Camping Trade World – Issue 08

BECOME A BETTER BUSINESS EXHIBITION EXPERIENCE
© Landemesse stuttgart
SHOWS NOT TO MISS IN
THE CAMPING INDUSTRY:
CMT (Germany)
ISPO (Germany)
Outdoor Retailer Snow (USA)
Caravan, Camping and
Motorhome Show (UK)
Camping & Picnic Fair
(South Korea)
All in Caravaning (China)
Outdoor Retailer Show (UK)
▲ Exhibitions can easily pass you by without proper planning and measurable goals.
Outdoor Retailer Summer
(USA)
in, then unless you are hugely
confident it’s right, then put
down that booking form. The best
thing to do is attend a show as a
visitor first to get a feel for it. See
who exhibits, see who the typical
visitors are, maybe even use it as a
chance to talk to the organisers in
person before you take the leap.
Exhibitions can be expensive,
that is almost inevitable. But try
to think about it a longer term
view. You could set up a deal that
six months down the line pays for
the show ten times over. A show
is the definition of speculating
in order to accumulate. There
are also always ways in which
you could try to bring the costs
down when it comes to travel and
accommodation too.
Once you’ve settled on the
show you want to exhibit at,
you then need to set clear goals
that you want to achieve. Ideally
those goals will be tied to your
wider goals as a company which
helped you select this show in
the first place. Try to set some
quantifiable goals that have some
means of measuring whether
you’ve been successful or not. If
it’s not possible to be tangible
with your results, then set some
aspects of the score that you and
your team score your performance
on. Having a structured plan
is absolutely key to enjoying
a successful show. There’s a
temptation to get bogged down
in the logistics or to put things off
until closer to the time, but those
who prepare well will get the
most from an exhibition.
Having said that, some of the
best things to come out of shows
are those chance encounters that
simply wouldn’t have happened
without them. You never know
who you might bump into and
what you might chat about. The
next person on the stand could
be an influencer who could
help elevate your marketing
to a higher level, or maybe a
distributor who could open up
an entire territory. Even with a
firm plan in place for what you
want to achieve at an event, it
really pays to be flexible and
allow some time to freestyle. If
it’s a trade show, try not to spend
your entire day in arranged
meetings. While these face-toface
encounters are important, so
is having a chance to let random
things happen.
At the end of the day,
exhibitions tap into the most
basic human instincts. We are
social creatures, and having the
opportunity to network, to meet
and greet, and to talk face-toface
with other human beings
can sometimes create stronger
bonds than any other type of
marketing ever could. Long live
the exhibition.
Caravan Salon (Germany)
Elmia (Sweden)
Caravanmesen (Norway)
Salon VDL (France)
Salone del Camper (Italy)
The Glamping Show (UK)
Kampeer en Caravan
Jaarbeurs (Netherlands)
Mobicar (Belgium)
Motorhome and Caravan
Show (UK)
Caravan Salon (Austria)
Salon Caravaning (Spain)
www.campingtradeworld.com | 55