. Is the Internet going to replace trade shows altogether? Let’s hope not!

Benefits of Trade Shows

There are many benefits of trade shows that just can’t be achieved with an online-only approach to marketing. Those benefits include:

• Putting a face to the name. Personal interaction with your potential clients makes you more memorable than your activity on social media sites and other Internet options. Although doing videos on the web can help put a face to the name it lacks the personal quality of in-person interaction and is therefore less memorable.
• Putting physical products in front of people. Many businesses today are not brick-and-mortar stores but only online storefronts. This means that their products are never physically in front of customers until they actually buy them, a fact that can limit sales. Trade shows give these businesses a chance to show off their products and generate more interest in them.
• Getting to know the competition. Sure you can monitor what your competitors are doing on social media sites but that can’t replace the value of attending their talks at a trade show. Trade shows give you the opportunity to get up close and personal with the competition to make sure that they aren’t edging you out.
• Big trade shows get reported on. The chance that you will get media attention for your efforts at a trade show is often bigger than the chance that your little blog post or site will get noticed on the web. Your own press releases linked to the trade show event may also have more impact than general press releases for your site.

A report on Travel Agent Central quotes Forbes, the Wall Street Journal and an Oxford Economics study as all saying that in-person attendance at trade shows is a smart business move. Don’t underestimate their value!

Making Trade Shows Work for You

Trade shows simply can’t be replaced by Internet activity alone. However you do need to make sure that you aren’t wasting money when attending trade shows. Here are some tips to make trade shows work for you:

• Be selective about the trade shows that you attend. You want to be a big fish in a small pond!
• Budget for the trip. Calculate your ROI for trade shows. Trim the fat and be wise with your investment.
• Integrate trade shows with Internet activity. Let’s take a closer look at that idea (below).

Integrating Trade Shows with the Internet

Although Internet activity can’t replace trade shows, it is very important today. Integrating trade show activity with Internet activity can boost the effectiveness of both. Options for doing that include:

• Spread the word online about trade shows you’ll be attending.
• Live blog while at a trade show event. Tweeting and updating your status from the event should be a given.
• Utilize trade show apps.
• In addition to an email list collect your contact’s social media information.
• Do follow up reports on trade show activities on your site.
• Virtually attend trade shows that you can’t attend in person.

This is a guest post by Kitty Vogen. She is a writer who has worked on pop up displays for trade shows as well as other unique marketing and business writing.