If you run your own business and have been considering marketing services and what they might do for your company, there will be plenty to be gained from attending any of the many marketing trade exhibitions that happen all over the country and the rest of the world.

Amongst other things, these exhibitions provide a great opportunity to network and meet other people and companies that may have useful information or services to offer you. Often there are hundreds of different companies in attendance, each with multiple members of staff who will be available to discuss your business' needs.

Although stall space does not come cheaply at such events, for many companies it is an investment that will pay for itself. Businesses and individuals who cannot afford the cost are often able to register and attend events of this type free of charge. Whilst certain talks and services may be reserved for paying businesses, there are often enough free seminars to make attending worthwhile.

One of the valuable purposes of trade marketing exhibitions is to provide your business with marketing options that might never have occurred to you otherwise. Particularly for some smaller and medium-sized businesses without dedicated marketing departments, managers and even directors may not know as much about marketing strategies as they would like. At an exhibition you can be sure that many agencies will be keen to tell you as much as possible about the potential benefits of the services they offer. You may be told to adopt a digital marketing strategy, advertise on billboards or outsource sales, to name but a few of the services often available at marketing exhibitions.

Whilst marketing agencies will vary wildly in the tone and insistence of their sales pitches, you should be aware that almost anyone you talk to at a marketing exhibition will have the same agenda: to sell you a service and make financial gains. Particularly for businesses without a strong track record in marketing, careful consideration should be made before agreeing to enter into a contract with any agency - no matter how attractive the terms may seem. We recommend delaying any decisions until after the exhibition, when a comparative assessment of the different services on offer has been made.

As well as providing businesses with an excellent forum, marketing exhibitions are often enjoyable events with many entertaining distractions. At some events you will find free massage services and even special foot spas containing Garra Rufa fish to nibble your toes clean. At others you might find a variety of free objects on offer, although it might be better to think of them as functional adverts. These can range from the cheap and useful (such as pens or calendars) to the desirable (such as memory sticks) and even the truly bizarre (such as inflatable globes or head massagers).

Remember not to be sidetracked from your business goal. If you've made the effort to attend, you probably have a purpose in so doing - and it probably isn't to accumulate junk!