Marketing managers are turning to increasingly innovative ways to showcase their products, from exhibitions to factory tours and experience days.

You only get one chance to make a first impression, so whether you are showcasing your products at your premises, a local event, country fair or major exhibition, some careful thought about organisation and the image you want to present will pay dividends.

You need your offering to be welcoming and attractive to potential customers, a mistake many first time small exhibitors make is to pile too much together, cluttering the stand and making it difficult for customers to see and handle the merchandise. Signage really matters and while hand written signs can be charming and appropriate for some products such as handmade confectionary or garden products, even here keep the sizes and styles consistent, coloured card or slate or metal labels can be fun and quirky.

However, if you are mounting a professional stand at a show or exhibition then the quality and style of your display materials are vitally important. This is your company’s showcase, and it needs to represent what is best about your business. The services of a professional event or exhibition company could pay dividends at this planning stage, will ensure that you get the maximum return on effort and expenditure and may not be as expensive as you might think. They will advise on signage, stand furniture and other display materials, and if you wish, set up the whole stand and take it down again when the event is over.

What type of exhibition would be best for you? Do your research. Exhibitions come in all shapes and sizes but the two main types are consumer shows and trade fairs. There are events for every sector and profession, and for many small businesses these are crucial events in their marketing strategy as they enable you to meet the people that matter to your business in one place, including existing customers, new prospects, suppliers, advisers, investors and key figures in your industry.

It is an ideal form of marketing because at an exhibition customers arrive prepared to give their time and attention and are often ready to buy. That face to face interaction with customers gives you opportunities to not only present your products and services, but gives you an opening to find out more about your customers and their requirements.

Trade shows attract qualified visitors and the majority often have buying responsibility. Indeed, trade fairs attract those people who can be elusive at other times. Many arrive with credit card in hand and will have done their homework beforehand.

Consumer shows can be a great launch pad for a new business or product and also offer the chance to do live demonstrations in front of a large audience. As well as making sales, exhibitions can be used to forge new relationships, strengthen existing alliances, build databases, generate positive PR, conduct market research, recruit new staff and build your brand.

Exhibitions and events also offer you the chance to keep up with industry developments. They can give you a snapshot of what's new and you may get access to the movers and shakers. What's more, they are a good opportunity to keep an eye on the competition.

Another way that many large organisations are choosing to get close to their customers is through factory tours. The day of the factory tour where one picked one’s way around oil smeared machinery unable to hear a word of the tour guide’s explanation due to machine noise is long gone. These days factory tours are a very smooth operation indeed, just think of Cadbury World. A number of companies are recognising the potential of building direct relationships with their customers and many big names are bringing their customers in to see how their products are actually made, including among others Jaguar Landrover and Bristol Blue Glass.

The experience is usually enhanced by some hands on contact, pouring some chocolate, blowing your own glass bauble, or thrill of thrills driving a high performance vehicle over challenging conditions, promoting products through experience, a whole new value added take on consumer marketing!

The message here is that there are many ways of “setting out your stall” or showcasing your products and even in these days of increasingly sophisticated digital and on line marketing, hands on contact is hard to beat. Telling someone about your products is one thing, showing is better, but letting customers actually experience them is far more valuable.