Promoting Your Business at a Conference

You probably have already heard about promoting your businesses at conferences and trade shows by purchasing advertising and exhibit hall space, but how can you promote yourself if you are merely attending the conference and you don't want to spend the extra money for exhibit space? Here are a few ideas:

1. Pass out your business cards! As you go from booth to booth in the exhibit hall, introduce yourself and hand out your card. Tell the person you are talking to who you are and what you do. Look for opportunities to develop mutually beneficial partnerships between your business and theirs. If you attend a workshop or seminar, introduce yourself to the people sitting around you. Give them your card.

2. Put your website on your name badge. If the conference promoters won't pre-print it for you, hand write your URL on your badge.

3. Take pictures and tell people you'll be publishing them on your website. Get their names and their permission., and give them your card so they can find your site to see their pictures.

4. Be prepared to talk about your business with others at the conference. Some people go to conferences as if they are on vacation. They are not prepared for conversations about business. Always remember that, as a self-employed business person, you are never "not working." You need to always be prepared to discuss and promote your business.

Be open to opportunity!

My Marketing Plans for This Week

I promised I would give you some day-to-day information about my own business experiences, so here's your first.

I have three marketing plans this week. First, I ordered some "sizzle cards" last week and I they should arrive on Monday or Tuesday. These are small cards (a bit larger than a business card) in bright yellow that have a simple purpose - to direct people to call my 800 number (1-800-884-0310) to learn about a business opportunity. Very simple. I'll be passing some out this week and hiring some folks to distribute them around town and at a local university.

Second, I will be finalizing my ad for our local Consumer's Guide tomorrow. It will appear in the April issue and will be delivered to 50,000 homes.

Finally, I will be working diligently on my SBI site. My goal is to add one page of content per day this week. My website ios already getting terrific results, so I really want to keep it going. You can get the same great results, too. You owe it to yourself to look into it.

Marketing Happens Everywhere

I had the most interesting experience yesterday. I was meeting with a marketing consultant about getting some ads developed and placed in our local Consumner's Guide (a direct mail mini-magazine full of ads sent to all homes within a particular postal market). It was a great conversation. I got information about pricing and ad placement. We developed my ad and discussed the potential of future ads. Then the magic happened.

Through this whole process, we were talking about my business, my target audience, how it links to a secondary business I operate. The consultant started asking me questions about my business after we were finished with our ad work. I answered his questions, and asked a few of my own. Somewhere in the middle of the coversation it became clear that a conversion was taking place, and I was ready.

The end result? I think I picked up a new customer! I'll know for sure within a day or so.

Wow! Marketing really happens everywhere!