A trade show marketing guru is someone who specialises in communication in the exhibition industry, it is a diverse career that requires knowledge and skills in different sectors with the ability to quickly adapt and communicate clearly to get the message across. It will require several things to help you get there quicker, these include a powerful laptop, learning marketing basics, mastering project management, acquiring design skills, learning the fundamentals of fabrication/construction and establish a reliable supply chain to execute projects for your client. This is a skillset that will take time to develop and master, we will explain below in further detail what each category entails.
Invest in a Powerful Laptop
A powerful laptop is something which can handle more than just word documents, once you dig deeper into trade shows you will realise you will need a powerful laptop that can handle 3D models and be able to process high quality graphics. A key factor is to make sure your main hard drive is a solid-state drive to increase loading and processing speeds, you don’t want to be stuck all day waiting for something to load which stop you from doing other important tasks.
Learn Marketing Basics
Understand the basics terms of marketing such as traffic, conversion, and ROI – these are common terms which you must understand and be able to provide solutions on how to grow your client’s business through your trade show marketing skillset. Traffic is bringing visitors to the business; conversion is turning the traffic into sales and ROI (return on investment) means how much profit will be made after the investment into the event. Once you understand the basics, you can start creating strategies to implement them into your clients marketing plan.
Master your Project Management
Project management is where you stay in control of time and what happens when, ensuring that there are no bottlenecks throughout the process. Each stage there should be a deadline, so if the deadline is met then your next stage should theoretically run smoothly. Understand which stages are critical in achieving the final outcome and make sure those are not left to chance, any delays on your end will expose your inexperience – but you can also use this to your advantage by proposing solutions to rectify the issue at hand.
Acquire Design Skills
Design skills are where you have the ability to visualise a project to your client, this can come in the form of sketches to architectural modelling to 3D renders with integrated branded graphics. This will instantly let your client know that you are in safe hands as they can visually see you understanding of the project, then if required your client can guide you on what their priorities and you can make the changes accordingly to suit. This will give your client peace of mind and makes the communication process much smoother.
Learn Fabrication/Construction Fundamentals
Understanding the fundamentals of fabrication and construction techniques gives you that background knowledge of how things are built, the time it takes and their cost implications. With this knowledge at the back of your mind, you will be able to provide solutions that work without requiring the need to get a second opinion (which will slow down the process) and may make your client second guess about your experience in the trade show marketing industry.
Establish a reliable Supply Chain
Your supply chain is where you have suppliers to make things happen, if you can provide a working solution to your client but cannot execute it – it becomes worthless because the client will need to arrange additional effort and time to find exhibition stand builders to deliver the project. With an established supply chain, you can offer an all-in-one package which means all your client needs to do is provide comments, approvals, and payment – most clients will prefer convenience over price especially if it is their first time to exhibit at a trade show.
Conclusion
Trade show marketing gurus requires knowledge in a variety of industries and certain connections to be able to execute a trade show project with a client from start to finish. Depending on the client, they sometimes only require part and not all your services, but to become a trade show marketing guru you must be in the position to execute the full project from start to finish – your experience and knowledge is necessary to prove to your client that they are in good hands and that you are prepared for any challenges that happen along the way. Being prepared is the key and the experience you gain will give you the confidence that you need for a successful outcome.
