Think about this: Why do you go to trade shows?
As you probably know, it’s great to have trade show booths for many reasons. A trade show booth is a physical presence that shows potential customers and clients that you’re serious about your business. You’ve taken the time to come out and pay for a booth, so you must have something to offer!
However, just having a trade show booth is not enough. That’s because you’re not the only attendee. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of other booths there.
So, what’s going to make your trade show booth stand out from the rest?
There’s one really easy way to make your booth stand out and bring in trade show booth crowds. We’ll tell you how but, first, let’s start off with important questions you need to ask before having a trade show booth:
1. Have you researched your target demographic thoroughly?
You need to know who your ideal target customers and clients are. Almost no company caters equally to every age, gender and lifestyle. Most businesses, yours included, have an audience to target because you have something that a specific group truly wants or needs. That audience is going to be your ideal, returning customer. Once you know your target customer, you can figure out how to make a trade show booth that’ll draw them in.
2. What should your target audience know within the first few minutes of being at your trade show booth?
Someone stops at your booth. They talk to someone there or hear a demonstration… What should they take away from your trade show booth? Whatever it is you want trade show attendees to learn, that’s what you want to make sure is highlighted and emphasized to every single person who comes by.
3. What are the goals of your trade show booth?
At a trade show, your ultimate goal is to gain more customers. However, that’s a very vague goal. It’s really important to ask this question and generate a specific answer. Without knowing the goal you want to achieve, you don’t know if your trade show was a success. For example, “My company’s goal is to get at least 1,000 new leads.” If you reach that goal, or exceed it, that was a successful trade show!
4. How is your trade show exhibit designed?
Your trade show booth design is very important. Are you designing it to focus on product display? Is your trade show booth design highlighting a person speaking or demonstrating? It’s important to think about what elements of your trade show must be highlighted BEFORE you design your trade show exhibit.
5. THE MOST IMPORTANT TRADE SHOW BOOTH QUESTION OF ALL: Who is manning your trade show booth?
This is, by far, the most important question to ask for trade show booth success. Even if you know your audience, have a concrete goal and design a beautiful trade show booth….none of it matters if you don’t have the right person working your booth.
Think about it this way: Have you ever been to a restaurant where the menu looked lovely and the building was nice…but the service was terrible? Maybe you asked questions and they were unknowledgable and awkward. Perhaps they kept trying to upsell you on appetizers and wine, in a salesy way that made you very uncomfortable. I highly doubt you’ll go back; I know I wouldn’t!
Trade show booths are no different. If someone doesn’t know what they’re talking about, pushing too hard on sales or doing anything else to drive away customers, all the other factors don’t matter. People won’t engage. They won’t buy.
The person that works your trade show booth truly is going to determine if you’ll get trade show crowds. That’s why we’re sharing the easy way to succeed at trade show:
Hiring trade show entertainment.
A trade show entertainer is able to seamlessly work in your company’s mission and values into their entertainment, drawing trade show crowds, while also informing them about what your company has to offer.
A regular employee of your company is trained to be good at their niche, such as design, engineering or basic sales. This means a regular employee probably DOES NOT have the skills to draw in crowds, entertain them and have them walk away feeling impacted by your company’s work. This is exactly what a trade show entertainer does.
To see even more data-backed, tested reasons to get a infotainer, then check out this blog: Infotainer: Why Trade Show Entertainment is Essential for Your Booth.