Well, I realized I have exactly zero articles in the blog about trade show marketing.

Since trade show marketing is one of our specialties (specialities to our British friends), time to remedy.

First of all, why do trade shows (and conventions, association meetings and the like)?

There is no other venue where such a concentration of potential buyers can be found in one place at one time.

Of course, that does make some assumptions:

The first being that the nature of the trade show or meeting is such that the people who come to it ARE potential buyers.

So the first requirement of trade show marketing is that you have accurately isolated who your potential buyers are and found a show that attracts a high concentration of such.

Exhibiting at trade shows is expensive. It can be VERY expensive. So to not waste your money, ensure you are exposing your products or services to the right people.