Whether you exhibit at 1 trade show per year or 50, everyone wants to ensure they receive the best ROI from their trade show booth. Some businesses do this really well and some fall flat on their face at trade shows. How can you amplify your trade show booth presence on the show floor, whether it’s your first time or 100th time? Consider the following tips:
Introduce Gamification into Your Trade Show Booth
Trade show attendees get weary. There’s lots of miles to walk, many exhibits to see, and many people they need to talk to. What makes one person stop at one trade show booth versus another often comes down to elements of color, motion, and lighting, but there’s another element increasing in popularity- gamification. When attendees see a game in a trade show booth, they often make a beeline to it. Whether this is a basketball game, a plinko game, or a car simulation game, people really love to take some time to play on the show floor. This represents an opportunity for your trade show staff to approach people when their guard is down and they’re more apt to listen to the highlights of your product or service. Gamification has been in use for several years across multiple industries, but it’s gaining popularity because of the ability to draw more attendees to your trade show booth.
Utilize Your Trade Show Booth Space Wisely
If you want to maximize your trade show booth space, consider building up and not out. This can offer exhibitors opportunities to incorporate meeting spaces into their exhibit while maximizing the space below for attendees to mill around and wander in and out. Alternatively, exhibitors can utilize opportunities to include more entry points in their trade show booth and keeping it clean and modern. The key is to using your space wisely and ensuring people don’t feel like they’re turned off and prevented by entering your trade show booth.
Introduce Your Presence with Bold Signage
One of the most common ways people seek to introduce their presence on the trade show floor is to announce it with a hanging sign. Whether this is a digital LED screen showing movies or a tension fabric hanging sign, people can be attracted to your overhead signage. When you have a bold sign above your trade show booth, people are more apt to see it from across the trade show floor and remember your business’ name. Signage is not new, but there are increasingly clever ways that people are altering their overhead signage to include LED screens, strips of light in the interior, double sided graphics, and more. Dare to be bold and different to attract more people to your trade show booth and maximize your presence.
Market Market Market Your Trade Show Booth
How will anyone know you’ll be at the trade show if you don’t market your trade show booth number and attempt to drive traffic to the booth? There are multiple ways to do this, whether by email marketing, using social media, or even with a press release. There are many opportunities, including pairing marketing and sales campaigns with calling campaigns to existing customers to emailing trade show attendees on the list to drive them to your trade show booth. The power of marketing can greatly enhance people’s ability to find you at the trade show.
Happy Hour, Anyone?
Do you know what people love to do at trade shows? Drink. For this reason, many exhibitors choose to throw a happy hour in their trade show booth. Nothing draws attendees from across a crowded exhibit hall like free booze at someone’s trade show booth. These are great opportunities to not only reconnect with existing clients, but to meet new prospects and have existing clients serve as a walking testimonial regarding your business. Happy hours are extremely popular and can be a great way to maximize your trade show appearance. To amplify this presence even more, schedule the happy hour for the first full day of the trade show so people remember you the next few days as they walk the exhibit hall.
If you’re looking to increase your trade show ROI and to amplify your trade show presence, then try these tips. Whether you’re an old hand at exhibiting or new to the process, they can be excellent ways to ensure your booth is packed all day. For more great ideas, ask your exhibit design house partner and they can make some great industry specific recommendations.
