Where your trade show booth is located and how your booth looks will have an impact on your trade show success. Use these tips to help you along.
Shoot for a high-traffic location
Be sure to look at a floor plan before you choose your site. Foot traffic is heaviest in certain areas of a typical trade show floor. Look for locations near entrances, food concessions, rest rooms, seminar rooms, or close to major exhibitors. Try to avoid dead-end aisles, loading docks, obstructing columns, or other low-traffic regions.
Consider sharing a booth
New exhibitors often get the least desirable locations. One way around that is to share a well-located trade show booth display with a colleague in a related business. Talk to your sales rep, or try to hook up with an established exhibitor whose products or services complement yours.
Elate the senses
Make sure people coming to your booth can experience your product or service. Let them touch, see, feel, hear or taste it. Are you selling decorative pillows? Display them in an appropriate setting and have samples that buyers can touch. Have you developed a new software package? Be sure to have multiple computer terminals available for attendees to try the package.
Keep it simple
Don't go overboard with trade show booth graphics. One large picture that can be seen from afar may have a greater impact than many small ones. A single catchy slogan that describes your business may say more than long blocks of text.
Gimmicks work
Gimmicks and give-aways can also drive traffic to your trade show exhibit. Hold a contest; have a loud product demo; give away pieces of candy; hire a masseuse and offer free back rubs. Just make sure that the gimmick fits your company's image and the sensibilities of your clients.
For more information on effective trade show exhibits, contact The Exhibit Source.
NYTimes
