Exhibiting at tradeshows involves a lot of time and money. From the upfront costs of renting the exhibit space, to travel expenses, not to mention staff time working the event -- choosing to exhibit at a tradeshow may be one of the costlier line items in a marketing budget.[Tweet "How do you know if you are getting the most out of tradeshow investments? #GovEventsBlog"]

How do you know if your investment was worth it? How do you measure and then ensure ROI? Here are a couple of tips for making the blood, sweat, tears, and dollars all worth it.

• Know your audience. Presumably you've done your research on show attendees before committing to attending, but when planning metrics and ROI measurement take another look at the attendee profile. Do they have direct buying power or are they the influencers? If they don't have direct buying power, setting a metric around closing new sales within a month of the conference will likely be unsuccessful. If your audience is influencers, look instead to measure success by follow-up meetings or increased engagement with your brand online.
• Be clear, stay focused. Make sure everyone staffing your booth knows who your target audience is at the show.[Tweet "Make sure everyone staffing tradeshow booth knows who target audience is. #GovEventsBlog"] Focus efforts and time on qualified leads and set clear expectations for follow-up. You may collect 200 names at the show but if no one is tasked and incentivized to follow-up, those leads will just be names on a list. You can even make it easy to start the follow-up at the show.[Tweet "Make it easy to start the follow-up at the tradeshow. #GovEventsBlog"] At a recent networking event we had a goal of setting a minimum of 15 post-show appointments. We designed a promotion where any attendee that scheduled a phone appointment with us to discuss their marketing needs for 2016 was entered into a drawing to win their choice of a $350 Visa gift card or an Apple iWatch Sport. We had a printed calendar on the table with available times for meetings so we could easily write in their info on the day/time that they chose for quick follow-up and action.
• Create a theme. If you are taking the time to create and print new materials and design a booth or signage, make sure there is a unifying theme within all of these materials. This theme should, of course, tie into your brand but also reflect the theme of the show you are attending. This will help make your booth more relevant to attendees and will provide a focus in message for your staff.
• Get to know your sales rep. Stay in touch with your sales rep after you sign the contract. Make sure you understand all of the benefits of your sponsorship or space buy and make sure you are using them to their fullest. As the show gets closer, check in to see if there are any other additional opportunities to promote your brand. They may be running deals on additional sponsor activities as the show gets closer, making additional exposure at the show more affordable.
• Be Picky. Choose your booth staff carefully. At too many shows we see staff on their phones who barely look up when someone comes by their booth. Find the people that will be able and willing to carry your message and will respond to the overall goals of the event. Make sure they are qualified to talk to all sorts of potential customers on a variety of topics. Arm them with key messages as well as incentives for bringing in qualified leads.
• Get creative. Creativity does not just apply to your theme, it can apply to how you measure success. Leads and sales are obvious metrics, but don't stop there. If your company has a social media presence or a blog, use the show to drive more followers. Set a goal around the number of new followers gained from a show. Make your social properties prominent in materials and find ways to encourage people to start following your company. Collect details on the social properties of attendees and prospects and begin following them. This interaction on social will give you touch points with these leads long after the show doors have closed.

We'd love to hear from you. How do you ensure you are getting the most out of your tradeshow investments? Let us know in the comments. If you have not decided what shows might work for you, spend some time searching the listings at GovEvents.