#1 – Promote Your Trade Show Exhibit Before the Event
#2 – Make Sure Your Booth Staff/Models Have Adequate Training
#3 – Make Lead Generation a Top Priority
#4 – Reserve a High-Traffic Area of the Convention Hall
#5 – Offer Giveaways That Won’t be Discarded
#6 – Get in Touch With Booth Visitors After the Event – FOLLOW UP
The Las Vegas Convention Service (LVCS) team has three generations of trade show and event industry experience, providing the opportunity to share best practices, industry trends, and lessons learned across multiple industries. LVCS takes the stress out of the strategic process by consulting with you on key issues and providing independent advice, giving you the freedom to comfortably make better-informed decisions.
We offer premium solutions to make your next conference or convention a breeze. We can organize and manage every element of your next event and provide the resources to enhance your brand and set you apart from the crowd.
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1 – Promote Your Trade Show Exhibit Before the Event
Trade shows are not only for meeting new prospects. They also give you an opportunity to connect, in person, with your current customers. When they visit your booth, the face-to-face interaction will help to strengthen your relationships with them. Let them know how much you appreciate their business and ask them how things are going. Maybe they’ll have a project coming up that they’d love to use you for since you’ve been so accessible and open with them.
So how do you get your customers to attend the show and visit your booth? You have two options. First, you can do nothing and simply hope they’ll stop by. Second, you can be proactive and promote your exhibit weeks, even months, before the big day arrives. Email your mailing list. Get the word out via social media. Promote it through direct mail. Share photos and captions through the stages of your event planning and share photos of your booth. Get attendees excited about an in-booth promotion you’ll be offering. Offer a mixer at a private venue or hotel suite or pick them up from the airport in a branded limousine. A great way to get people to stop by is to offer a giveaway that can only be redeemed by stopping at the booth. That will be a great way to engage in conversation and see how you can solve their needs.
Pre-show marketing can have a dramatic effect on the number of people who visit you during the event. That in turn will boost your trade show ROI. Success depends on proper marketing, staffing, organizing, media and creativity. Utilizing a Destination Management Company that focuses on trade shows usually pays off big in the end. For more creative promotional ideas, click here
#2 – Make Sure Your Booth Staff/Models Have Adequate Training
Booth staff have a single overriding purpose while they work your booth: They are to engage attendees, qualify them as leads, and collect their contact information. Professional trade show models can do this effectively but still benefit from training. The traits that will help them generate targeted leads will increase with adequate training on interactions and what questions to ask is essential.
Show your booth staffers or models how to direct conversations toward learning more about visitors’ business needs. Also, show them how to present your company’s products and services as attractive solutions. Engaging visitors and qualifying them according to their respective budgets, needs, and buying urgency requires asking good questions and listening attentively to the responses.
#3 – Make Lead Generation a Top Priority
Of all the actions you take during the event, collecting leads will have the biggest impact on your success. The purpose of your trade show exhibit is to give your company exposure to your target market. The greater your exposure, the more people you’ll attract to your booth. But just because a large number of attendees visit your booth doesn’t mean your efforts to draw them in will generate results. Make sure you generating the right audience for your company. That should be discussed before you even get to the show and while you’re designing your booth.
You and your employees have to engage attendees and determine whether they need your products and services. You must generate leads. Doing so should be your top priority.
#4 – Reserve a High-Traffic Area of the Convention Hall
The more foot traffic you have near your booth, the more opportunities you’ll have to meet and engage attendees. Reserving space in a high-traffic area may be as simple as asking (contact the event organizer). Other times, you’ll be expected to pay a premium. So what is a high-traffic area in a convention hall? Try getting a spot on the corner where there is always a crossroads of attendees passing. You will be able to engage from all directions and your booth will be more noticeable not packed between two others.
It’s important to remember that having the best spot in the convention hall won’t help you if your display is poorly designed or your staff isn’t prepared. If you do not have a desirable location, you need to focus on pre-show marketing, hosting a mixer and utilizing models/Lead Facilitators to drive booth traffic.
#5 – Offer Giveaways That Won’t be Discarded
Promotional giveaways will attract attendees to your exhibit. Everyone likes free gifts, but make sure they aren’t too cheap that they’ll give your company or brand a bad memory. The key is offering giveaways that attendees are likely to keep and use over and over. Creative ideas that utilize social media can have a lasting effect. Hire a Las Vegas Showgirl at your booth and have a photographer take pictures watermarked with your logo. This typically will create lines at your booth but remember to utilize booth sales and proper follow up so it’s more than a clever gimmick.
For example, coffee mugs with your company’s brand subtly displayed on the bottom are a great idea. So, too, are keychain flashlights, reusable water bottles, and travel-sized computer accessories, such as a mouse or pair of ear buds. Bad ideas include boomerangs, branded pens, and stress balls. They’re overplayed and offer little practical value.
Las Vegas Convention & Conference Services raffles off VIP Vegas experiences. One such experience is an adventure flight where a lucky lead wins the opportunity to fly as co-pilot (bringing two friends in back seat) in an exhilarating Super Viking Aerobatic Plane. They are picked up in a limo and brought to a private hanger where they experience a rundown of aerodynamics. After the flight-thrill of a lifetime, they leave with a full edited and custom video that showcases their experience-and is branded by with YOUR company logo when their share on social media. You can find the right giveaway for you by asking a few simple questions, though. If you’re unsure what you should use, click here.
#6 – Get in Touch With Booth Visitors After the Event – FOLLOW UP
Earlier, we noted that lead generation, among the various other actions you take at the event, will have the biggest impact on your success. But collecting leads is only half of the equation. You must follow up on them when you return home. The reality is that only about 40% of sales people follow up on leads after the show. That number is painfully low, so make sure you’re giving all of your hard work and investment what it’s worth by following up on all of those leads that you spoke with.
Many exhibitors, even those who have years of in-the-trenches experience, neglect to follow up with the people they meet at the show. Instead, they shelf their hard-won leads with the intention of addressing them when they have more time. The problem is, targeted leads age quickly. Each day that passes allows them to further cool. After a few weeks, your chances of converting those leads to customers becomes slim. Did you know that only 47% of sales people follow up on their leads? Follow up needs to happen within 1-3 days after the show. Don’t let your hard work fall out underneath of your and your ROI plummet.
Given the time and resources you’re devoting to exhibiting, you want to do everything possible to maximize the ROI of your trade show exhibit. When the time comes to prepare for your next event, start planning early and get your timeline in order. In the meantime, visit our website to explore a full range of trade show solutions, tips, advice, and educational materials. We want you to succeed.