Trade Show Planner: Design Collateral

Producing company collateral is just one task in a large checklist you’ll need to complete as a trade show exhibitor. Review my entire pre-show, on-site, and post-show checklist of exhibitor planning activities.

Trade Show Planning:
Design Product and Company Collateral. Print Maybe.

6-3 MONTHS TO GO. PRE-SHOW ACTIVITIES.

Design all product collateral and company brochures that you will use at the show, ensuring the look and feel and messages match those used in your booth. Whether you decide to print the collateral or make it available as a PDF file, you will need to complete this first step anyway.

Now decide whether you want to spend the money to print hundreds of pieces of product collateral and company brochures. It can be costly to print and expensive to ship.

I find that on the last day of my trip, when I am packing my bags to go home, I have collected so much product literature, giveaways, trade magazines, and other materials that I just don’t have enough room in my suitcase. I then sort through all the items I have collected and decide which pieces I want to take home. Those items I don’t want, end up in the trash. A company's product literature frequently goes in the garbage because I assume I will find it on their website or can ask a salesperson to email a copy to me.

Here are two alternative solutions you may want to consider:

1. Instead of printing hundreds of pieces of collateral, purchase flash drives imprinted with your company logo. Load your company’s PDF files onto the flash drive and give them to your booth visitors as a promotional item or tchotchke. Visitors are much more likely to keep the flash drive for future use and will have easy access to all your collateral.
   While there is an expense to buy the flash drives, you do not have to pay to print any literature. Besides, the cost to ship 600 flash drives will be significantly less than sending 600 pieces of collateral.

2. Collect your booth visitors' contact information in your lead retrieval device and add a note to email them your company's collateral after the show is over. This literature request will give your sales team a reason to email the contact a day or two after the show is over. They can also follow up by phone a couple of days after that to confirm the contact received the email and see if they would like to discuss your products further.
   It’s always easier to reach out to a prospect or lead with a reason for a call rather than blindly contacting them with nothing of substance to say.

CONTINUE YOUR TRADE SHOW PLANNING WITH RELATED CHECKLIST ITEMS.