How to Create a Memorable Trade Show Experience

Exhibiting at trade shows is becoming an increasingly significant part of a company’s marketing strategy, especially noting that these popular events have come back in full force following the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Trade shows are beneficial for a number of reasons. For starters, they’re ideal environments for networking and generating sales leads. This is largely because trade shows are industry-specific, so brands can ensure they’re reaching high-quality prospects relative to their business.

They’re also ideal avenues for launching new products to the market, gaining market insights that can influence the direction of future business and establishing and building the brand.

However, one thing is for certain when it comes to exhibiting at trade shows. As a brand, you want to be sure that you’re creating an experience that’s going to attract prospects and generate sales leads. While there are many ways to achieve this goal, one of the most important is putting significant focus on your booth.

In this post, we’ll discuss ways to create a memorable and booth experience so you can attract more attendees and, ideally, leave with a hefty list of prospective leads. Read on to learn more:

It’s All About the Booth

As we said, it’s largely about the booth when it comes to creating a memorable and immersive trade show experience – and there are many ways that brands can go about accomplishing it.

VR/AR Experiences

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) aren’t just for video games and simulators – you can engage your booth visitors with these types of experiences as well. Use a VR headset to take attendees into a virtual showroom or give them a virtual product demonstration of what you’re exhibiting. It sure does beat handing out a brochure or asking people to visit your website to learn more about the product or products that you have to offer.

AR can be another great tool to incorporate into your trade show booth. It can be used to conduct interactive games, scavenger hunts and create more unique experiences that will have attendees buzzing about your booth on the trade show floor.

Gamified Experiences

Another way to attract more people to your booth is to create game-like experiences. Bring a few tablets and invite attendees to take a quiz that somehow relates to the industry you’re in and how the product you offer could help them. Just don’t forget to incentivize any game experience you’re creating. Consider giving away some branded swag to everyone who participates and more significant prizes for those who perform the best.

You’ve probably been at a trade show that aimed to capture leads by having attendees drop their business cards into a jar with the potential of winning some sort of big prize via a post-show raffle. Creating a game is similar to this strategy, but tends to be more effective because people are able to interact more with your brand in the process.

Interactive Activities

There are several other ways you can create engagement at your trade show booth. Some ideas include:

• Bring in a photo booth where attendees can take fun photos of themselves and their teams with props. You could also switch things up and offer attendees the opportunity to take new professional headshots for your business profiles or LinkedIn accounts.
• Bring in yard games. Cornhole, mini golf or a mini basketball hoop are all compact yard games that you can have on hand for people to play while they learn more about your product or just to play as they unwind.
• Bring in a bunch of branded swag to hand out to attendees. Just be sure that they’re everyday items. This way, when they’re used, attendees will notice your brand and think back to when they visited your trade show booth or experienced your brand.

Create a Design that Stands Out

Lastly, you want to try to create a trade show booth design that pops. Some ways to do this include:

• Theming your booth around a current event or trend.
• Using bright colors that capture the attention of attendees.
• Using pop-up displays and banners to help attract attendees while telling your brand’s story.
• Incorporating advanced lighting to help attract attendee attention.
• If possible, include chairs and couches where attendees can kick back and relax for a break from walking the show floor.

Other Trade Show Ideas

Aside from putting some intentionality behind your booth strategy, there are several other things you can do to create a memorable trade show experience. This includes:

Do Some Pre-Marketing

There are a few ways you can carry out some pre-marketing to attendees or your industry as a whole to let them know that you’ll be at the upcoming trade show:

• See if you can run an expanded listing or an advertisement in the Trade Show Guide (if the trade show puts out such a guide for attendees).
• Check with any local trade publications that cover your industry and inquire about running either a print ad in the issue closest to the show or a digital ad on their website.
• Message your internal contact list and let everyone know that you’ll be at the show (and where to find you).

Host a Happy Hour Reception

After a long day on the show floor, it’s only natural for attendees to want to cut loose a little bit. This presents a great opportunity for your company to host a happy hour reception at your booth. Invite attendees in advance and those that you connect with throughout the show back for some drinks and snacks. This also presents a great opportunity for you to finish any conversations that you had previously started and work to close any deals that might be in the works. Happy hours are also great opportunities for networking with your existing customers.

Ready to Create a Memorable Trade Show Experience? An Experiential Marketing Agency Can Help

Not sure where to start? An experiential marketing agency can help with your booth design and strategies to turn more attendees into prospects at your next trade show.