Your trade show content shouldn’t be a side quest. If you're going to invest in being at the show, your content should directly support your business goals—not add stress or complexity.
Background
Trade shows offer a unique moment to capture high-quality, high-impact content—whether it's from your internal subject matter experts, industry peers, customers, or even competitors. But too often, content becomes an afterthought. The goal is to flip that mindset: content should extend the value of your trade show presence, not distract from it.
Prerequisites
Before implementing a content strategy for trade shows, make sure you’ve:
Clearly defined your business goals for attending the trade show.
Identified who will be present and available to contribute to content (internal and external voices).
Established how your team will measure success post-show—leads, awareness, connections, etc.
Step 1: Tie Content Directly to Business Goals
Let content be a multiplier, not a bonus. Ask yourself: What am I really here to do?
Lead Generation: Use video to surface pain points and solutions that connect with buyers.
Networking & Community: Capture your presence, conversations, and the people you meet.
Brand Awareness: Let your booth, your messaging, and your people show up in the feed.
Industry Education: Share what you know and position your team as thought leaders.
Every clip should serve one of these. If it doesn’t, don’t waste time capturing it.
Step 2: Solve for the Common Roadblocks
Even when you know content matters at the trade show, it’s easy to let it slip. Here’s what’s often in the way from getting content out of your trade show—and how to fix it:
Challenge | Why It Happens | How to Solve It |
Not enough people | One marketer is doing everything | Assign simple capture roles to sales, product, or execs |
Competing priorities | Content loses to lead gen and demos | Build content into your lead gen flow (e.g. interview a prospect) |
Over-focus on one event | All efforts go to one flagship show | Standardize a lightweight workflow for every show |
Too complex | Content feels like a mini documentary | Use simple formats: 1-minute clips, selfie-style recaps |
Misaligned resources | $30K booth, $0 content plan | Allocate just 5–10% of booth budget to content capture + edit |
Step 3: Make Content Capture Repeatable
To scale trade show content without burning out your team:
Keep it simple: Use mobile phones, wireless mics, or small cameras—nothing fancy.
Decentralize capture: Empower anyone (sales, execs, product) to film short clips.
Focus on format: Pre-define 3–5 repeatable types of content (e.g., “30-sec booth pitch,” “quick Q&A with a customer,” “what we learned today”).
Create once, use many: Repurpose clips into social posts, internal sales training, recruiting assets, and more.
Step 4: Be Smart With Your Investment
Trade shows are expensive. Content is one of the few outputs that keeps working long after the badge scans are done.
Reframe your budget: content isn’t a “nice-to-have”—it’s a way to extend and document everything else you’re already investing in.
Scale wisely: Don’t overinvest in one massive production. Instead, prioritize consistency and longevity across shows.
Evaluate ROI: Track not just views and likes, but sales conversations started, connections deepened, and talent attracted.
Conclusion
Trade show content doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs to be strategic. When you align it with your business goals and solve for the real-world blockers—staffing, priorities, and workflow—you create a system that works every time. Start simple. Stay focused. And let content amplify the real value of your trade show presence.