How can businesses benefit from exhibitions?

Exhibitions and trade shows are a fantastic way for businesses to connect with prospective customers, and also to maximise awareness of their business's brand, product, and services in the market.

They also provide an excellent opportunity for business owners to increase their brand visibility by displaying their products, explaining their service offerings to potential future customers, and handing out brand merchandise items to the public attending the trade show or fair.

Importantly, brand merchandise given out at exhibitions can play a significant role in ensuring that a business remains memorable in people's minds - even long after they return home from the show.

When promoting your business from a booth or stall at a trade show or exhibition, the first rule of thumb is, of course, to attract the attention of potential future customers.

Visual cues that make your booth stand out from the crowd are recommended. Try brightly coloured banners or signs which prominently display your brand logo.

Secondly, you must focus on being approachable. At a trade show, you are quite literally appearing as the face of your business, and you should always aim to give a positive impression to prospective customers.

Greet incoming inquiries with a smile and eye contact, and avoid being too pushy or overbearing with customers.

Product knowledge also goes a long way, so make sure that you and your exhibition staff are well versed in your business offerings.

Of course, another great way to raise brand awareness and build a connection with potential future customers is by handing out complimentary brand merchandise.

Everyone loves a freebie. And the complimentary brand merchandise items that businesses hand out at exhibitions and trade shows can go a long way in ensuring that their brand stays top of mind for customers.

It is also a really good way to stand out from the competition as a business product or service provider of choice - particularly if business owners are smart in selecting the type of merchandise on which their branding is printed and displayed.

Business owners can also have customised lanyards printed to prominently display their branding.

Customised lanyards are a relatively easy, cost-efficient way to increase your business's brand visibility, and are also an effective and memorable way to display your branding.

Often brightly coloured, with the business brand clearly yet unobtrusively displayed, printed lanyards are particularly appropriate gifts for corporate customers, as they can be put to good use by office workers who commonly wear staff ID cards around the neck.

As such, much like branded clothing, customised lanyards can serve as a walking advertisement of sorts, as they are both easy to wear, and easily visible.

One of the most successful ways to increase awareness of your business's brand mission, message, and promise is to hand out branded flyers at an exhibition.

Importantly, branded flyers can be printed with a relatively large amount of text which, if used to its peak potential, can outline the most important elements business owners wish to highlight to prospective customers.

Concise, punchy text is recommended here - for example, it is advisable to include written copy that gets straight to the point, concisely outlining your product and service offerings and explaining your business's unique selling points, as well as clarifying why your business is the provider of choice in the market.

Flyer text can also be accompanied by colourful images or photos of your product and service, ensuring that your business stays memorable to prospective customers.

Some of the most common, and most popular, merchandise items to have branded include clothing items. This is because branded clothing is quite literally a walking advertisement, displayed prominently on the wearer's clothes.

Popular branded clothing items can include tee shirts, jumpers, or even baseball caps or hats of various descriptions. Branded clothes are also a relatively cost-effective way to advertise your brand, especially when compared with other advertising mediums.

Outdoor media, such as billboards and signs, can be very expensive, for example, and branded clothing can often prove just as effective in increasing brand visibility and awareness.