Most of the time, when you look at books and articles recommending tactics to boost the number of visitors to your trade show displays, people are talking about your trade show booth itself: its design, its staff, and how to pack it full of trade show graphics and goodies that will attract visitors.
Now, there’s no doubt that great colorful graphics, a couple of well designed banner stands, and a set of tempting iPad kiosks will certainly help lure more interested leads to your trade show booth. However, wouldn’t it be nice if you could get people excited about your wares before they even enter the doors? With some creativity and pre-planning, you can guarantee better attendance in your trade show booths and maximize the ROI on your trade show displays.
Let’s look at a few ideas for how to generate interest in your display early on!
Create Visitors Who Walk In The Doors Already Looking For Your Trade Show Displays
- Notify your mailing list early. Anyone who’s already a part of your leads list should be called, emailed, Facebooked, or otherwise contacted at least a couple weeks before the show begins. This is your first chance to talk about the latest product innovations and goodies that will be featured in your trade show displays, with people who are already interested in your products and services.
- Tease social media. You’ve probably got a good network of contacts on various social network sites. Our recommendation for promoting your trade show booth and products here? Tease. Just show little bits and pieces, rather than making big announcements. Social media should be a little more playful and interactive. Get people wondering what’s up your sleeve.
- Contact the regular media. Just about any trade show of any size is going to have at least a local media presence, and possibly national as well. Any coverage you can get is great for your promo videos and clip reels. A few minutes spent calling around to the news stations near your next trade show could pay off with a lot of easy TV time. (Then, post it to YouTube and to social media!)
- Create contests for your freebies. Have a special prize or two for people who contact you, RSVP, or otherwise commit early to visit your trade show booths. This could be as simple as a raffle, or you could even get more creative. (Here’s an idea: send your visitors on a scavenger hunt around the show floor. Your competitors’ free swag could be used as your own promotional tool!)
Don’t Forget the Parking Lot
It depends on the rules surrounding your trade show, but in some cases, it’s possible to set up a small booth outside the trade show, or maybe have a couple of interns walking around with back pack banners. Sometimes you can even do something creative out of the back of a car. Having a “boot sale” style stunt could be great for a company wanting to be a little underground or indie. You could give away goodies, stickers, or just use it to recruit more newcomers to visit your trade show booth.
This is also a great way to get noticed by the media if you failed to interest them in your trade show booth initially. Just about anything creative you can do to stand out will get noticed, and doing it outside the doors ensures visitors remember you as they walk in the door. Just remember to have plenty of maps pointing the way to your display stand!
No matter how you do it, you need to build interest in your products and trade show booths before people even walk in the trade show doors. This is the perfect time for a marketing stunt or guerrilla marketing trick. Make an impression, and get people talking about you as they walk in the doors and start wandering around the trade show.