5 ESSENTIALS FOR ANY SUCCESSFUL TRADE SHOW EXHIBIT
Have you ever wondered if your trade show exhibit has all the right stuff? Whether you’re kicking off the design process for a brand new exhibit or hoping to enhance an existing display, these trade show essentials should be included in your exhibit design plan.
- Intuitive Design. Experienced exhibit designers will tell you that there’s more to exhibit design than the fusion of structure and the client’s branding. While these two aspects are important, an effective exhibit design will merge the client’s marketing goals (lead gathering, brand awareness, product/service promotion, etc.) with functionality in the booth space.
- Creative Messaging. Every company has a story to tell. If the marketing messaging displayed throughout your exhibit doesn’t grab attention and connect people with your brand, it won’t draw the attendee traffic you need. Focus on telling people why your story matters to them (through email, direct mail or social media), what problems you can solve for them and/or how they can benefit from talking with you.
- Interactive Experiences. Many people attend trade shows to learn about and interact with new products and services. To stand out from the crowd, draw attendees in with hands-on product demos, fun games, entertainment, digital technology, a Q&A with an industry/product expert and more
- Awesome Trade Show Giveaways. Sure, tchotchkes may be a shameless hook to draw attendees to your trade show booth, but savvy trade show giveaways can be the gift that keeps on giving – back to you. Choose giveaways that people will want to hang on to and actually use. If you do, these little gifts will reinforce your brand on a regular basis and act as a functional business card, when you include your contact info (phone/email/website/social sites, etc.) somewhere on the piece.
- Stellar Booth Staff. Nothing rocks a trade show exhibit more than well-trained trade show booth staffers. Face-to-face event marketing is an entirely different approach to sales than telemarketing or even traditional sales calls. It’s critical to choose your trade show team wisely and prepare them for face-to-face marketing success with frequent booth staff training. Once they learn the tricks of the trade, they will understand how to effectively interact with prospects at your booth and at other events and activities throughout the duration of the show.
If you want your trade show efforts to result in qualified leads, increased brand awareness and targeted foot traffic, these are the essential things you must consider in the planning stages.
