Trade shows provide you with countless opportunities to make new client contacts, meet up with potential business partners, and scope out what the competition has up its sleeve. Trade shows continue to grow, according to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research. Real revenues increased by 1.6 percent, while the number of attendees is rising fast at 2.5 percent. Simply showing up at a trade show doesn’t get attendees flocking to your booth to buy your products and services, however. Instead, you need ways to stand out from the trade show crowd to get the attention you want, and the brand awareness you need.
Pre-Gaming
Start your trade show marketing efforts before you even reach the convention center. At the most basic level, you’re letting existing customers know you’ll be at a particular show. Look up official hashtags and social network profiles for the convention you’re planning to attend, to expand your social network marketing to new eyes. Involve yourself on the convention page, if appropriate, to let the convention at large know that you’re going to be attending. Marketing Profs also recommends using LinkedIn to find companies you want to connect with while you’re at the trade show. Send them a message through LinkedIn, if possible, or make a personal list of companies to approach.
Consider using social media sites as well, such as Vine and Instagram, to build up buzz for your convention booth through the short video clips and photos. Hubspot reports on several companies taking full advantage of Vine for marketing, such as Animate and Create, whose Vine features an old school flipbook style animation that fit perfectly with Vine’s looping video nature.
Understanding Principles of Booth Design
You need the basics under your belt before you start making waves with something original. Start off with a standard booth basis. The booth size depends on the convention, your budget, and the location within the trade show, but generally you’re dealing with a space approximately 10 feet deep. You want room for your marketing displays, products, information videos, marketing literature, and for your booth workers to move around.
A basic booth setup has a table for your equipment, hand outs, and a grid wall for product displays or mounting signage. Spend some time in trade shows as an attendee to get an idea of the booth styles in your industry that are enticing. You want something that welcomes the attendee in and makes it easy for them to respond to the call to action. Once you have a basic, effective design, you can begin experimenting with the overall booth. Upgrading your banner stands from a resource like Postup Stand will give your booth that added pop that will catch the attention of passerbys.
Tie-in
Originality wins the game at trade shows, but you don’t want to have attendees wondering what your company is all about. Forbes reports on one company that took its tie-in to a level that had the entire trade show talking. Central Desktop had a bearded, smoking angel walking around in a cloud outfit. They poke fun at booth babes, do something original, and provide a tie-back to their core cloud services all at the same time. Exhibitor Online reports on the originality of the Glassdoor booth, with a cozy design that looked like a farmer’s market booth, and thousands of local peaches tied in with a “fresh” marketing campaign. Think about what your company is all about, what you’re trying to get across to the customer, then come up with a witty way to express that. It could be a play on words, your slogan come to life, or a creative representation of your company’s product.
Robert Wright is a small business coach and pet lover.
