Happier Trade Booth Visitors In 5 Steps

Exhibiting at a trade show is a remarkable opportunity to get your company’s products and services in front of consumers. If done right, it can create a massive return on your investment of time and resources.

Just being at a trade show isn’t enough though. You want to draw traffic to your booth. It takes savvy and a little elbow grease to work a crowd. So here are five quick tips to help you accomplish that.

Develop A Pre Show Strategy

Having a predefined trade show marketing strategy might seem like a no brainer, but many exhibitors neglect this crucial step. Here are a few questions you should have answers for:

• What do you hope to accomplish at your trade show?
• Do you want to promote a specific product or service?
• What brand message do you want to convey with your booth?
• How can you alert consumers of your involvement in the trade show?
• How are you going to capture leads and how will you turn those leads in sales?

Obviously, having a well constructed trade show booth is an essential piece to this marketing strategy. It is important that your booth showcases your brand message, while demonstrating the best your company has to offer and why people should trust and purchase from you. An appealing booth gives much more opportunity to attract and engage with more visitors.

It’s equally important to send out an email blasts or social media posts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, to alert prospective customers of your involvement at the upcoming event. You can offer special VIP access, or give special invitations for exciting new product demos and meetings.

Location. Location. Location.

Having a great booth is one thing. Being stuck in a corner of a trade show floor that has very little traffic is another. You’ll get less traffic to your amazing booth if you don’t plan ahead.

Take a look at a map of your upcoming show, and visualize the traffic patterns. Common high traffic spots include entrances, restrooms, charging stations, and food booths. You can also inquire to see if you can hang design elements from a showroom ceiling, to help visitors see your signage from far away.

Also, do not neglect the simple rule of engaging visitors. A simple smile while making eye contact with passersby can go a long way into making someone feel welcome into your booth.

Get Interactive With Your Booth

With an attractive booth designed and plan in place to capture foot traffic, you can next focus on what people will do once they are in your booth. A good option is to have displays in your booth that are highly interactive.

Most trade show booths can be fitted with monitor mounts, so that you can have videos and rotating pictures being shown. You can also wow people with a highly interactive and visually stunning light box or animated light box.

Other options include having tablets available for interactive games, or to capture contact information. Devices are great tools for showing videos, surveys, quizzes, and demonstrations of products and services. You can even offer a prize raffle, and capture contact information that way as well.

Everyone Loves Food

Offering food is a great way to get foot traffic to your booth. The standard offerings of candy and pastries can be effective. However, as more people are health-conscious now-a-days, giving out a healthy treat might be the winning ticket.

Live events can be long and physically demanding. With all the conversations and walking around for hours, a healthy treat can go a long way to pep up a weary audience.

Handing out low sugar and high protein options such as protein bars, fruits, and wholesome snacks is a great option. You might also consider a refreshing beverage, such as tea, energy drink, or kombucha. You might just gain a reputation across the trade show floor as a necessary destination to both exhibitors and visitors alike, which can be great for capturing more leads.

Go Digital With Photos and Videos

Recent political campaigns have proven that we are living in the age of the selfie. Like it or not, posting images on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter during live events is in the zeitgeist. Your marketing can benefit from this phenomenon as well.

Setting up a selfie backdrop is a great idea. Live streaming your booth on social media is an even better idea. No matter which approach you choose, do not forget to tag your photos and videos with hashtags relevant to the event. You can even tag people in the photos and videos, especially if they are potential leads. That gives you instant followers, as well as awesome street credibility.

After the event, you can follow up on social media with a post-event video, and ask for feedback from your followers about how your booth made them feel. This is a great way to wind down a live event while promoting your brand online.

Keep Goals In Mind

No matter what tips you choose to use, having a predefined trade show marketing strategy is vital to the preparation and execution of your event. Utilizing interactive devices, food giveaways, and photos and videos can be winning solutions to ensure your efforts will achieve maximum success.

Never lose sight of your goals:

• to attract the right prospects
• network with the right leads
• generate valuable feedback for a product or service
• build new business relationships
• drive more sales