Marketing 101: Tips from a First-Time Conference Exhibitor

By Roger Magnus

As business owners, we frequently strive to put ourselves in our clients’ shoes. This is a good thing because we learn more about how we are perceived. The process of self-discovery can help us come up with new and innovative solutions for our clients.

Recently, I set up a vendor table at a conference for the first time – at a local Nonprofit Resource Fair. Here are a few things I learned about the process; I hope these observations will be valuable if you decide to market your services at a conference:

• Don’t wing it. Prepare, prepare, prepare:

• Create a large sign for the table that states what you are about.
  • Create business cards or a one-page flyer to hand out.Have a giveaway – I brought pens with my business name on them.Update your website with relevant customized material for your event attendees.Dress well for the occasion.Arrive early so you have time to set up and work out any problems before the start of the event. 
  • Be ready to show what you can do in real time. I brought my computer in case anyone wanted to see what a sample search in a database could do for them.

• Understand that the experience is not a sale but an exchange:

• Don’t fret that every interaction must go well. Relaxing in this way will cut down on nervousness. People who approach your table want you to be confident, not apprehensive.
  • Listen first, talk later. Smile and make good eye contact. In my experience, taking an interest in those who visit your table often leads them to reciprocate. After all, they visited your table, so they may already have some interest in what you offer. Ask questions to learn about their organization and about what they do and what they wish they could do. This increases the likelihood they might become clients at some point.
  • Then, briefly explain what you do and how you can solve the visitors’ problems. You can tailor your explanation better if you listen first.

• Don’t get defensive if visitors ask tough questions. If you don’t have a ready answer to a question, smile and offer to follow up with more information soon.

• Afterwards, go through materials you received from visitors to your table and note anything significant. Follow up when you can – it can be later if your schedule doesn’t let you do it immediately.

The next time you attend a conference and visit a vendor table (maybe it will be the AIIP Annual Conference in April 2023 in Milwaukee), I hope you will get some new perspectives and appreciation for what it is like on the vendor’s side of that table, as I did. Patience, enthusiasm, and persistence are important while relationships are formed and seeds are planted. Eventually, when you host your own vendor table at a meeting, your visitors may turn into paying clients.

Roger Magnus is the owner of Roger Magnus Research based in Amherst, Massachusetts. As a nonprofit prospect researcher, he specializes in donor and foundation research that helps nonprofits increase funding.