Exhibiting at trade shows is a great way to make new business contacts, but you must take a proactive approach to ensure that visitors to your trade show booth leave with a good impression of your company. Sending e-mails or hard copy brochures to attendees before the show begins will drastically increase the number and quality of visitors to your trade show exhibit area.

One of the biggest mistakes exhibitors make is that they do not understand the level of effort that individuals and businesses put into attending a trade show. Most attendees are not just aimlessly wandering the trade show floor (although it may seem that way at times). Most visitors arrive with a detailed map of the trade show floor and a well designed plan that describes which booths they need to attend and how much time should be spent with each exhibitor. Visitors travel great distances to attend trade shows, and they need to get the most out of their investment. If you begin exhibiting with the belief that visitors are aimlessly walking around your trade show, you are already one step behind your competition.

Pre-show mailers will help you get a star by your name on the attendees’ trade show floor map. Highlighting your trade show display before the show even begins can help your booth become a destination that visitors look forward to. You need to ensure that your company’s brand is in the mind of the attendees while they are making their plan, and not just when they are executing the plan.