Trade shows can serve as an anchor for your marketing efforts when they’re positioned as key moments within your yearlong plans. In just a few days your brand can gain valuable leads and increase awareness, forming a foundation for the rest of your year. How can you make the most of a trade show and extend your presence there into your future marketing plans?

Partnering with an advertising agency can help you leverage the full potential of your brand by taking an integrated approach to your trade show presence before, during and after the show. It takes a village—and strategic thinking beyond the booth. With an ad agency on your side, you’re on your way to trade show success. Here’s how we approach it.

Behind the Scenes

 When you partner with an ad agency you’ve got an army of strategic thinkers, creatives, and user experience experts ready to dream big about how your brand could come to life in a meaningful way. This high-level thinking provides the foundation for success at a trade show.

For example, the LP Building Solutions presence at the International Builders’ Show represents one of our most unique trade show experiences to date. We challenged ourselves—and our client partners—to expand the experience beyond the actual footprint of the booth and create a trade show strategy that couldn’t be ignored. From there we concepted, designed, wrote and executed a 7D experience that guided visitors through LP’s product portfolio. In a sea of companies at IBS, LP stood out with an impactful approach that effectively communicated the value of their products.

Beyond planning and executing the booth design itself, an integrated approach means that your agency partners work hard before the show to ensure the word gets out about your brand. We’ve got a few tactics up our sleeves:

• Advertising: We target potential visitors to your booth and tease its content so they can’t miss it when they get to the show.
• One-on-one appointments: We work closely with reporters and editors to snag time for you to talk about your brand. For example, we snagged an interview for LP® SmartSide® Trim & Siding on a radio show.
• Product launches: We plan events, issue teaser press releases, and schedule interviews to generate buzz.
• Training: We provide coaching on being a spokesperson for your brand, talking points, and insight into the media landscape.
• Speaking engagements: Because attendees come to the show looking for the latest industry knowledge, we work with show planning committees to get our clients’ subject matter experts on stage.

In the Moment

When the doors open and trade show visitors pour in, your integrated approach comes to life. With an agency on board your role at the trade show becomes more focused, and we fill in the gaps as your anchor throughout the show.

Because of the role your agency takes on, you can dial in on making connections with visitors and establishing sales leads. Start those conversations and show off your product—you’re the expert and your voice is key when it comes to communicating your brand! We’re all about giving you the bandwidth to be at your best.

While you’re singing your brand’s praises, your agency partners will be doing the important work of taking in the bigger picture of your industry. Here’s what we’ll be up to:

• Walking the floor: We observe your competitors, interpret trends, and look at the industry at a high level. We’ll ensure others walking the floor take notice of your booth, too.
• Making adjustments: There are always last-minute adjustments, and we’re on hand to handle it all—from new signage to promote a speaker and color adjustments in videos to addressing malfunctioning equipment on the show floor.
• Managing media traffic: We loop you into the most important outlets we come across at the show in addition to the media opportunities we’ve already arranged.
• Promoting with influencers: We partner with you to identify influencers who can be on hand to promote your booth, tying your brand to a third party endorsement.

After the Dust Settles

After the show ends, the booth’s taken down and everyone’s back in the office, our partnership for trade show strategy doesn’t end—it’s just getting started.

• Putting data to work: We can use the data we gathered from the show to get to know your audience and inform future work.
• Pursuing leads: With intentional planning, we can help you connect your leads with your brand beyond their experience at the show.
• Media follow-up: We take advantage of being top-of-mind after the show to follow up on opportunities we uncovered.
• Reporting: We create full comprehensive coverage reports post-show so you have a complete view of your brand’s presence at the show.

Ultimately, we’re here to help you stretch what you’ve invested because your trade show presence is most successful when it continues beyond the last day of the show.

Let’s Make an Impact

The LP Building Solutions 7D experience wasn’t a gimmick—it was a strategy for trade show success. Alongside other features of the booth, it made an impact for the brand. At IBS, LP generated over 485 leads, increased booth traffic by 195% year over year, connected with 17 media outlets, and garnered almost 2.28 million earned impressions.

When you partner with an ad agency, we’ll go beyond producing your average trade show booth. We’ll take chances, push the envelope, and work to ensure your brand’s message comes across powerfully—before, during, and after the show.