Success at trade shows depends a lot on how much you know your target audience. Your whole preparation for the trade show starts with identifying who you want to reach at trade shows. You must accurately identify your audience and thoroughly understand their needs and preferences. The better you understand your audience, the more comprehensive will be your exhibition booth ideas. And, the key to understanding your audience lies in in-depth research and correct analysis of your customers.
In this blog, let us succinctly understand practical ways in which you can know your audience better at trade shows.
Establish Buyer’s Persona
The journey to understanding your customers starts with building a buyer’s persona. Buyer’s persona gives you a precise idea of who you should target at the trade show. Make the buyer’s persona as detailed as possible to know about the audience better. Start by analyzing your customer base and figure out what drives them toward your brand.
Segment your customer base based on certain parameters such as psychographics, thinking patterns, interests, demographics, and needs. Create different groups of customers to understand them at the micro level. You can further break down the categories based on gender, industry, age range, titles, buying patterns, etc.
Use Surveys
A few months before the event, conduct online surveys to measure your audience’s mood and financial strength. Collect responses on visitors’ overall outlook toward trade shows, the kind of products they like to see, and live events that please them. Ask questions to gauge the purchasing power of customers. Get their opinions on giveaways, exhibition booth design features, sales pitches, product demonstrations, etc. If you are investing in pre-show marketing, also ask them whether they have seen your ads or not.
Conduct Market Research
A buyer’s purchasing behavior is never definite. It keeps on changing based on new trends and societal changes. Therefore, to know your audience better at trade shows, it is important to research your market better. Find out if there are any new trends that are influencing your target audience. Keep an eye on any new emerging tools that are improving customer experience.
Research Past Trade Shows
If you want to perform well at trade shows, it is important to only attend events relevant to your industry and target audience. Make a list of top trade shows most suitable for your brand and target audience. Then, analyze past events to learn about the total number of attendees, exposure to media, and overall success stories. Especially, you must keep an eye on the following aspects-
- Overall attendance of your competitors.
- Total number of attendees in recent shows.
- Presence of quality target audience.
- Relevancy of your products at the event.
- Consistent themes seen at Trade Shows.
- Major industry players that the event attracts.
- Total cost of participation and estimate of expected returns.
This will help you recognize events that appeal to your brand needs and target audience the most. Participating in those events will vastly improve your chance of success. However, you do need the streamlined services of professional custom trade show booth design to stand out at such events and gain a competitive advantage.
Get an Idea About Your Competitors’ Customers
As an exhibitor, you can learn a lot about your target audience by analyzing your competitors’ customers. Study their buying behavior to find out what makes them choose your competitor over you. This will let you know the shortcomings in your product or services. Also, find out how your competitors are presenting at trade shows. What kind of booths do your competitors use? What are their promotional materials and go-to marketing channels?
Conclusion
As an exhibitor, you must focus your marketing efforts on your target audience to get a high ROI. However, to be able to attract decent traffic and convert them, you should have a clear understanding of what your target audience likes or doesn’t like. The blog deals with this aspect concisely and explores various ways you can know your target audience at trade shows. For affordable presentation, proceed with reliable services for trade show booth rental in Phoenix and other cities in the USA. Regardless of your target audience, it is important to present your brand well at trade shows using a fully-featured booth.
