The time you spend at a tradeshow can be highly productive -- but only if your organization and follow up is planned correctly. The goal of attending a tradeshow is to build name recognition, develop product awareness, and to make viable contacts with established and potential customers that ultimately result in sales.            

In order to achieve these results, it is critical that you attract individuals to your trade show display and engaging them in conversation. Tradeshows are notorious for freebies, giveaways and contests. Therefore, it is up to you to make your trade show display stand out with 'beyond average' trade show attractions than your competitors on the trade show floor. Once guests are attracted to your trade show display, you can obtain contact information and introduce them to your product or service. These seven steps will help you to attract the maximum number of visitors possible to your tradeshow display.

Step 1: Give Away Your Name

Name recognition is often the bottom line in purchase decision-making. Giving away useful and well-made ad specialties featuring your logo and contact information is a simple and inexpensive way of spreading your business name to a wider circle of potential customers. Ad specialties can take the form of pens, mugs, key chains, flashlights, small notebooks, sewing kits, Wi-Fi finders, stress balls, and dozens of other handy items people will use regularly.

Step 2: Provide A Prize Booth

Prize booths are a great way to attract visitors to your trade show display. More intriguing than simply giveaways, prize booths add a degree of excitement and challenge by offering visitors the chance to "win" something. Guests can be invited to enter the Cash Cube Money Machine, try their hand at cracking the code on the Prize Vault Safe, or taking a spin on the Wheel of Chance for access to many prizes. As guests enter these contests by filling out a contact information form, you will build an extensive list of potential customers.

Step 3: Stock Up On Secondary Prizes

The Grand Prizes will draw them in to your trade show display but you can send your guests home with secondary prizes that cost you very little and that can result in long term business arrangements. Ad specialties such as caps, hats and t-shirts that boast your logo will spread your company name far beyond the limits of your trade show display.

Step 4: Ask Them And They Will Come

Taking the time to invite potential customers to the trade show can greatly increase your visibility and improve your results. Clients, business associates and leads all bring business with them when you invite them to your trade show display. Provide them with a free entry to the trade show and a scratch off card or a ticket for the Prize Decoder drawing and they will be far more likely to attend.

Step 5: Make It Colorful

If they can't see your trade show display, you may as well not be there. It is important that you ensure your trade show display is in a good location, easy to see and clearly identified. Your trade show display and brochures will speak volumes about the quality of your product or service, so do not skimp on the graphics or design features of your trade show display. The professionals who attend trade shows recognize quality when they see it. Your high quality trade show display will convey your commitment to quality and service.

Step 6: Implement Interactive Demonstrations And Exhibits

Implement interactive demonstrations and exhibits at your trade show display. Everyone will want to try hands-on product displays and they will delight in trying their luck with interactive contests. The opportunity to win cash and prizes with the Money Machine Cash Cube, ATM Money Machine, or Promotional Slot Machines will pull them in and allow you to make profitable contacts for future business.

Step 7: Get Up And Say Hello

All the colorful displays, free promotional items and contests will not replace the valuable human interactions that can take place at your trade show display. A firm hand shake, a genuine smile, and informative answers from your trade show booth staff will go a long way to develop profitable business relationships by showing potential customers exactly what your business has to offer them. This one-on-one experience will cement a positive view of your company in the minds of your guests, making them far more likely to consider you the next time they areshopping for your product or service.

Making your trade show display bright and colorful and offering interactives are great ways to attract potential customers. Providing a prize booth and keeping an extensive stock of ad specialty items and secondary prizes will ensure that you won't be caught empty handed. Invite potential customers and give them a reason to attend the trade show with contest entries. Once they arrive, your personable interactions with them will let them know that you are the company they wish to keep.

About the Author:

Jonathan Edelman provides helpful trade show marketing ideas, including advice about prize wheels, customizable scratch-off cards, and other exciting trade show attractions. With years of experience in the trenches, he is an expert on booth displays, lead generation techniques, and networking with trade show vendors to build a referral-generating system that leads to a boost in sales and revenue.