Beyond the construction and lighting considerations for your trade show booth, there are a number of trade show marketing tactics you can use to attract attendees, keep their attention, and build goodwill and rapport. Each of these trade show marketing elements are essential to qualifying leads.
While the design of your exhibitor booth is important for creating a consistent theme and supporting your brand, it has less impact than many exhibitors realize. In this article, I’ll describe 5 smart trade show marketing tactics that will make your trade show booth irresistible.
#1 – Organize A Contest
Attracting visitors to your booth is the first step toward qualifying potential leads. Unfortunately, it’s often challenging because trade show attendees can easily be overwhelmed with hundreds of exhibitor booths throughout the trade show floor. However, if you’re willing to employ trade show marketing techniques that other exhibitors neglect, you can successfully draw crowds to your space. One of the most effective trade show marketing strategies is to create a contest in which attendees can win one of several prizes. For example, trade show attractions such as prize wheels, cash cube money blowing machines, and scratch cards can attract attention, create excitement at your booth, and leave a lasting impression.
#2 – Leverage Your Customers
Assuming you took the time before the event to let your customers know about your booth with some pre-trade show marketing and promotion, many of them will visit. Create a way for them to speak with attendees on your behalf. With a little creativity, you can partner with one or more of your customers to design a presentation that describes how your product helped their business. When visitors hear one of your customers extolling the virtues of your company and product, they’ll often be more receptive to the message.
#3 – Use Social Proof
Most people feel more comfortable making a decision when they know others have benefited from making the same choice. It’s called social proof and can have a dramatic effect on how others perceive your business. Set up a video monitor that displays a slideshow of your customers and includes their testimonials for your company. You can even record short snippets of interviews with your customers that play over and over. When convention attendees hear others describing the benefits of working with your company, it establishes social proof and encourages them to find out more.
#4 – Offer Useful Giveaways
Providing attractive, useful tradeshow giveaways is a proven marketing tactic for drawing people to your booth. Few things travel faster across the exhibit floor than news about high-quality giveaways. When attendees discover that you’re offering valuable promotional products, they won’t be able to resist the temptation. That doesn’t mean you need to give every visitor a premium item. Save the highest-quality giveaways for your best leads and offer other visitors less-expensive promotional products imprinted with your company’s name, logo, and contact information. The more useful they are, the longer they’ll continue advertising your company.
#5 – Train Your Booth Staff
A well-trained trade show booth staff can transform a mediocre exhibit into a captivating experience for visitors. If your employees know how to approach and interact with convention attendees, they’ll be far more effective in qualifying leads. Trade show visitors will be encouraged to speak openly with your staff, offering valuable information regarding their business needs and available budget.
Drawing People To Your Trade Show Booth
The 5 marketing ideas described above will require effort. The good news is that very few, if any, of your competitors will be proactive in doing these things. That makes it much easier for you to stand apart from the crowd. By investing the time to employ all 5 tactics, you’ll be able to grab attendees’ attention, encourage them to investigate, create rapport, qualify leads, and leave a positive lasting impression on your visitors.
