Branding and Marketing

Posted by Chris Brown on August 13th, 2008 in Marketing, tactics

The last two weeks of August bring trade show season right into the forefront.  If you haven’t dusted off your booth in a while, now is the time to start planning.  Don’t want to wait until a month before the event to discover that whoever packed the booth last time forgot to repack a crucial piece of equipment! 

I like to know what trade shows are coming up, because we help our clients with their booths, hand-outs, give aways and the pre/post direct mail.  Probably most importantly we help clients decide which shows they should attend to reach their customers.  Here are some handy links if you are planning the trade shows for your company:

Trade Show News Network: TSNN.com is a powerful international trade show gateway. They’ve spent years compiling a global, qualified and up-to-date trade show database, including attendees, suppliers, vendors and exhibitors, outside North America. The Trade Show News Network (TSNN) owns and operates the most widely consulted event database on the Internet, containing data on more than 15,000 trade shows, exhibitions, public events and conferences. It also offers over 360,000 seminars through a strategic partnership.  It’s a nice resource when you’re aren’t sure which trade show you should go to or when or where the annual trade shows for a certain industry are held.

Trade Show Week:  A Showfloor With Style and Flavor written by Rachel Wimberly, who is associate editor of Tradeshow Week.  She talks about the problems of getting attendees of an association meeting to actually visit the exhibits and how one show did it right!  Check out their searchable directory of Trade Shows here.

Interested in Chicago Trade Show Displays? Here are the upcoming shows happening in the next few weeks in Chicago:

• Beauty & Hair Care International Hair & Nail Show Aug, 2008
• Publishing Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication Annual Convention Aug 06 - Aug 09, 2008
• Apparel STYLEMAX - Holiday/Resort/Spring Preview Aug 09 - Aug 12, 2008 and Chicago Men’s Wear Collective Aug 10 - Aug 12, 2008
• Hardware Orgill Fall Dealer Market Aug 14 - Aug 16, 2008 United States Chicago
• Banking Defense Credit Union Council Conference & Exhibition Aug 17 - Aug 20, 2008 and Foreword Financial Expo Sept, 2008
• Manufacturing International Manufacturing Technology Show Sep 03 - Sep 10, 2008 and Sep 08 - Sep 13, 2008
• Medical & Health Care American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association National Assembly Sep 10 - Sep 13, 2008
• Transportation BusCon Sep 15 - Sep 17, 2008
• Furnishings & Interior Design International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market Sep 15 - Sep 18, 2008
• Gifts The Chicago Market: Living and Giving Fall Sep 15 - Sep 17, 2008

 How do you decide which shows you will attend?  Do you go because you feel your customers will miss you if you don’t?  Or do you go because you’re afraid the competitors will say bad things about you to your customers if you don’t go?