Many business owners do not fully understand the true power and marketing opportunities that can be gained from exhibiting at trade shows. They are a phenomenal method to getting your brand and products in front of a willing audience, and can help you engage directly with attendees who hold tremendous purchasing power. The ability to gather warm leads and further your reach is unquestionable.

There are plenty of different techniques that are known to work well at grabbing an audiences attention and this article outlines the top 8 methods to make your exhibition experience that much more memorable.

When you utilise the following strategies into your trade show marketing campaign, you will have a more positive experience and far greater value for money and return on investment.

Ultimately, the purpose of trade show marketing is to both attract audiences attention and engage with them. Being able to clearly promote your brand while giving attendees a tangible reason to visit your stand is of prime importance. Follow the suggestions below that have worked for plenty of other companies successfully.

1) Pre-Show Invites

Having a beautifully built stand that maximises your branding and engages attendees is essential. However, you may miss out on numerous opportunities if you do not invite past and current customers to visit you. One great idea is to invite your key contacts and to target accounts you’ve been trying to convert to paying customers. You can invite them via good old fashioned mail-outs, email marketing, telephone calls or by using social media.

2) Visual Appeal

No doubt, you’ll spend considerable time and money on your exhibition stand. Having a well built and beautifully designed stand that enhances your branding, exhibits marketing slogans and incorporates eye-catching features is a must if you are aiming for maximum results from your trade show. Having a visually stunning exhibition stand is what will attract attendees to visit and talk to you. A visually unappealing exhibition stand will help prevent trade show attendees from visiting and talking with competing firms.

3) Branding Impact

Branding should be one of the biggest attributes of your exhibition stand as you want to clearly tell the audience who you are and what you have to offer. You want to use your colours and slogans as well as products and services associated with your brand. You can incorporate elements such as like LED lighting, animated video screens, digital displays and touch screen presentations to enhance and grab attention.

4) Engage & Entertain

Attendees will scan the trade show floor and make snap decisions as to where they’ll spend the majority of their time. In a matter of just a few seconds, they will make snap judgements that determine whether or not they will visit and interact with your exhibition stand. To make your stand one of their choices, you want to create intrigue and excitement. Try engaging your audience by using big screens and interactive media. Get your guests engrossed in games, fun surveys, thought provoking polls and activities. You can also present hands-on product demonstrations and other direct marketing methods that will entertain your visitors and create a memorable experience.

5) Create a Buzz

An excellent method to both attract and retain visitor interest is to connect with your target audience before the event as well as afterwards. You can create a pre-show buzz by connecting with your audience through social media and gain their interest before the event has started. You can also use photobooths and video coverage during the show to maintain that buzz and help with viral marketing content that you can use online. The more people that come to your stand, the more others will want to join them. It’s the classic snowball effect.

6) Great Giveaways

Great giveaways never fail. When smart giveaways are used, they should clearly feature your brand and help with lead generation. You want giveaways to collect valuable contact information and not lead to spiralling costs that give little return. The best giveaways use interactive elements that display your brand and keep your company in the minds of the attendees long after the trade show ends.

7) Digital Technology

With the capabilities that technology offers, it should be incorporated into your exhibition stand design as much as possible. You can use impactful lighting and displays, provide downloadable apps for smartphones, touchscreens and other forms of technology to gain interest and attract visitors while reinforcing your brand identity.

8) Think Outside Four Walls

If your trade show space allows, try to avoid boxing your stand in. An open and inviting stand will encourage visitors into your space from all sides and this will act like a magnet to interested passers by. A closed in stand means you can only engage audiences from one side, whilst an open-plan exhibition stand means people can see you from all sides. An exhibition space designed in such a way will give you a far greater chance of successfully attracting people to your stand and them staying there.

Conclusion

When you follow the suggestions outlined above, your exhibition will have a much greater chance of success, and bring much needed attention and engagement from visitors. Trade show marketing is a highly lucrative method of reaching active buying customers and leads but to be successful, it must be done right. Follow the points above and you should find success comes much easier.