International Marketing Practices

products and services, generate sales, find new customers and maintain existing ones, identify products for import or export, and evaluate the competition [23]. Trade shows are essential to reaching a foreign consumer base, allowing businesses to foster relationships with potential customers in new or existing markets. However, attendance at trade shows can be quite expensive, with direct costs, “hidden” costs (associated with planning and setup), and opportunity costs (associated with staff not working in their normal role) typically totaling $10,000 or more. Therefore, to make trade shows worthwhile, companies must plan carefully. This section includes a few recommendations for successful participation. Set goals. The foundation for trade show success is establishing goals that can help an exporting company make professional connections and increase sales [87]. Goals must be specific, measurable, and have a time frame. Common objectives for trade show participation are to promote and increase awareness of a company and its products, enter new markets, achieve sales leads or generate orders from new and existing customers, gather market intelligence, and introduce and demonstrate new products [88]. To effectively evaluate the results, goals must (1) be measurable, for example, reaching 20% of target audience attending a show; (2) have an established time frame, for example, generating a certain number of leads per hour; and (3) estimate a desired return on investment (ROI) for trade show participation (see box at the end of this section). Identify the right trade show and audience. Prior to attending any show, make sure that the right audience has been identified, and that it is aligned with the industry and products for export [87]. It can be beneficial to contact firms that exhibited at past versions of a specific show to inquire about the receptivity and business they received at such event [87]. A list of trade shows related to wood products can be found in Appendix D. Look for funding. As mentioned before, trade show participation costs can be quite high; however, there is help available at the federal and state level. The Small Business Association’s State Trade Expansion Program (STEP), for example, provides grants to states so they can, in turn, offer aid to small business to develop their export operations. To find assistance available in your state, visit https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/find/. In addition, consider participating in a trade show as part of a national pavilion, which facilitates arrangements and may reduce costs. The USDA Foreign Agriculture Service also supports efforts for inbound and outbound trade missions where you could visit trade shows, visit with foreign buyers, or have them visit your shop. Find the right location for your booth. Booth location is vital to trade show success. If given the opportunity to choose, the ideal location for a booth is near the middle of the room with heightened foot traffic. Avoid being near bathrooms, food courts, directly in front of the entrance, and out of the line of view [89].

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