Smile and Applaud Whether you have employees or you're a one-person show, it doesn't matter. You must smile at and applaud people within your network including employees, associates, vendors, friends and family. When you say "thank you," "please," "nice job," “I love design you did for me,” “I really appreciate your waiting for that report,” “thanks for delivering it,” “It was nice meeting you,” “I enjoyed your presentation,” you leave a positive lasting impression on people. As a small business owner, you can’t afford to miss out on what I call, “moments of positive impressions.” These moments accumulate over time. Before you know it, you’ve created a positive reputation for yourself. Smiling and applauding are fairly easy traits to acquire and can be competitive edge you need to separate you from stuffy entrepreneur down street.

Keep Away from Certain People Nothing will stop you dead in your tracks faster than someone who’s “questioning” your entrepreneurial instincts. I’m not saying ignore these people altogether, because they may have a good point; however, don’t stop doing what you’re doing just because people don’t completely support your ideas. Many of these naysayers are employed by someone else. How could they understand or support your ideas? They’re on a completely different life track than you. They can’t possibly understand what it’s like to have to be responsible for making your own money. Surround yourself with other successful-minded people who have to make their own money.

Stay Focused You must stop flip flopping with your marketing ideas. Pick 10 of them, and repeat them continuously for more than a year. Pick a direction and stick with it!

4. How else you can use a booklet to market your company? Once you have produced a booklet, you can often find other organizations that can benefit from it. This then helps to recoup your production costs, should that be of concern. For example, a manufacturer could sell it to distributors. You also continue marketing your own company, and generate new revenue in process.

Other uses include direct mail campaigns or licensing rights to your booklet to another company. Licensing might also involve translating it into other languages to reach additional markets. Licensing agreements mean that client produces booklet. Your company grants specific rights, by written contract, for client to do all production of booklet manuscript that your company owns.

Identify prospects in your own industry by looking at vendors, suppliers, and manufacturers. Each is a marketing niche. Approach them in a common-sense way. Remember that you are providing solutions to many of your clients' problems.

5. What common mistakes do companies make when exhibiting?

One of biggest mistakes companies make when exhibiting is in repeating what other exhibitors are giving away, or repeating what company has done year after year regardless of results. An uninteresting handout makes statement that a company has put limited thought into their clients' needs. The importance of educating clients about how you can help them cannot be overstated. When your company makes one more sale because someone reads booklet you gave them, investment of purchasing or creating booklet pays off handsomely.

Getting a return on overall investment of tradeshow is ultimately primary reason for attending show at all. Some industries, such as pharmaceutical industry, are now making a concerted effort to pull back on money spent on excessively expensive and inappropriate giveaways, and are turning toward giveaways with educational value.

Using a booklet as a tradeshow booth giveaway creates magic as you enjoy better-qualified leads that produce larger sales over a longer period of time with well-educated clients. A small investment in booklet is definitely worth large return.

Susan Friedmann CSP, www.thetradeshowcoach.com a leader in the tradeshow industry, helps companies niche market within an industry.