Home furnishings trade show marketing can land you lots of new customers. Trade shows are a great source of revenue for businesses in this industry, from those who sell decor to manufacturers promoting design software. Since these events can be very expensive to participate in, you should fine-tune your home furnishings trade shows advertising to make the most of the event.

To maximize your sales and leads at the show, you'll have to set up a great exhibit that will attract potential customers. You'll also need plenty of home furnishings trade show marketing materials to give out. Lastly, you have to follow up on leads. Here are a few tips for increasing your sales from the home furnishings trade show traffic you get:

1. Create a great exhibit with home furnishings tradeshows advertising materials. This includes large displays as well as flyers and handouts.

2. Stock up on home furnishings trade show giveaways. Get your logo printed on these items and hand them out to everyone who passes your booth.

3. Follow up on the leads you get. Turn your attendees into customers using your post-home furnishings trade show sales skills.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find tradeshows and attract potential customers with home furnishings tradeshows advertising

At a trade show, your advertising concept should be twofold. First, you'll want to attract customers to your exhibit, then you'll want to sell them your product or service. So you'll need large-format banners and displays as well as smaller brochures and flyers to give to attendees once they get to your booth.

I recommend: Keep track of home furnishings tradeshows at tsnn.com or MySpaceDesigners.com. When you attend a show, announce your presence with the versatile displays offered at FastSigns. Have custom brochures printed up at VistaPrint and put them in the display stands available from Azar Displays.

Make attendees remember you with home furnishings tradeshow promotions

Potential customers will see literally hundreds of vendors while they're attending the trade show. To help them remember your company, give out customized promotional products with your logo on them. You can give out small items to every attendee who comes to your exhibit and you can also do a raffle to give away larger items.

I recommend: Whether you're attending the World Market Center or High Point Market, you need to be memorable. Motivators has a great selection of customizable giveaways, like magnets, jar openers, tape measures and "chip clips." Branders.com offers candles you can put your logo on.

Ensure that you do a home furnishings tradeshow follow-up

After the show, you've got to follow up on the leads you gained. You can do this with sales calls, postcards or even sending out a newsletter via email. If you have a website, expect to get lots of hits following the show. It's wise to set up some kind of online order form so you can streamline any orders you receive from trade show attendees.

I recommend: Browse through the home decorating industry postcards at Postcard Mania. You can also find postcard templates at PostcardBuilder. Keep your prospects informed about upcoming home furnishings tradeshows in their area, such as the American Consumer Shows series.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you have regular clients who expect to see you at trade shows, you might want to send out home furnishings tradeshow marketing mail before the event. You can use any type of direct mail or email to let your clients know that you'll be attending a specific event.