Previously, I wrote an article about exhibitors titled "Why Exhibiting?" and received a lot of attention. This article continues to sort out the preparation work that needs to be done before exhibiting from the perspective of exhibitors.

A successful exhibition marketing strategy for an enterprise is to sharpen the knife without sacrificing the firewood and make adequate preparations before the exhibition. Especially for large-scale exhibitions, enterprises invest huge manpower and resources to develop reasonable exhibition plans and complete pre exhibition preparations, so that the complex exhibition site can proceed in an orderly manner.

Building an exhibition team

Exhibitors need to establish a temporary cross departmental exhibition team internally before the exhibition plan is determined, and select the overall project leader. The exhibition team is not making decisions to participate in the exhibition, but rather executing exhibition tasks and coordinating and planning exhibition work. Due to the fact that the internal coordination of exhibitors and exhibitors come from different departments, it is necessary to communicate the pre exhibition plan in advance, set up various work functions and tasks, and complete progress management.

The exhibition site needs to face audiences and buyers from different fields, so the questions that need to be answered are also comprehensive. It is necessary to organize the on-site attendees in advance and corresponding language.

In addition, it is necessary to develop various contingency plans, such as how to quickly respond to rights protection incidents on site (who is responsible and how to handle standards), who is responsible for on-site safety issues, and so on.

Some exhibition venues may hire external personnel to provide on-site services at booths, and these personnel need to undergo training and on-site management in advance. For example, to participate in international exhibitions, it is necessary to have staff who understand foreign languages or professional language translators.

Select suitable exhibits

The most important thing to attend an exhibition is the display of exhibits. So the most important task before the exhibition is the selection of exhibits. Select suitable exhibits based on the characteristics of the industry in which the exhibition is held, the location of the exhibition, and customer positioning.

Some companies have a wide range of product lines, so it is particularly important to choose exhibits that are suitable for exhibitions. Because some exhibition plans are formulated by the company's marketing team, but the main participants are the company's sales team, it is important to have internal coordination within the company to avoid mutual buck passing due to the unappealing presence of exhibits on site.

Some exhibits can be carried with you, but some exhibitions may offer samples as gifts or for sale on site. This requires the preparation of a sufficient number of exhibits, as well as advance logistics preparation and consideration of some exhibits requiring early entry; Some companies may have larger specifications or higher value exhibits, such as jewelry, calligraphy and painting, cultural relics, etc., which need to be transported by entrusting a professional exhibition logistics company.

Exhibition Intellectual Property

In addition, when choosing to display products on site, attention should be paid to preventing intellectual property infringement. At present, many large-scale exhibitions in China have windows for handling intellectual property disputes. Enterprises that frequently participate in foreign exhibitions will be more familiar with it. Due to the development stage of Chinese enterprises, as well as the relatively complete legal supervision of intellectual property outside Shanghai, and the wide number of intellectual property registrations abroad. Some competitors and companies that specialize in intellectual property will use the exhibition site to negotiate with participating companies, which is a serious practical problem: this not only affects the effectiveness of the exhibition site, but may even terminate the exhibition plan, and continuous legal negotiations are also necessary.
Another legal issue is the compliance management of advertising at exhibition venues, which can sometimes be easily overlooked if not handled properly

Preparation of exhibition related materials

Exhibitors should organize promotional materials (such as company brochures, product brochures, and exhibitor business cards), customer business card boxes (some customers may not have business cards and can prepare a contact book), drinking mineral water (which is a consumable item on site), small gifts for on-site interaction, handbags for holding materials, music and videos played on site, etc. before the exhibition, And print brochures or single pages (which need to contain information such as exhibition time, actual location of booths marked in the exhibition floor plan, booth number, and how to arrive), and convert these materials into electronic files that can be used for online dissemination.

Advance planning of exhibition itinerary

The three armies have not moved, and food and forage have taken the lead. Develop a reasonable exhibition itinerary plan, such as booking hotels and high-speed trains (air tickets), especially international flights. Prepare an exhibition itinerary plan in advance and choose a suitable time for booking. Prices may fluctuate at different times, and exhibitors need to plan and make reservations in advance. In addition, some companies have a large number of attendees, and this total cost can still save space with reasonable arrangements.

Some exhibitors need to hold simultaneous events in addition to participating in the exhibition. This requires pre booking the conference venue, whether to choose to book the conference venue inside the exhibition hall from the exhibition organizer or choose other hotels in the city where the exhibition is held. This requires exhibitors to book in advance, which is similar to the logic of hotel room reservation.

