Guide: How to Write and Create a Trade Show Invitation

Trade shows can be a powerful way to network with brands and businesses throughout your industry, to find new clients, new customers, new suppliers, and much more. But they can also be intensely challenging to run. Everything from attendee registration to the details of venues and membership can be difficult, and that's before you even get to the point of inviting people to attend.

When it's time to invite attendees, you need to have a compelling invitation. After all, the world is full of trade shows and events, and your show probably costs money to attend. So, why should someone attend your show over another or over doing something else with their time?

It all starts with your trade show invitation, so let's break down the core elements of the invitation and what you should include, as well as what mistakes you should avoid.

Note that all of this is primarily centered on businesses attending a trade show and inviting people to their booth, but most of it can also apply to the people running the trade show and inviting companies to run booths as well. The core concepts are the same, even if the basic details can be a little different along the way.

The Core Elements of the Trade Show Invitation

A good trade show invitation is made up of a few key elements, each of which needs to be present, optimized for your business purposes, and carefully written to avoid overstaying its welcome. Let's run through them from top to bottom.

Your subject line. This is specifically for formats such as email, where a subject line might be the only thing that an individual sees. If you're sending out something like a postcard (or merch, as we'll discuss later), you don't necessarily have the chance for a subject line. For email, a subject line should be quick, compelling, and easy to visualize opening.

• Come see us at [EVENT] next month!
• Will you see us at [EVENT] on the 15th?
• View our live demo for [New Product] at [EVENT] later this year!

To an extent, a subject line is also a filter. The people who have on interest in attending an event are going to easily ignore it, and the people who open it can dig deeper. It's not easy for you to tell the difference without email tracking, but with some customization in later parts of the invitation, it can be done.

Your salutation. This is simply the greeting at the top of your message. The key here is to make it as customized to the recipient as possible. If you have the name of the specific person you're inviting, use it. If you only have generic information for the attendee, it might be worth spending time looking into the specifics of the contact you're reaching just to add their name. Names are so important for making a personal connection that it's almost better to leave out the salutation entirely if you don't have the option to personalize it.

A rundown of the event details. You don't need to cram every single detail of the event into the invitation. But, you do need enough salient details that someone who is interested can know if they're able to attend or if there's a particular deal-breaker, such as bad scheduling, in the way. Information to include is, for example:

• The date of the event.
• The location of the event.
• Your booth number and location within the venue.
• The primary resource an interested attendee can use to get more information.

Other details can be included as necessary, and you can test which kinds of information prove to be the most useful by split-testing your emails and other invitation messaging.

A key compelling reason for the attendees to show up. It's one thing to state that you're attending an event, but is there a good reason for someone to go to that same event just to see you? Consider a compelling reason that hooks the person you're inviting. Note that this doesn't have to be solely focused on you! It can also be a reason why you're excited to attend, as well. Consider:

• A demo of a new product you're planning to release, so only attendees can see it in advance.
• A particular keynote speaker or another attendee whose presence is important to you.
• A new feature of an existing product you're rolling out.
• A special benefit an attendee can get from you for attending.

Some people will consider going to a trade show just because you're running a giveaway; others want to be on the cutting edge of the news in your industry, and still others might attend because of someone else entirely but will stop by your booth because you're there, too.

A registration link. This is both a simple detail and the magic spell that does all of the heavy lifting for you if you do it right. A simple registration link doesn't need to look like much, but it can carry a lot of weight with it. In particular, your link can do two things aside from just being a link.

• It can include a tracking code that tells you which specific people from which channels registered for the event.
• It can include tracking information that gives your potential attendee a discount on their registration fees, giving them an additional reason to sign up.

When you add this information to a basic link, you make it more valuable to sign up through you than through the event website or in another generic fashion. You can accomplish the same thing through other channels with a unique invitation code or other identifier.

Specific details of where to find you. Some people tend to leave out specific information about where to find you in the event, at least from initial invitations. Sometimes, you might not even know, especially if you're inviting people to the event before the full hall layout has been decided. But, if you know where you are going to be, putting simple information like the wing and booth number in ahead of time can be great to help people plan how to reach you.

