5 Tips to make your trade show booth a success
Trade shows are a fantastic way to increase brand exposure and gain new customers or clients, but they’re not cheap, with a trade show booth, staff, and exhibit space. Maximizing your trade show spend is key to making your dollars pay off. Here are 5 tips to help you acheive success from your trade show booth.
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1. The KISS Method
Always try and keep your graphics and trade show booth as simple as possible and clean. Having a clear and easy to understand message is vital to your booth’s success. People at trade shows are slammed with messages everywhere and if it takes them too long to understand what you’re promoting or selling, they’ll most likely just keep walking righ on by to the next trade show booth.
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2. Attention Grabber!!!!
Win a free iPad! Yes, everyone likes to win something and it doesn’t need to cost much. Having something that will bring people into your booth is key. This could be a contest, free trade show giveaway, raffel or anything else you can think of.
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3. Get Their Information
One of the most overlooked keys to success at trade shows is getting the contact information from attendies. You’d be surprised at how many companies spend exessive amounts of money on their trade show booths and rely on the attendies to take “their” information. There are dozens of ays to collect data now days. From ipads apps, badge scanners, business card raffels, and more. Be wise and don’t let one person who stops by your booth leave without getting their contact information.
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4. Be Happy
Yes, this tip has nothing to do with your booth’s design, your giveaways or anything else. Simply give each and every person a smile when they stop by your booth or even as they are walking by. The key is for your workers to keep on that happy face until the show is over. Personally, I’ve attained more new clients during the last few minutes of a show than any other time. Everyone else is packing up, tired, crabby and ready to leave. Give those last few people some extra time and attention and you’ll probably land a great new client or customer.
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5. Followup on Trade Show Booth Leads
This is by far and hands down the biggest problem with thesuccess of trade shows. People either follow-up way to late or not at all with the leads they capture. Send a thank you email within 24-48hrs. from the time of the event. I know companies that send thank you emails out to everyone who visited their booth the SAME night of the show. Then, they followup again about a week later. Have a system in place to keep track of the notes from calls and emails. And be deligent with continuing to follow-up with them.
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If you follow these five tips alone you are guaranteed a better return on your trade show investments. Be wise and get creative with the details of each of these tips and the sky is the limit on the success you will achieve. Remember, doing 5 things a thousand times will bring you to new levels of acheivement.
Great tips! I think making follow-ups is the most important part of any marketing effort a company can make and that’s overlooked. This is where the difference in trade show ROI is made.
Thes are great ideas! I would add give something away, too, balloons to the kids, cookies, candy, pens, etc., come to mind. Giving without any expectation of return makes you feel good, too.
Find someone to partner with, is another suggestion. As a Coldwell Banker Realtor, I partner with Coldwell Banker Mortgage, who has the resources to share booth expenses with me, and someone to share booth duties. Everyone needs to take a break every now and then, to get something to eat or drink, or to use the facilities. You don’t have to leave your booth unattended this way either.