Driving Traffic to Your Trade Show Booth

Boost your connections with our team’s top tips to innovative booth design!

As an exhibitor, you put a lot of work into your trade show display. It’s important for you to network with members of your community and make valuable connections. You need strategies that drum up interest to ensure your investment pays off. This includes generating exciting ideas for trade show booth displays and offering incentives that make people seek you out.

So, where should you look for inspiration? What’s the best way to make your booth stand out?

Start Attracting Visitors Before the Show Begins

A common mistake made by vendors is relying on the show organizers to drive traffic to their booth. This approach can turn out to be ineffective and sometimes fails to strategically drive good prospects for your business.

According to Inc. Magazine, 70 percent of show attendees have planned out which booths they will be visiting before they have even arrived at the show site. If they are good prospects for your business, make sure your booth is on their list.

How do you make this happen? You get their attention in advance.

Promote your business in the days, weeks, or even months leading up to the event by running social media ad campaigns. If you have a mailing list, remember to send out an email reminding your prospects that you’ll be exhibiting.

Trade Show Booth Displays That Stand Out

Once inside the center, there are several ways you can visually draw visitors to your booth.

The trick is to create a space that is visually appealing. Make sure it clearly communicates your company name and brand and invites people to linger.

Think Outside the Box – As well as Outside the Venue

Media Bike by VIP Outdoor Media

 Successful brands allocate 13% of their media budgets to out of home advertising. While the traditional term “Outdoor Advertising” may conjure images of pricey building wraps or Digital Billboards in high-demand metropolitan areas, your OOH Media choices don’t have to break the bank. Consider a solution like vehicle wraps or mobile billboard advertising, affordable options that will still maximize your impressions around the convention venue. Utilizing Guerrilla Marketing Techniques can help drive traffic to your booth in a creative, unexpected way, without going over budget.

Hotel Marketing is another option to make sure your brand is one of the first seen by attendees when they check into their hotels. Think about options like elevator door wraps, hotel room card keys, or hotel room drops, all inexpensive items that will get you noticed.

You can also hire brand ambassadors to distribute coupons, samples or other collateral outside of the convention center. When done correctly, brand ambassadors will dedicate themselves to your brand as if it were their own, and will do a phenomenal job of driving traffic to your booth.

Keep it Simple

One common mistake in designing signs for trade show booth displays is getting carried away and trying to do too much at once.

Have a clear roadmap of your booth conceptualization, fabrication, setup and teardown from start to finish. Make sure everyone on your team knows the who, what, where and when for your trade show, which includes acquiring promo materials, or setting up and tearing down your booth.

Use Lighting Creatively

Booth Conceptualization by VIP Outdoor Media

The ambient light in most convention halls can be flat and unflattering. Adding your own lighting elements is both a practical step and can add interesting design elements.

Lights automatically draw attention and can be used to highlight or accent part of your display.

Using LED light strips is an easy and versatile way to draw attention to important products or create an interesting display.

Create an Eye in the Trade Show Storm

A trade show, by its very nature, can be a very over-stimulating environment.

Everyone exhibiting is working hard to get the attention of attendees. As a result, they can be noisy, bright, colorful and exhausting, leaving attendees bleary-eyed and ready for a rest.

To ensure your prospects linger for a while, you can aim to make your booth a calm, restful reprieve from the commotion. One idea is creating an interior space within your booth that offers attendees a comfortable place to sit, relax and recharge – literally and figuratively. Consider offering electrical outlets at your booth where attendees can charge their phones or other devices. While they catch their breath, you can gently share information about your company and product with them. Also consider offering bottled water or small snacks to your visitors.

Give Attendees a Reason to Seek You Out

While great trade show booth displays are effective for encouraging passersby to stop and explore your booth, getting visitors to proactively find you is also great for increasing traffic and sales.

So, how do you get attendees to seek you out? Here are some tried and true techniques:

Get Attendees to Participate

Getting visitors to interact with your booth in some way helps create buzz and gets people familiar with your product.

Some products, such as technology or tools, lend themselves to interaction. But you can get creative with activities that engage visitors in a fun way too.

Even with a small space, you can set up a photo booth or host a game that ties into your product in some way. Touch screens, either a large display or portable devices, can be used for almost any product. Offer a coupon or small gift if attendees sign up for your company’s mailing list at your booth. Another option is hosting product demonstrations, so your prospects can see your company in action.

Hand Out Enticing Giveaways

Promotional Materials by VIP Outdoor Media

While pens and keychains are inexpensive and always a popular option for exhibitors, there are many more affordable giveaway options available than ever.

When giving out freebies, you want them to remind visitors of your company. Consider your audience carefully when picking your swag, and tailor it to what you think they’ll find useful.

Recent trends for giveaways are those that can be useful for smartphones or computers. According to Delta Marketing Group, smartphone wallets are rising in popularity. Also, USB chargers, microfiber cloths, Flash Drives, and earbuds never go out of style. See about branding these items with your company name and website.

Make your trade show investment pay off by employing these strategies to both drive and entice traffic to your booth. If your company offers tangible products, consider handing out a coupon or sample.