Does your job require you to go present and make sales at trade shows? Want to know the secret to being a trade show success? If you said yes to one or both of these questions, you need to read this article.
Before we give you tips on how to be a trade show success, you need to really understand what is a trade show. A trade show is an exhibition that businesses promote their products at.
To become a trade show success, you need to have a trade show booth that grabs the attention of attendees at the show. Thus, you need to have great trade show booth ideas.
To ensure that your booth is the most successful at your next trade show, we are giving you a plethora of trade show booth ideas that are known to lead to successful promotion and sales.
Get ready to be the biggest sensation at your next trade show!
Scope out Trade Show Events as an Attendee Prior to Having a Booth There
It is important to go to prospective trade shows as an attendee prior to participating in them. That way, you do not waste your time participating in a trade show that will not benefit you.
One way to know if a trade show is right for you to participate in is to see if your target audience is attending that trade show. For example, if you are selling a technology product, there need to be people that are actively interested in technology in one way or another at a trade show to make it worth participating in.
Utilize Social Media
It would be wise to advertise that your company will be at a trade show on all social media platforms before the trade show event. You can even tease potential attendees by posting pictures of some of the surprises you have in store for the trade show.
Another way to utilize social media would be to post some of your giveaway ideas and have your followers vote on their favorites. This helps build excitement for your booth.
You should also use hashtags to advertise your convention booth across all social media platforms prior to the show. While at the show, have these hashtags along with your social media handles printed on your banners for all to see and use. Make sure that you use these hashtags to post on social media throughout the event as well.
You can even do a Facebook Live event during the trade show for last minute advertisement.
Contact Trade Publications, Bloggers, and Influencers Before a Trade Show
One way to advertise convention booths is to have something written about them in local print and digital newspapers, magazines, blogs, and websites. You should contact different print and digital publications, bloggers, and influencers for advertising well before the trade show even occurs.
Although marketing your convention booth this way will cost your company some money, the increase in promotion and sales you’ll receive from doing this will be worth it.
Make Your Booth Stand Out
One way to make your convention booth stand out is to make everything at the booth larger than life. This means having an extra-tall convention booth. This also means having huge banners displayed high above your booth.
To ensure that your booth stands out, find out whatever you can about the convention booths of your competitors at the show. Make sure that your booth is different than all the others. This might even mean making certain aspects of your booth smaller and more intimate.
If this is the case, you can still make your booth creative and unique by having fun and bold objects in your booth. For example, you can have custom-wrapped cars and bikes at your booth.
You can also have these fun and bold objects in a large booth.
Make Your Booth Interactive
You can make convention booths interactive by having everything from games and prizes to photo-ops and even stunts within them. For example, you can have a photo booth for attendees to take pictures with their friends at your vendor booth display.
Give a Demo of Your Products
It is one thing to have people listen and read about your company products. It is another thing to give people a live demonstration of your company products.
Live demonstrations, or demos, are effective marketing tools. An example of a demo that you can have at convection booths is curling irons that you can use on trade show attendees. Once you give them a demonstration, you can even have your booth visitors use a product, like a curling iron, on themselves.
Provide a Place Where People Can Rest and Be Comfortable
One way to draw people into your convention booth is to provide comfortable chairs, leg rests, and tables for people to rest and put their things on. This is especially true at trade shows where there are very few places to sit, and people are walking around all day. Take advantage of people resting at your booth, by having flyers, videos, and other promotional material for them to look at or read as they are resting.
Provide Something Everyone Wants
Because people at trade shows are walking around all day, they often have electronic devices that they need charging. Draw the people in need of chargers into your vendor booth display by providing portable chargers.
If you want to take your electronic services a step further, provide Wi-Fi at your booth as well. Trust us, by providing Wi-Fi; you will have problems getting people to leave your booth.
Offer Trade Show Deals
Another way to draw people into staying longer at your booth is to offer them deals for your products. Not only will this draw people into your booth, but it will also create sales. You don’t even have to go crazy with your special discounts, as people love deals.
To make it obvious that your booth is offering trade show deals, have it advertised in digital signage at your booth. Using digital signage will make it easier on you to change the message on your signage for the next trade show.
Branding! Branding! Branding!
You should have branding all over your vendor booth display. Branding should be on everything from the banners to the materials on tables and chairs to the goodies you hand out to people.
To capitalize on branding, hand out huge bags with bold branding messaging on it. Doing this will cause other people to wonder where they got that bag and go to your convention booth just to get it. If you do enough branding at your booth, people will not be able to forget your company and its products.
Collect Emails and Contact Info of Trade Show Attendees
Collecting emails from potential customers is marketing 101. By collecting the emails and other contact information of trade show attendees, you will add to your in-house mailing list.
This will ensure that the people that stopped at your booth will find out more out more about your company and its products. This will also increase the chances that the people that stopped at your booth become long-term customers.
The Importance of Using Successful Trade Show Booth Ideas
Although doing all these trade show booth ideas may not seem worth it, trust us, it is. In fact, studies show that nearly 70% of trade show attendees represent potential new customers. As a small business, you cannot miss out on such opportunities to create new customers.
Not only do trade shows create new customers, but they also create new leads. Also, the face-to-face marketing that you get from trade shows will help you develop visibility and trust with your clients. To learn more about how to successfully market your small business, go to the marketing section of our website.