1) The web is a powerful research tool for competitive analysis on the front end of tradeshow marketing; identify some of your competitors attending the tradeshow and use a tool like Aaron Wall’s toolbar to understand where/how they are advertising or Spy4U.com for PPC advertising. Also look at competitors’ back links, open hires, PR, etc. – you can glean valuable insight from reviewing back links as an example.

2) For social media driven Tradeshow Marketing Twitter is a great Marketing Research, Broadcast and Engagement Tool. Use the Hashtag associated with the Trade Show to follow people Tweeting about it via your Account. Use Twitter’s Search with Keywords being used by people talking about the tradeshow and Follow them; identify Competitors attending the show and Follow their Followers and Lists.

3) Talk about your show attendance fore high impact Tradeshow Marketing across all  Social Media Platforms including Blog Posts, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc - water drip some kind of “contest” or “call to action” in your Social Commenting across these platforms to build buzz and drive registration.

4) Maybe the best Tradeshow Marketing is don’t go to the Trade Show! Rent a suite in a nearby hotel and use the money you would have spent on the Trade Show to advertise your Suite.

5) Chocolate is one of the greatest guerrilla marketing tradeshow marketing giveaways - everybody likes it, can be low cost but attractive. Bonus, also keeps your show booth team energized. Popcorn machines with bags that utilize your logo also work great.

6) Feature your Tradeshow attendance via a Banner Ad on your site and mention your call to action about the show in your Newsletter.

7) Utilize front end advertising on Targeted Blogs with Bloggers who are in this market segment.

8) Utilize Pay Per Click advertising for the Tradeshow with keywords that are specific to the Tradeshow and/or industry - look at your long tail keywords via your Google Analytics; might be some low cost high value keywords in this mix to use for PPC.

9) Look at GEO Targeting Advertising via Foursquare at restaurants, bars and/or other locations during the Tradeshow and you might also look at Mobile Marketing that is also GEO Targeted.

10) Rent a smaller tradeshow booth than you think you’ll need – this may seem counter intuitive but not really. If your booth is well attended a smaller booth will look like you are very busy and this will draw more people to your booth – everyone wants to work with a hot company. Perception trumps reality to a certain extent.

11) Use EventBrite’s free service to list your Tradeshow attendance, add keywords to your listing description so it will show up via their site and once your listing is “live” utilize EventBrite’s free social bookmarking to push it out across the social web, including LinkedIn Groups, which will save you a great deal of time.

Our take on high impact Tradeshow Marketing - please contact us if we can provide any Social Media Marketing or Online Advertising services.