Do you plan on attending a trade show this summer? Do you have any aspirations of being a vendor? As a business owner, you should utilize every opportunity to be present at any trade show relevant to your industry.
Ideally, you can set up a trade show display as a vendor. That way, you can take advantage of the ability to meet and greet throngs of people who may be interested in what your brand has to offer. Let’s discuss just why attending trade shows is so beneficial for small businesses.
You get face time with industry insiders and potential customers.
There is nothing like the face-to-face meeting. The pandemic made that clearer than ever. Sure, modern technology affords us the ability to meet over the internet. But is there anything quite like an in-person greeting complete with a handshake? A trade show will enable you to get plenty of face time with both the movers and shakers of your industry, says Chad Otar on Forbes.com.
“Not only that, but you aren’t going to have to worry about the waste and inefficiencies of ‘cold targeting’ potential business partners, clients and customers at trade shows the way you do with more traditional marketing,” he writes, “You know the people attending trade shows are at the very least interested in what you have to offer, and are more likely to listen to pitches, network with you and your team.”
You raise brand awareness.
We can’t think of a better venue to boost your brand’s recognition than a trade show. It literally places your company in a perfect position. It is surrounded by industry types and consumers who would most benefit from what you have to offer. As Matt Shealy points out on Bplans.com, trade shows run the gamut from small events with a few dozen vendors to major events that fill hundreds of thousands of square feet of conference centre space.
“But no matter what size they are, most trade shows offer business participants opportunities to get their names in front of attendees beyond simply signing up for a booth,” he writes, “For example, you may be able to pay to participate in a tiered sponsorship program or to put your logo on event swag (such as badge lanyards or attendee gift bags).”
You get to scope out the competition.
A trade show is the ideal location to get up close and personal views of what your competitors are up to. You don’t just get the chance to greet visitors at your booth. You’ll be able to visit other booths as well. By doing so, you get to take in the sales pitches and presentations of other businesses in your industry. The insight you gain is invaluable.
“Nowhere else will you have this many opportunities to learn from the more established, most successful companies in a market or industry,” Otar points out, “Nowhere else will all their ‘secrets’ be on full display, and nowhere else are you going to be able to get the kind of inside information and insight from their sales and marketing teams—and potentially even high-level executives—with as much freedom and as much transparency as you will at a trade show.”
With Unity Payments’ Virtual Terminals, you can turn any mobile device into a credit card terminal. That way, you can seamlessly process credit card and debit card sales at any trade show you attend! To learn more, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-800-661-3761 or email us at info@unitypayments.ca.
