10 Tips for a Successful Trade Show
Tis the season of trade shows! With MRO America this week (April 10th – 12th), Sun n’ Fun (April 10th – 15th), and PBExpo in less than 40 days (May 16th and 17th) now is the best time to prepare and ensure that your booth will be a success. But what of those that do not know the tips and tricks of the trade?
PartsBase and PBExpo decided to help our viewing audience with these 10 Tips for a Successful Show, so that they can maximize their Trade Show experience.
Tip #1
Create an Experience
What is it that trade show attendees look for in a booth? If any tip is to be taken deadly serious, it is that one. One way to make sure your booth is one of the most visited, and most remembered, is by creating an experience. Have games, have test products, and actively engage with the customers.
Give them something to go home and talk about. Give them an experience to remember!
Tip #2
Plan an Eye Catching Booth Design
Another essential tip is to make your booth as eye catching as possible. When scanning a sea of similarly shaded booths, be the one to jump out! Be colorful, vibrant, and exciting because trade show attendees can feel the energy. Eye-popping colors are sure to capture the attention of the idly wandering passerby, which brings us to our next tip.
Tip #3
Engaging Employees
So … your booth catches the eye of the trade show attendee, they come up to the booth to an underwhelming employee who desperately wants to leave. This scenario is trade show attendee repellent.
Make sure that your employees actively engage with any, and all, booth visitors. In addition to being actively engaged with your audience, it is vitally important that your booth team members know their stuff.
Tip #4
Strategize and Plan Ahead
Cohesion amongst your booth team members is necessary when at a trade show. The staff working the booth should have a focused goal in mind; whether that is to simply spread word of how great your company is, bring in a set amount of clients, recruit new potential employees, or networking. The options are virtually endless, but as long as your team is on the same track as one another, the trade show is sure to be a success.
Tip #5
Advertise on Your Social Media
This can be taken as a chance to both expand your social media presence, and announce your attendance to the Trade show. A simple social status can prove to incredibly useful, especially when paired with giveaways and exclusives!
By posting your trade show presence (perhaps a booth number and who your company decides to send for your booth), it not only captures your followers’ interest, but also shows that you are a company that evolves with the times and will continually adapt to new situations. This is ground breaking for new age customers who spend most of their time on social medias.
Tip #6
Promotional Content
As mentioned above, promotional content at a trade show is much more than just a tip … nowadays it seems as though it is a must!
Whether that be lanyards, phone cases, tote bags, or any other of the numerous options available, it is vital to have some sort of physical piece for an attendee to remember you by. On top of this, those prizes can also act as free advertising – a walking billboard. Be sure to include your company’s logo and any other vital information on the giveaway item, to maximize your experience.
Tip #7
Hospitality Goes a Long Way
There are so many varying forms of giveaways, why not change it up a bit. Offer seating opportunities so trade show attendees can rest their feet (and also hear all of your excellent prepared pitches). Have coffee, water, cookies, or any other form of snack to give attendees another reason to stay!
Tip #8
Partner with Other Companies
This tip is one of the hidden gems. It is important to mention that we do not believe it is a good idea to pair up with someone in your EXACT industry, but it can be incredibly beneficial to combine your prowess with another company in a SIMILAR industry.
For example, if your company specializes in seat belts, it could prove incredibly beneficial to pair up with another company that makes seat cushions or driving wheels for the trade show.
Tip #9
Interactive Booths
Trade show attendees go absolutely nuts for activities. Whether they be some form of application (on an iPad or other smart device), or in the form of a physical game (corn hole and tic-tac-toe being some common ones), they are sure to engage the booth attendees. When booth visitors are entertained through these methods, it immediately puts a smile on their face and makes them lower their usually cautioned guard.
Tip #10
Make it Fun for Your Employees
All too often, within the last hour or so of a show you can visibly see the exhaustion in your booth workers’ faces. This is completely understandable because schmoozing attendees can be incredibly exhausting work, so it is important to kick it up a notch for your workers.
This can be done in the form of a friendly competition amongst staffers. This not only motivates them (perhaps for a prize), but it also makes them that much more likely to actively engage with your attendees.
Trade Show Season
These have been PartsBase’s 10 Tips for a Successful Trade Show. PartsBase is secure in giving out these amazing opportunities for growth because we have accumulated knowledge over our 20 plus years of attending aviation and aerospace trade shows.
We love sharing information and knowledge to help the community, which is the reason we decided to host PBExpo 2018 in our backyard. For more information you can visit the website, PBExpo.org, or call us at 561–953–0700.
See you there!