People, people, people, people and…. people. That’s what we all want to see inside of our trade show booth at our next show or event. But the question remains – how do we get them there? The show management is going to handle their side of marketing, but you need to do more! You need to pre-market to your prospects, clients and really everyone you know that fits your target audience! But once you are at the show, you will want to know some ways to increase traffic and draw the attendees to YOUR booth.
By properly planning your booth space, you can generate buzz about your company on the show floor and make people come looking for you! The key to these tips is proper marketing and signage. If you implement an idea, make sure you promote it! Here are some great tips to start with:
• Charging Station for Phones and Laptops- Who doesn’t have a cell phone these days? By offering a charging station it will not only generate buzz on the show floor but bring people into your booth space.
• Offer free wifi- If show management is already offering free wifi, this won’t do you much good, but if exhibitors have to pay for wireless, invest in offering it free to show attendees in your booth. At a show, without wireless, this is really going to make your company stand out and have people talking!
• Food- Who doesn’t love food? If you don’t love food, you’re not welcome in my booth. In all seriousness, walking, and working, a show is tiring. Most attendees will welcome a snack.
If you can pull it off, get something that will create aroma like popcorn, cookies or coffee. All these ideas are inexpensive and noses from all over the floor will be sniffing you out!
**Remember that with food you want to have enough staff that your best lead generators are not busy handing out goodies but qualifying prospects.
• Demo
• In booth Entertainment- Popular in booth entertainment methods that will drive traffic to your booth:
o Money blowing machines
o Prize wheels
o Prize Vaults
o Video game contests
o Celebrity look a-likes
** Remember whatever you choose should complement your company and the services or products that you are selling. You want to be able to not only entertain attendees, but to engage them and increase your total number of leads. Be aware that in booth entertainment is going to increase all leads, cold and warm, so train your staff well on qualification.
• Trade show giveaways- There are two parts to your giveaway strategy – pre show and at show.
o Pre show- Market to your loyal customers and hot prospects pre show by personally sending them an invitation to your booth with a giveaway. Let them know when they come by your booth they will get the second half of the giveaway. If the prospect of client is important enough, send them a free ticket for admission or if admission is free a free parking pass.
o At show- Create a giveaway that can be worn, or carried, on the show floor. Have show workers walk around the floor and give away a prize to one person per hour that has the giveaway visible. Tweak this to fit your company. The key to this strategy is to make the item visible. I’ve seen it with many items with some of the more popular items being t-shirts, bags, hats and lanyards. It should be something large enough to be visible but not be cumbersome. Make sure the design really stands out!
If you can get the entire show talking about your company, the results and increased awareness are going to pay off in the long term!
