Tips to Get More Stand Visitors at Exhibitions

Tips to get more Stand Visitors at Exhibitions & Trade Shows

Trade shows & conferences are a great opportunity to meet with potential customers to promote your company’s products and services. Attending the right events for your industry, means that most of the attendees are already pre-qualified as potential prospects.

So, you have paid thousands of dollars to the organisers to exhibit, have set up a nice inviting stand, and have taken your staff from their normal duties to engage with attendees... a significant financial investment already. All you need now is a steady flow of visitors to your stand so you can pitch your wares, and generate sales leads...simple yes? …unfortunately not!

The “Build it and they will come” approach works to some extent, but given the time & money already invested, you really need to maximise the visitations to your stand.

How to get more traffic flow to your stand?   Some ideas below to get you thinking:

Product Demos: Have a set schedule of 10min presentations/demos throughout the day – entice people to attend by offering an incentive. A quality promotional gift in a prize draw at the end of each session is always a winner. You will be surprised how news will travel around the event if you have cool promotional items on offer. Keep the sessions brief and articulate clear value propositions. And of course, capture the names of all the attendees…the promotional prize draws are a great vehicle for this.

Daily Prize Draws: A good method to get folks along to your stand and have them anticipate being the winner of the Ferrari you are giving away (or maybe just a bottle of bubbly).

Promotional Incentives: Everyone loves a freebie, and most folks will gratefully receive a promotional giveaway item and pop it into their goodies bag. If your intent is just to get your brand out there, then such giveaway items certainly have merit. However, do try to make the items relevant and memorable to your business. There are thousands of promotional products to choose from, and many can now be custom designed to your specific needs.  An alternative approach on the stand giveaway, is to make the recipient take some action after receiving their gift so you can connect with them again. This could be for instance, a marketing campaign in which the giveaway is a clue to solve a puzzle on your website, or provides a further incentive if they produce it at one of your stores or offices. With the low cost of technology based promotional items, phone scanners and downloadable apps, you can get very creative with your marketing ideas without breaking the budget!

Use of Social Media:  Think about how you can advertise your attendance at the event, both beforehand and on the day. Create opportunities during the event to post media of pictures and videos of your stand, happy attendees, product news etc. Get the word out why people should visit your stand and any promotional incentives you have on offer including special event deals. Don’t forget to invite your existing customers to the event, as they can be a great asset in helping drive attendance and can create a warm social fell on your stand.

Referrals: Why not have attendees who refer their friends or colleagues to visit, get some form of reward?  Maybe a points system for each time their name or company is mentioned, for which the reward is a classy promotional gift, or some form of a future discount offer.

Project the Right Image:  Make sure that you have everything in place to project your company’s image in a professional way. Simple things like name badges, and branded apparel for the stand staff are important so that help can be recognised and found quickly. Keep your stand clutter free of personal items, bags and empty coffee cups. You don’t want to waste all that effort getting someone along, to have them pass you by because of the appearance of your stand area or that they are unable to find someone to engage with.

Stand Design & Location: This does depend on the venue and size of the exhibition. Probably the best way is to assess your stand is through the eyes of a potential visitor. Is it welcoming? Can you work out what the company is selling? Why should I spend time there? Do the stand staff look friendly and engaged? Is the signage clear? Are there any freebies? etc. Have something to catch the eye and draw the visitors in. This could be a simple video playing, or something that is more intriguing and makes the visitor want to find out more.

If you are planning exhibiting at a conference or trade show, Promotional World can help you make it a success. We offer an extensive range of promotional products, branded items, and apparel, to help entice attendees to your stand and project a positive brand image. Also, our experience and ideas can add to your marketing know-how. Please contact us to discuss your event requirements.

Happy exhibiting!

The Promotional World Team