Everyone in the business world has their first trade show experience at some point or another. After your first show, there always seems to be the most takeaways that you know you'd incorporate or do differently the next time. Below are some tips to hopefully give you a head start before your first or next show.
Positioning
Odds are, when you booked your last trade show, you didn’t give as much thought to “where” your booth was, until you arrived at the show. Once you’re at the show, it seems to be a lot more obvious where all the traffic is drawn to and where you wish your booth was at. Try to remember where the booth was that had all the traffic at your last event; most likely it was in the main walkway. Just like selling products, positioning at a trade show has a huge impact on your overall success. Remember, the earlier you book your booth, the more spaces you’ll have to choose from, so get a head start and book sooner rather than later.
If you find yourself booking a space late in the game and you’re left with spaces that aren’t the most ideal, it’s not the end of the world. This is when it might be worth the extra investment to get directional pop up a-frame banners or floor graphics to point people in your direction. There’s always a place for display that will get people where you want them.
Display Quality
If your last trade show was your first trade show, you might have gotten shown up by the competition who weren’t experiencing their first rodeo. If you think back to the booths that had swarms of people around their booth at any given point in time, not only were they in the main walkway, but they probably had an irresistible display.
Focusing on a stellar display may seem like frivolous spending of your precious budget, but you have to keep the study of human psychology at the forefront of your decision making process. People are naturally drawn to things that look good. Don’t make the mistake of slacking on the overall presentation of your trade show booth. You’ll regret it when your competitors are driving all the traffic to their booths with their immaculate trade show displays.
Get Social
Not only is it important to be social and outgoing at the show to create new relationships, but being active on social media will help your success tremendously. Start by creating a campaign on the platforms that you have established the most. This will help you let people know about the upcoming show and help you drive more traffic. A great way to get people excited about visiting your exhibit is by sharing sneak peaks or possible prizes/deals you’ll be featuring at the show. Give your followers an additional incentive to share the information you’re posting, by offering additional prize entries, or something creative that doesn’t cost you extra.
A common mistake that exhibitors make, is getting carried away with the event and neglecting their social feeds during the show. If you need to hire an intern or someone to manage the engagement on your social media during the show, do it! Keep the excitement going and keep the feed updated throughout the event. Social campaigns during an event are a also a great way to gain new followers. Small giveaways for a “like” is a great strategy for this.
Share What’s New
Back to the human psychology, people love anything “New”. If you have products or services that haven’t been introduced to the public yet, share them at the show! Don’t worry; if you don’t have anything that is “new” remember that often times, when we work with certain products or services every single day, they don’t seem new to us, but to the rest of the world, it is new! That being said, don’t be afraid to tack on “New” to your displays that feature your products or services that aren’t widely recognized by the general public.
If you’re looking for ways to display what is new, tension fabric displays or banner walls are a great way to showcase your product or service in a big way. These eye-catching displays will surely bring in the inquiries. If you’re looking to provide additional information, a table top display is a great solution for more content to go into further explanation.
Be Nice
While making your booth visually appealing is important and helps to bring traffic, don’t forget to bring it back to the basics of customer service. While your Expand banner stands might get potential customers in the door, it will be your charisma and customer service that makes the impression that lasts. Make the impression a good one; remember to smile and concentrate on forming quality relationships.
Hold Your Horses
It’s no secret once you’ve worked a trade show; they’re exhausting! It is easy to get antsy about leaving and you’re going to want to pack up as soon as the show starts dying down so you can beat the traffic and be done. The truth is, you never know when you’re going meet the person you were hoping to meet the entire show. While there aren’t any guarantees, a good rule of thumb is to plan on sticking it out until the end. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met the most valuable contact of the entire show after the crowds died down. Good things come to those who wait and don’t pack up at the first sign of traffic slowing down.
Analyze the Show
You may have noticed at your first trade show, that you forgot to implement something to track how many people visited your booth, how much product you sold, or how many appointments you setup. Make sure you have things in place to be able to track your success. Everyone will measure their success differently based on their goals, so it is important to set your goals before the show and then implement a strategy to track it so you can do better at your next show.
If you need help with any of your trade show booth design or layout, let the Trade Show Display Pros help! Give us a call at 877-389-8645.
