As a small business owner, you may be responsible for marketing your own brand on a budget.
That means you tackle everything from paper brochure advertisements to posting about your products online.
Every year, trade shows happen all across America to give businesses the chance to engage with buyers to boost sales face-to-face.
Attending a trade show can be a scary feat, but it’s necessary to do it if you want to see your business thrive in such a competitive market.
Here is a list of the top 10 trade show booth tips that will lead you to success.
1. Fill the Trade Show Booth With Product
As soon as the trade show begins, people are going to be interested in stopping by your booth to see what products you have to offer.
Make sure all of your products are available to see on the floor.
You don’t want to be embarrassed if one of your latest t-shirt designs is only available to see in the catalog and not to physically touch in real life.
People love to interact with products to get an idea of what they will be purchasing in mass quantities for their stores if they are representatives of major brands.
2. Give Out Samples To Potential Customers at Your Trade Show Booth
Handing out freebies is still a huge marketing technique that works.
Create stickers, postcards, prototypes, buttons, bracelets, anything with your name on it. Also, think about who your demographic is.
Are you reaching tweens who are constantly on their phones?
Consider developing a pop-socket with your logo on it and giving them out from your trade show booth.
Once a few people see your awesome pop-sockets, then the news will travel and more people will end up stopping by your trade show booth to check out more.
3. Focus on Developing Your Brand (And Show It)
Every business shows up to trade shows wanting to impress the crowds of buyers and shoppers alike.
This is your time, often just once a year, to really connect with your customer base.
You need to focus on your brand and what sets your company apart from the competition that will inevitably be at the same trade show.
How can your company help the customer feel invited?
What service can your company provide the customer? These are the types of questions all lead up to understanding: what is your brand?
In order to have loyal customers, you must pay attention to how you formulate your brand authenticity.
Be original. Have your own ideas at the forefront of everything you do and say during your trade show experience.
You need to have an idea of what your exact brand, whether it’s a cookware line or shoe line, represents and how you can easily translate this information to your customers in a digestible manner.
4. Promote Through Social Media
Your trade show booth exhibit will be the talk of the town once you promote it all over social media.
Have your top employees send out blasts to your target audience a few days prior to the main event.
Engage with the buyers who plan on attending the trade show through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more.
Get them excited to see what you have in store. Don’t forget to keep posting throughout the entire course of the trade show, too! Live stream your exhibit on Facebook for all of your followers to see.
Come up with a special hashtag for the event, too. You can use this to track who stops by your booth and interacts with your content.
This interaction is a great tool to help you find success with your target audience online in a fun and easy way without hounding them to make a sale.
5. Include Video Presentations
The power of video continues to integrate with every aspect of marketing.
You can include video presentations at your trade show booth to show off your newest products and even show what’s to come in the future.
A video presentation goes hand in hand with creating top of the line exhibit graphics.
People who pass by your trade show booth will be drawn to your booth because it stands out with such a creative approach to learning about your product. Use a tool such as a ModLite Monitor Kiosk to display your LCD monitor.
6. Be Welcoming
Put on your brightest smile. Your trade show booth is nothing without a happy face.
You are representing your business and you need to show people that you are friendly and welcoming.
From the first buyer to the last, you need to be professional and in a good mood. When you are welcoming,
7. Keep Your Design Consistent
Post clear, concise images of your brand all over your trade show booth, as you maintain consistency with the same color scheme and logo.
Yes, it’s fun to have tons of bright colors and patterns, but sometimes less is more.
Design your exhibit to include straightforward graphics that get right to the point of what you have to offer the potential buyer.
You can’t have people guessing what products you sell as they usually spend a few minutes checking out a booth before walking away to the next one.
8. Set Goals
Of course, with most important upcoming events, you need to put in place some realistic goals for your business.
What do you hope to accomplish at the trade show? Do you need to rack up more sales or do you want to keep building your target audience through social media shares?
Write down your goals and stick to them as much as possible as you carry on your day.
Share these goals with your team to hone in on the same end-goals to help guide each other from interactions with each new buyer.
9. Stay Organized
Look as crisp and put-together as your neatly designed exhibit does when you pull out your iPad to take down orders.
Staying organized is another huge tip for excelling at your trade show. If you want a quick way to tally up sales, use a tablet to plug in a buyer’s information to store it for later.
This modern approach to keeping tabs on your sales from the day will ensure optimal organization which results in a higher ROI.
10. Follow-Up With Buyers ASAP
Don’t let your valuable buyers forget about your products. Be sure to follow-up with them as soon as possible to schedule meetings and phone calls to make sales.
You need to focus on building a long-lasting relationship with these buyers because they will most likely attend the trade show next year, or even in as little as six months at a different location.
Send an e-mail when the show if over to a few buyers you connected with. Make every lead count! Talk to your buyers about getting together at their stores to establish a market for your products.
Want Help Designing Your Next Trade Show Booth?
This article is intended to outline the top 10 tips to succeed at your trade show to promote your business as best as you can.
Send us a quick e-mail if you have any questions regarding your trade booth show design because our team at Infinity Exhibits has an eye for creative and affordable options.