In 2025, are trade shows still relevant? Judging by attendance, it sure looks like it. In the last quarter of 2024 alone, trade shows attracted over a million attendees. By 2028, the U.S. business-to-business trade show market is expected to surpass $17 billion, and that’s B2B alone.
Based on my personal experiences, trade shows are powerful tools for marketing and networking, whether you’re launching a new product or giving an interesting speech about public relations in the 21st century.
From PR and marketing to other industries, private-sector innovation is on full display at trade shows, and you can gain new clients and customers by joining one for a few days. I certainly have, in addition to making new friends and connecting with old ones over the years.
However, trade shows can be expensive (especially for small businesses), so it is vital for attendees to see a return on the investment.
Plan Ahead
Before registering for a trade show, I recommend putting together a “success checklist” that captures exactly what you hope to achieve at a given trade show. This may include general categories like preparing early, setting clear goals, designing a winning booth, staffing the booth effectively, engaging visitors, following up quickly and maximizing the investment.
To see ROI from a trade show, you should start planning months in advance. For instance, booking a booth space early is the key to better placement in the exhibitor hall, so you’re not shoved into a corner or the back. You want your products and services to be as visible as possible, and that doesn’t happen if you book space a week before the event.
Publicize Your Participation
Whether you work in PR or not, there are strategies and tactics that all business leaders can take from our industry to boost ROI. For example, many trade shows open with a press conference, and that could be an opportunity to secure extra publicity. Find out how you can be part of the presser, perhaps even announcing your product or service in front of the media in attendance. Anything new and newsworthy should be announced publicly.
This brings us to the pre-event press release. At a minimum, you should write and distribute a press release about your participation at the trade show and share it with trade journals in your specific industry. Posting on your website and alerting your contacts (i.e., clients or customers) makes sense too, so everyone in your professional orbit is aware of your trade show attendance. After all, attending a trade show demonstrates thought leadership and industry expertise, validating you in the eyes of clients, customers and prospects. This is especially true if you are preparing a speech or exhibiting at a highly visible booth, since people are there to see you.
You may even bump into a reporter who recognizes your leadership and expertise. Make sure to have copies of any press release at your booth in case a journalist happens to stumble across your work. And in case the journalist is interested in a quote for a story, make sure you’re ready with the proper spokesperson and the proper talking points. Everyone in attendance from your company should know what to do if a reporter comes calling.
One way to reach more reporters and other useful contacts is to livestream on social media. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow you to share content from a behind-the-scenes perspective, providing trade show attendees and interested parties from afar with unique insights into daily events, conferences and more.
Continue Promotion After The Show
Even after the trade show, your work is not over. You need to promote your attendance even further, especially on social media. Create a video about the show and what went on there, and repurpose it as compelling content for social media platforms. You can call it a “post-event recap” or something to that effect, and maybe it’s an infographic instead of a video. The point is to attract attention visually.
Follow Up On Connections
Link up with all of your trade show contacts on LinkedIn so your connections remain fresh and evolve over time. After all, social media platforms (LinkedIn included) give more weight to people with more connections. The trade show is a platform to boost engagement with others online.
Following up after a trade show is critical to maximizing ROI. Otherwise, even a weeklong event can be forgotten quickly. There are thousands of trade shows annually in the U.S. alone, so don’t just expect people to care without you proactively making a big deal out of it.
Don’t forget about social media influencers. If an influencer is attending the same trade show, invite them to your booth for an exclusive preview or face-to-face meeting. Encourage influencers to share their own experiences and widen your reach by extension, in addition to engaging with their platforms after the fact. The same goes for journalists, business owners and the rest. Your goal is to foster lasting relationships, not just one conversation that doesn’t go anywhere.
The best relationships are the face-to-face ones, rather than ones you develop solely on social media or even Zoom. In-person is where the magic really happens between human beings. It is the ideal way for others to get to know, like and trust you, and that is ultimately the goal in business.
Incorporating PR strategies can help you get there. Attending the trade show is one step, and it is an important one, but it’s not the only one. Pre- and post-event, there are countless tactics for boosting trade show ROI. Your bottom line will reap the benefits—and so will your brand.
This article originally appeared on the Forbes Agency Council CommunityVoice in June 2025.
