Exhibitions

Is it worth doing?

Exhibitions can be an excellent way of promoting your products and business and making direct contact with customers. There are two types:

• Consumer - lifestyle orientated and predominately attended by the general public.
• Trade - bringing businesses together from one area of interest such as IT or accountancy.

Contact the exhibition organisers to get a breakdown of the type and number of visitors expected at the exhibition to make sure they are your target market. You also need to have clear objectives prior to exhibiting to enable you to choose the most appropriate event for your needs and provide a focus for your stand design. Objectives can include:

• Finding new customers (a key aim is usually to identify sales leads that can be followed up after the exhibition).
• Making industry contacts and leads.
• Obtaining press coverage.
• Launching a new product or service.
• Launching a new business image.

Exhibitions can be expensive so it is important to weigh up the potential benefits against the cost and time involved in preparing and attending an exhibition.