Invitation to Exhibit Letter: 6 Templates for Trade Shows and Expos

An invitation to exhibit is a sales letter with a narrow job: get one company to book a booth at one show. It works when it is specific to the reader. A buyer who receives the same letter as every other company on a purchased list has no reason to answer it. One who reads that the show attracts their own customers, with a figure to back it up, does.

The letter is the cover; the prospectus is the evidence. Put the starting price and the key deadline in both, and link the prospectus rather than repeating it.

1. 1

   Why This Company

   One or two sentences on why you are writing to this company: the products they sell, a market they are entering, or a peer that already exhibits.

2. 2

   Who Attends

   The audience in the reader's terms: job titles, industries, buying responsibility and regions. Give the figure and where it came from.

3. 3

   Why Exhibit Here

   One or two reasons the show is worth the cost: buyers they can't easily reach elsewhere, a new area for their category, or a program that draws their customers.

4. 4

   Booth Options and Prices

   The main booth sizes, starting prices and what the price includes. Point to the prospectus and the floor plan for everything else.

5. 5

   The Deadline

   One date that matters, such as the early rate, priority booth selection or the printed directory deadline. Write it with the year.

6. 6

   How to Book

   A direct link to the floor plan or application, a named person to call, and a direct phone number.

Sign the letter from a person, not a department. Interested prospects usually want to ask where the good locations are before they commit, and a named contact with a direct line makes that easy.

The audience paragraph carries the letter, and it is where most invitations lose credibility. Quote only figures you can source, say what they count, and prefer a specific number to a large one.

Use the full letter for a senior contact who has never exhibited, or when your industry still expects a formal letter on letterhead, sent as a PDF or by post. For a shorter first-touch email, use the prospecting template on our exhibitor email templates page, linked above.

Companies that already know your show need a different letter. A past exhibitor who skipped a year wants to know what changed. An association member wants to know what membership gets them. Neither needs the audience explained from scratch. Current exhibitors rebooking for next year are better served by the priority window and rebooking emails on the exhibitor email templates page.

Member pricing works best when the booking system checks membership for you rather than relying on an honor system. Our post on AMS integration for association events covers how that connection works, and association event management covers the wider setup.

Startups and international companies face different barriers. A startup can't justify a full booth price or a custom build, so its invitation leads with a small, turnkey package. An international company worries about shipping, payment and travel, so its invitation answers those questions before they are asked.

A last booths email often gets the quickest replies of any invitation, and it is the easiest to misuse. Send it only when it is true, say how many booths remain and of what size, and link to the floor plan so readers can see for themselves. If the floor is half empty, a scarcity email teaches prospects to wait for the next one.

Pricing the last booths is a judgment call. Some shows hold price to protect early buyers; others discount the hardest-to-sell spaces. Whatever you decide, stay consistent with what you told early bookers. Our trade show booth pricing guide covers the trade-offs.

• Follow up a formal letter by phone within a week; a letter alone rarely closes a booth
• Add one new fact in each reminder: a confirmed exhibitor, a new program item, an updated count
• Stop writing to a company that says no this year, and note the reason for next year's list
• Log every letter and reply in one place, so two salespeople never contact the same company

Once a company says yes, the faster it can choose a booth and pay, the less likely it is to change its mind. Booth sales software lets exhibitors do that from the link in your letter, and our post on selling exhibitor booths online covers the setup.

• Sending the same letter to new prospects, lapsed exhibitors and members
• Quoting attendance without saying what was counted, or rounding it up
• Leaving out prices, so the reader has to ask before they can judge fit
• Linking to the event homepage instead of the floor plan or booking page
• Using last booths urgency while most of the floor is still open
• Promising international exhibitors a visa or customs outcome you can't control
• Writing deadlines without a year or a time zone