Trade shows still play an important role in your health nutrition marketing

As a professional athlete, I have had many opportunities to observe the effectiveness of trade shows in the sports nutrition industry firsthand. In my opinion, they can be just as effective in all areas of Health Nutrition Marketing.

I decided to use my experience to compile what I think are the top 10 tradeshow tips to help strengthen your Health Nutrition Marketing Brand.

1.  Clarify Your Objective. Develop a written plan for your company’s exhibit and share it with others for comment. Investigate the size of the audience of perspective customers. Is this the right show for your industry? Decide what you want to accomplish at the trade show: Product introduction? The generation of sales leads? The testing of a new market? Be sure there will be an adequate return on your company’s investment.

2.   Use a Theme. All of your exhibit activities should center on one theme that reinforces your strategic objective. I can’t stress enough how important it is to have one cohesive theme that spreads across all marketing platforms, including, hand-out literature, website announcements, social media, blogs, invitations, etc. The more singular your messaging, the more top-of-mind it will be as a take-away.

3.   Develop a Smart Promotional Item. Don’t just give anything away—be smart about it. The promotional item(s) you choose need to be something the prospective customer will use more than once. The item must have your website, phone number, and QR code on it so that the prospective customer can contact you without any hassles.

4.   Invest in Pre-show Promotion. After all the planning, resources and funds are applied to a tradeshow exhibit, you want to make sure people show up. A good way to encourage attendance is to send out invitations via email blast as well as posting the information throughout your social media and your website. It’s always helpful to include a prize or a a drawing that will bring customers to your booth. Be sure to include your booth number on any mentions of the trade show.

5.   Inform, Motivate and Train the Booth Attendants. Everyone who works in the company’s booth should know your expectations. Everyone who greets a prospect should act professionally and be well dressed. The booth is an effective place for setting up dinner meetings or meetings in a customer’s office after the show.

6.   Conduct a Post-show Analysis. After all of the activity related to a trade show has waned, review the event to determine whether or not you met your objectives.

7.   Check the Analytics with the QR Code. Be sure you have analytics set-up to see if you have any potential customer’s clicking. Don’t be afraid to put QR codes on anything and everything.

8.   Set Up Mobile Landing Pages on Your Website. If you are using QR codes pointing trade show visitors to a specific landing page, be sure to include a sign-up for a newsletter. This will help you measure your response. Also, if you are directing your customers to a landing page or your website, be certain it has mobile-friendly formatting.

9.   Keep Your Social Media Active. Don’t forget to promote your social media so others can follow you, tweet and comment throughout the entire trade show. It is also important to continue talking about the trade show on your company’s social media sites for a couple weeks following the trade show in order to keep any new followers abreast on who you are.

10.  Blog. Blog. Blog. Post pictures and videos from the event as well as recapping the trade show.

I hope these tips will help strengthen you Health Nutrition Marketing brand. From my own experience, these are the most effective ways to work your expertise at trade shows. Just remember to be consistent with your look and feel at the booth, throughout your marketing materials, and in your social media. Good luck!

If you enjoyed this article you may also be interested in:

Guerilla Trade Show Marketing for Health Nutrition Brands

Social Media Marketing Strategies for Your Health Nutrition Brand

Marketing Health and Nutrition to Healthcare Professionals

photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/ant1_g/6913508663/”>Ant1_G</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/”>cc</a>

Jessica Clay

Jessica is a competitive athlete and the President of Energize HNM, a health and nutrition marketing agency. Jessica is committed to supporting health brands of every size by helping them define their missions and connect with their customers on a deeper, more meaningful level.