Trade Show FAQs

Q: What should I consider when planning to purchase or rent a trade show display?

A: Cypress Media Group recommends that you ask yourself the following questions to plan the design, purchase, rental, and construction of trade show exhibits:

• What is my budget range for this project and what costs does this budget cover?
• How many times or how often do we plan to use this trade show booth?
• What components will the interior of this trade show exhibit contain?
• What is the profile of our target customer at the shows we will attend?
• What specific goals do we have for the shows we plan to attend?
• What are the three strongest impressions we want our trade show booth to create for attendees at shows?
• What are the three impressions we do NOT want our trade show booth to create at shows?
• What factors should our trade show exhibit builders consider so they can provide us with the best options and the best price?

Q: How do you suggest that exhibitors contact trade show attendees before, during, and after the show to engage in effective trade show marketing?

A: The following are some of the pre-show activities that we use in our trade show marketing program to attract traffic to our clients' trade show exhibits:

• E-mail announcements to customers and prospects of upcoming presence at a show and trade show booth number location
• Mail announcements to customers and prospects of upcoming presence at a show and trade show booth number location
• Invitations to claim a useful, business-related gift at the trade show booth
• Announcements of show and trade show booth presence on client's Web site
• Company personnel mentioning the trade show and trade show booth in telephone conversations with clients and prospects
• Announcements mentioning the trade show and trade show booth in company mailings and with invoices
• Messages that are part of voicemail on the clients' employees' phones

The following activities are some of the trade show marketing we do during trade shows:

• Encouraging prospects to follow our clients on social networks likes Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook
• Posting messages on Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook connecting with the prospects
• Calling and/or e-mailing prospects even before the show ends from smartphones and wireless laptops

After the trade show, we use the following trade show marketing activities to follow up with prospects:

• Calling and/or e-mailing prospects again
• Contacting the prospects periodically over the next several months with a combination of telephone, e-mail, fax, mail, and messages on social networking sites

We recommend documenting all activities in a manual or automated sales force automation or customer relationship management database.

Q: I notice that your company is headquartered in Atlanta. Do you really do business worldwide?

A: Although we are located in Atlanta, we do provide services to clients worldwide through our relationships with specialty partners around the world. There are some remote areas we do not service for various economic or political reasons. However, since we are Atlanta-based, we can often offer additional price discounts to those organizations who are exhibiting at a show, event, or exhibition in Atlanta and the southeastern United States..

Q: What payment options do you provide?

A: Cypress Media Group accepts checks, money orders, cashiers checks, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express cards and electronic fund transfers to our accounts.

Q: Can you recommend other trade show marketing resources?

A: Yes. Listed below are other trade show marketing resources that might help you.

• Offer trade show marketing training to those who staff your trade show exhibit booth.
• Read an article entitled, Six Ways to Move Trade Show Attendees from the Aisles into your Booth