Non-profit trade show marketing can land you lots of new customers. Trade shows are a great source of revenue for businesses in the non-profit sector, from those who sell fundraising supplies to manufacturers promoting grant writing software. Since these events can be very expensive to participate in, you've got to fine-tune your non-profit trade shows advertising to make the most of the experience.

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

1. Create a great exhibit with non-profit tradeshows advertising materials. This includes large displays as well as flyers and handouts.

2. Stock up on non-profit 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 donors using your post-non-profit trade show sales skills.

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

Attract potential customers with non-profit 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 to attract attention as well as smaller brochures and flyers to give out to attendees.

I recommend: Prime the pump by advertising beforehand in The NonProfit Times or The Nonprofit Quarterly or another site or magazine that's popular in your industry. Announce your presence with the overhead displays at Impact Displays. Have custom brochures printed up at VistaPrint and put them in the display stands available from Allen Display.

Find shows and make attendees remember you with non-profit tradeshow promotions

Potential customers will see literally hundreds of vendors while they're attending the trade show. To help them remember your organization, 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 hold a raffle to give away larger items.

I recommend: Plan your tradeshow calendar with the help of tsnn.com. Find promotional products geared toward non-profits at Motivators or ePromos.com. Also check out the fun products at PromoPeddler.com.

Ensure that you do non-profit tradeshow follow-up marketing

After the show, you've got to follow up on the leads you gained. You can do this with sales calls, but it's less expensive, and less intrusive for the customer, to send out postcards. These serve as no-pressure reminders of your organization.

I recommend: Have postcards printed and mailed using the services at Cheep Cheep Postcards; you can also find several generic backgrounds for custom cards at PostcardBuilder. If you want more extensive marketing help, contact Affiliated Media Group or SERVE, two specialists in non-profit marketing.

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 non-profit 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.