Are you looking for different ways to spread the word about your upcoming trade show? Do you want to build momentum leading up to the day/week of the trade show? If so, then you need to invest time and resources into a proper trade show marketing plan. Doing so can help you see better results. You’ll get more businesses involved, see more visitors come to participate, and so much more. Thankfully, we live in a digital age, where you can reach any target demographic with relative ease.

See below for an in-depth guide on the marketing strategies you should be putting in place to see the best results.

1. Search Engine Optimization

Just to clarify, search engine optimization can help you market your entire brand, not just the trade show. Search engine optimization, SEO for short, is the practice of adjusting the content on your website to appease that of a search engine (such as Google). Whether you knew it or not, search engines have preferences on what factors they want to see in a site. This could be things such as the site’s age, content, loading speed, layout, traction, and so forth.

Those that take the time to hit all of these marks become much more attractive in a search engine’s eyes. Once you fit Google’s algorithm, they’re far more likely to boost you up to the top of their search results for a specific keyword. For example, let’s say you wanted to use the keyword “friendship bracelet trade show 2021.” You could start blogging and use that keyword in one of your articles. This can help you generate more leads, gain more awareness for your trade show, and start to build customer loyalty with your brand. Keep in mind that SEO takes time, so you’ll want to get cracking on it right away.

2. Link-Building

For most of you, link-building might not be one of the first things that come to mind when you think of trade show marketing. However, there’s no denying how helpful it can be. This is another key element that Google (and other search engines) look for when they crawl your website. Why are links so important? Try to visualize a spider web. At the center of that web, is your website, with all of the information for your trade show. All you have to do is extend your reach. Now, with strong and contextual links in your content, you can start to extend the reach of your spider web’s branches. The longer your web is, the more flies (in this case, attendees) that you’ll get to your site.

The first stage of any customer journey map is awareness. Your target audience needs to become aware of your trade show before they can generate interest. By inputting internal and external links into your text, you’ll be on your way to a great turnout for your trade show! Not sure where to begin your link-building efforts? Don’t sweat it. We’d be happy to help you build your links and gain traction with your target audience.

3. Sprinkle In Some Offline Marketing Methods

No matter how much the digital marketing space grows, there will always be a place for strong offline marketing tactics in your strategy. In fact, some could make the case that offline marketing is more important (and more beneficial) than it’s been in a long time. With so many businesses pouring all of their time and effort into digital marketing, the offline marketing sector has become far less saturated. Not to mention that trade shows and offline marketing methods go hand-in-hand. Your print marketing, for example, can help you find the people that prefer to do business in-person, rather than behind a computer screen. Some of the most successful offline marketing methods include business cards, coupons, posters, in-person networking, setting up sales tables, mailing campaigns, printing street signs, and so much more.

4. Social Media

If you really want to build excitement for your trade show, you’ll have to roll up your sleeves and proactively reach out to your target audience. One of the best ways to do that? Social media. Hands down. We recommend kicking things off by creating a few buyer personas of your target attendees. What social media platforms do they use? How active are they? What forms of content are they looking for? How can you draw their attention? For example, Facebook Groups can be a tremendous asset to you. For example, if you’re hosting a local business tradeshow, then finding a Facebook Group with local business owners can help you find a cluster of interested businessmen/businesswomen.

5. Find Industry Influencers

To piggyback off of the last point, a tremendous way to generate excitement for your trade show is to find the best influencers in your industry. They already have the gigantic following that you’re searching for. Getting that influencer to push your trade show will help you skip a few steps. As you might know from your own experience, everything an influencer says, their followers take as absolute truth. If you get them to push your show, it can help you really in a lot of profits.

Use These Trade Show Marketing Tips to Your Advantage

Now that you have seen an in-depth guide on trade show marketing and several tips to help you get started, what are you waiting for?

Be sure to read this article for more information on the 9 social media trends that will help you dominate in the year 2021.

For more inquiries, please be sure to reach out via our contact us page and we will be happy to assist you further.