Importance of trade fairs and exhibitions to your business

By Jumia Travel Tanzania

Most business persons are reluctant of taking part in trade fairs and exhibitions due to high costs involved. Their arguments are valid to some extent since there are some costs to be incurred in order to fully participate in an event such as the entrance fee, training of staffs in order to achieve targets, marketing and advertising material, as well as transport for staffs if you will have to.

But in order to perform well in this industry, you must gain trust and reputation; business owners have to reflect on the significance of such events. You don’t have to worry any longer, as Jumia Travel highlights some steps to consider in order to achieve your targets:

Set realistic and beneficial goals to your business. Don’t rush to get involved in an event which you are not certain of its results. Make sure you set target sales for your team. Make sure you network enough with all the participants if possible, you never know they might turn into being your customers some day. Last but not least, keep records of all the contacts for future follow ups.

Learn what will work and what will not. Things will not work out in all the exhibitions which you will participate in. Therefore, try to observe which booths perform better then learn their tactics; note down price lists and offers offered by your competitors and compare with yours. Apart from that, you can act like a customer to observe how other sellers communicate with you and for which business reasons. I am quite sure you will learn something out of it.

Create awareness of your brand. There are a couple of ways around which you can achieve this one, especially when you are a start-up. Such techniques include; setting your booth besides a well established company in exhibitions if you get a chance. This will help your business receive more visibility from customers and prospects. Further, design attractive display banners for greater visibility by the exhibitors; and don’t forget to include your social media accounts so that customers can get connected with you online.

Make sales on the ground if possible. Even if it might not be your target but try to do so if customers seem interested with your products/services. Good moment to make sales is when exhib attendees are very excited with what you offer, hence don’t go unprepared. But if you fail to make that happen, make sure you take their contacts and set for appointments later on.       

Wisely choose exhibitions which suite your business. Before you take part in any trade fair or exhibitions, make sure it is suitable for your business goals. You might want to be sure of that by either doing a small research or ask from your colleagues. To involve yourself in an event which you will gain nothing is a waste of time and resources. Is your target to offer services or products? Or just to establish and maintain professional networks with members in the same industry? You have to be aware of all that before you make decisions.

In conclusion, to some extent your achievement will depend heavily on your choice of the event. Jumia Travel suggests that you do enough research or ask former participants. Taking part in an event which does not meet your company’s targets might cost you more than just money.