Thinking of expanding your business reach and attending a conference or trade show? Often, the hardest decision to be made is deciding which events to allocate your resources to. And, with so many options, this decision can prove overwhelming. In this article, we’re going to give some tips for how to pick the right events for your small business to attend.
How to Pick the Right Events for Your Small Business
What is Your “Why?”
Before you book flights or buy tickets it pays to do some critical thinking. What are you hoping to achieve from attending events? Why is it important for your business to attend? Start by listing your goals and assessing which trade show or event will help you to achieve the most of them.
Identify Your Options
Trade shows and events typically come in two flavours – consumer trade shows or industry trade shows. Which type of event is right for your business? If you mostly operate as a B2B (business to business) company, an industry trade show will deliver the leads you need to grow your business.
Is the Timing Right?
By this stage, you have likely drawn up a shortlist of potential events to attend. Make sure to see if there are other events in the same city around the same time. If there are, it could affect the price of flight tickets and hotel accommodation. The time of year of the potential event should also enter your thinking. Does it align with your customer’s buying patterns?
Prepare Your Booth
You only get one opportunity to make a first impression. Make sure you do it well! A professional booth with lots of relevant collateral is the way to achieve this goal. Our partners at Vistaprint offer a fully customizable range of flags, banners and boothing materials that will take your presentation to next level.
Don’t Forget Your Business Cards
While we have all become accustomed to connecting through LinkedIn, good old-fashioned business cards remain just as important as ever. Make sure the business cards you bring to events leave a lasting impression and speak to your brand. After all, they offer a physical representation of you, your brand, and who you are creatively.
Here to Help
No matter what stage of business, or what problem you face, Small Business BC offers a range of seminars and one-on-one advisory sessions to suit any business.