Booth design and construction

A special booth with eye-catching design and reasonable functional layout is an important support for the exhibition effect, so booth design and construction should be the top priority of the exhibition work. Booth design and construction do not necessarily aim for luxury. Depending on the industry in which the exhibition is held, booth design and decoration styles are primarily applicable. In particular, booth design needs to fully consider the location of the booth at the exhibition site, as well as the planning of the number of attendees and the functional blocks of the booth.

Currently, environmental protection has become a consensus, so whether the decorative materials of the booth are "green" and whether the exhibition equipment can be recycled will also become one of the important indicators to showcase the quality of the enterprise on site.
The important task before the exhibition is to select the service provider for the design and construction of the exhibition booth. If exhibiting in other places or abroad, suppliers can choose to attend the exhibition at the venue or bring their own service providers, and exhibitors need to plan in advance.

Some exhibitors have a relatively large enterprise scale and may have a supplier (service provider) catalog library, from which suitable service providers can be selected; Some service provider enterprises are also relatively large in scale, with branches and strategic partner enterprises in many first tier exhibition cities across the country, and even overseas, providing high-quality and quantity delivery. Choosing a service provider enterprise with such a large scale has the advantage of having no problems with service and delivery, but the disadvantage is that the cost is very high. In addition, the designated service provider (supplier) has signed with a procurement department and a user department that are not the same, which can lead to communication information asymmetry. This requires early coordination within the exhibitor.

Most exhibitors do not have a designated service provider, and due to the significant differences in material prices, transportation costs, and construction personnel costs across regions, even if there are designated suppliers, they generally prioritize choosing the service provider in the exhibition location and tailor it to local conditions.

The quality of service providers may vary in booth design and construction in different cities. In first tier exhibition cities, service providers named exhibition engineering companies can also be found, but in second - or even third tier cities, exhibitions are more likely to only have service providers named advertising or decoration companies.

If a suitable service provider cannot be found, sometimes entrusting a supplier designated by the organizer to build is also a good choice. Compared to an exhibitor, the organizers have a greater demand for on-site atmosphere construction projects, so even for exhibitions held in third tier cities, the organizers will find professional service providers from nearby exhibition cities to provide on-site services.

The division of labor is becoming increasingly detailed, and the design and construction of exhibition booths can be operated separately. The design company is responsible for the design, while the construction party carries out the construction with the drawings. Of course, for the sake of overall effectiveness, it is advisable to choose a professional exhibition engineering company service provider for design and construction.

Considering construction safety issues, some large exhibition halls also have certain qualification requirements for exhibition engineering companies that enter the site for construction. So when selecting a service provider, it is necessary to communicate with the organizer in advance about the entry requirements of the service provider.

Exhibition marketing planning during the exhibition period

Exhibition marketing is divided into two parts, one is market promotion (including news promotion), and the other is customer marketing.

Inviting professional buyers is not only the responsibility of the exhibition organizer. The professional buyers invited by the exhibition organizer are potential customers of the exhibitors. It is also necessary for the exhibitors to invite their own customers (potential and old customers) to participate in the exhibition, so that customers can feel the status of the enterprise (industry status) in the exhibition, thereby enhancing customer recognition and loyalty.

Another aspect of marketing refers to external promotion. Exhibitors can organize new product launches, host customer appreciation banquets, independently or in collaboration with relevant units, hold special seminars, and create marketing communication points through various activities, in order to maintain and attract potential customers, potential customers, and old customers. At the same time, it is necessary to sort out media resources before the exhibition and invite participants to participate in on-site activities. Targeted media communication should be carried out in conjunction with on-site market activities, and rhythmic marketing and promotion should be carried out before, during, and after the exhibition.

While making good use of external media resources, the exhibitors' own WeChat official account, customer base and other private marketing should also be done. Participating in an exhibition is not just an offline activity for three or five days at the exhibition site. Participating in a large-scale brand exhibition is actually an integrated marketing promotion.

At the same time, it is necessary to purchase outdoor advertisements at the exhibition site. This part of the work is generally carried out during booth reservation, and can also be planned uniformly during the coordination of activities, conference venues, and other work during the same period.

As the saying goes, "if everything is anticipated, it will be abandoned if not anticipated." Exhibiting is a systematic project, with many questions to consider. Reasonable use of human, material, and financial resources is necessary. Before the exhibition, careful preparation must be made to ensure the smooth progress of the exhibition and achieve the highest results.