During the INTA (International Trademark Association) Annual Meeting in Dallas last week we choose once again to be an exhibitor. It was our third Annual Meeting after San Francisco 2011 and Washington DC 2012. These meetings gather more than 8000 trademark attorneys and domain name professionals. For a start-up it is always difficult to decide where to put your limited marketing dollars. But I must admit that I love these types of exhibitions or trade shows. There are four major reasons why we choose to invest in these events:
- Market overview. You get a very good sense of what services are out there and you get a chance to talk to the different service providers.
- Future sales. The contacts for future sales are very valuable. I would argue that the people coming in to your booth, probably are some of your most motivated, potential clients. I ended up with +400 business cards from people I believe can become some of my most important clients.
- Product feedback. The detailed feedback you get and the possibility to develop your product together with the potential client.
- Meeting competitors that may become future partners.
If you run a company and don't do trade shows, I would recommend you try one. If you are in the trademark or domain name business, I suggest we meet at the next INTA annual meeting, in Hong Kong 2014.