Your company information. Details of your company information can be conveyed in what is essentially an email signature, but you don't want to necessarily relegate it solely to that signature. Some email systems, for example, don't include the signature by default, so it might get left out. You also might want to put it before the send-off so you have a final compelling line at the end of your invitation.

A hint of FOMO to sign off. Optional, but if you have something you can use as a P.S. message, it can be a potent way to capture a bit of final attention. FOMO, or the Fear of Missing Out, is an important way to capture those attendees who might delay until it's too late. Even something simple like "Act fast; spaces are limited!" can be enough here.

Mistakes to Avoid in a Trade Show Invitation

Now, let's talk about the biggest mistakes you might make in creating your trade show invitation and how you can avoid them.

Not answering the five Ws. The five Ws are the essential pieces of information every invitation should include in some form. You don't need to go into huge amounts of detail on each, but each one should have a sentence dedicated to it.

• Who: Who are you to be inviting someone to the event?
• What: What is the event, and what is its purpose?
• When: When is the event that the attendees will need to know about?
• Where: Where is the event located, and where are you located in the event?
• Why: Why should the person you're inviting attend the event?

You might notice, if you go back up and read the previous section, that each of these is covered somewhere in the essential elements of the invitation. That's fully intentional, and you need to make sure you get all five Ws down in your invitation if you want it to succeed.

Making your invitation too long. Event invitations don't need to be novels. In fact, a good event invitation can be less than half a dozen sentences long and can get across everything it needs to in less than a hundred words. We'll have a couple of templates later to show you what we mean.

Not personalizing your invitation to the recipient. One of the most important parts of an invitation is the ability to personalize it to your recipient. If you're inviting a small selection of important people by name, you can put a little more effort into customizing each invitation you send out. If you're sending a mass message to your mailing list, all you really need to do is use a [Name] wildcard from your mail system. Either way, you want something that can attract individual attention.

Not telling your audience what's in it for them. One of the core driving factors for every individual's decision-making process is "what's in it for me?" Whether you're trying to reach the movers and shakers of powerful business partnerships, or you're just trying to broaden your exposure by inviting journalists and influencers, you need to tell these people why attending your booth at an event, or attending your event in general, is a good idea. Whether it's free merch, insider access, a special one-on-one interview, or something else, you need to make it clear.

Leaving out the call to action. A surprisingly common mistake we see people make with event invitations is leaving out the actual invitation part. A link with no context doesn't do as much as a link with a dedicated call to action attached. Even something as simple as "click here to register" or "don't forget to sign up" can be a double-digit increase in conversion rates for these kinds of invitations. Otherwise, your invitation feels more informational and less urgent and actionable.

Trade Show Invitation Templates to Try

Here are a couple of sample templates you can customize to use as event invitations.

[NAME], swing by our booth at [EVENT], and you could win big!

 

Hi [NAME], did you know we're going to be at [EVENT] again this year? We're holding a giveaway, and anyone who visits can be entered to win [GRAND PRIZE] along with a variety of additional items. Just stop by [LOCATION] when the event happens, and the winner could be you! Don't forget to register!

Or

[NAME], will you be at [EVENT] this [DATE}?

 

[EVENT] is scheduled for [DATE], and we'll be there. You'll find it at [LOCATION] all day, every day.

 

This year, you can see [Benefit 1] and [Benefit 2] if you drop by, and our team will be standing by to answer all of your questions. We'd love to see you! Register here; if you register before [deadline], you get 15% off the ticket price!

These are just two extremely simple examples; you can see more here or in posts like this or this.

A Novel Twist on the Trade Show Invitation

One interesting option for invitations is to pick your highest value invitees and reach out to them, not digitally, but physically. By sending them a personalized invitation using ethically produced and customized merch, you can give them something more tangible – and valuable – than just a postcard or an easily forgotten email. A shirt with your logo can be memorable and accompany a personalized invitation, or even something as simple as pre-made event swag to hand out in advance can be a clever way to put the event and your brand in mind.

This option is more expensive than a simple email, but it's infinitely more compelling. Plus, when you make sure the swag you send is ethically made and unique, like the products we offer, you know it's both supporting a good cause and keeping in line with progressive business practices. We'd love to talk to you about your possibilities, so feel free to drop us a line!