While frequently true, this comment doesn't apply to trade shows. You must alert your prospective customers about your attendance, and encourage them to visit your booth, for the effort to pay off. Most visitors to a show, according to Patrick Burgess, marketing analyst at the Trade Show Bureau, come knowing who and what they want to see. If not on their list, only by chance will they notice you. That's why pre-show marketing is vital.
Direct mail is the most common pre-show marketing tool.
Price recommends sending a letter to customers and prospects two months prior to the show. Jaderholm sends his one month beforehand, announcing his attendance at the show, his booth location and what he'll be exhibiting. Norda Technologies' Hughes puts a public relations campaign in motion prior to a trade show by calling up editors of industry publications and mailing press releases. Consider calling your more important customers and prospects to personally invite them to the show, and try to set up appointments with them during the event itself. Some companies place ads in trade magazines announcing both their attendance and booth number.