4 Important Hurdles to Overcome in Trade Shows for Export Marketing

Trade shows have long been an effective way to market your products and services. There have been trade shows since medieval times, and even in today’s business environment there is still a place for trade shows where the marketing is face-to-face. Do it right, and you can boost your company’s profile significantly. For export marketing, participating in trade shows can gain you the info you need to gain a foothold in the market you’re entering.

Of course, you have to do it right. To do that, you need to be aware of these hurdles which you need to overcome.

1. How do you choose the right trade fairs to participate in?
There are always a lot of trade shows going on in the target market you’re trying to enter, and obviously you can’t participate in each one. So this begs the question: which trade shows do you participate in?

Of course, you will have your own standards to consider. But in general, you should think about trade shows that are relevant to your business and industry, and which can expose your company to a lot of potential partners and customers. You should do research on the level of participation and interest a trade show attracts before you decide to participate. One very common rule is that if your competitors are participating in a particular trade fair, you need to be there too.

2. What are your goals?
You need to set particular goals for your participation.
Do you want to meet new contacts?
You can then count the number of important people you met in the trade shows afterwards.

Do you want to know how much interest there is in your products?
You can then tally the people who stayed and watched your demonstrations, and you can even check the number of inquiries or sales you generated, as some trade shows allow you to sell your products.

3. How much should you spend?
The important thing you must consider here is cost-effectiveness—gaining the maximum benefits with the minimum expenses. You really need to know how much it will cost you to participate in the trade show, so that you can know the eventual price tag of the benefits you get for your company.

4. How good are you at logistics?
It’s hard enough to set up the logistics so that you can bring your people and products to a certain trade show in your own country. Doing this in another country can be much more challenging. You have to make sure that everything goes smoothly, and that may mean availing of some local assistance for the first few trade shows you participate in.

Overcome these 4 potential obstacles, and you can go a long way into making sure your participation in the trade show is a success.

Source:
exportmarketing.net Editor

Export Marketing – exportmarketing.hk