A trade show has a start and end date.
Between those dates, you have only a few days in which to invest a lot of energy and money.
Just a few days in the jungle of exhibitors and a massive quantity of people who need to stand out above them all.
So how can you do it?
How can you make your potential customer stop at your booth and not walk right on past as they do with so many others?
Reading on is for the brave-hearted only; those who are prepared to leave the traditional, “official” way of doing things behind and think out of the box a little.
Don’t be like the other 3,700 other booths at the trade show, looking exactly like a carbon copy of their site, except in 3D with banal slogans, stock photos, and products lined up nicely on shelves.
Tell a story that’s all about connotations tied to your world of content.
Beyond the curiosity this will arouse, do you realize the power and confidence you’ll convey when you’re telling a story and just looking “like everyone else”?
When we represented a perfume company, the booth was an exact copy of a square in Paris where visitors could walk around, amazed (and the brand’s name appeared only as the name of a café on the square…).
A flower show? Let’s turn your booth into a fashion show, complete with a catwalk, MTV music, semi-dark lighting, and models in dresses made of flowers.
Displaying at a food show in Paris with a product that’s all about Asia? The booth was actually a fabulous road through an authentic market (and the product was sold from a cart at the end of the road).
Your product is security cameras for sensitive locations? We turned the booth into an airport terminal, with all that implied (including fake “plane tickets” that visitors received after a check-in process which gave them admission to a wild event happening later on that day).
A factory producing swimming pool cleaning robots? The entire booth became one large pool that customers could “dive into” (an incredible optical illusion).
Tell a story. Be different. Show the world that you think differently and that you’re confident enough in yourselves that you don’t have to showcase your products in a banal way.
By the way, we’re not even talking necessarily about something that will make your booth overly expensive. It just takes creative thought and design within the framework of the budget that the customer determines. Just different.
So why do we focus only on this one sense to attract visitors?
Sense of hearing:
Are you selling green products? The sound of a forest could combine beautifully with your story.
Selling extreme sports products? Rock music will support the skate park you’ll build in your booth. (It’s a story, remember?)
A café, the sea, a concert, every sound that supports your story and will stand out from the regular noises of the trade show.
Sense of smell:
Real estate agents have known for years that the scent of homemade cookies can awaken powerful feelings of sentimentality and significantly boost sales. Hotels and chain stores have used this artistry for a long time.
So why aren’t you? Installing a fragrance machine isn’t complicated. Which scent will invite passers-by to stop at your booth?
Sense of taste:
After you’ve read the previous section and invited guests with the scent of warm cinnamon cake… invest a little and serve some to your guests. With high-quality coffee. So that after they’ve been walking around for hours and after they’ve stopped by your booth because of the addictive scent, their stomach will smile in your direction, and you’ve got them hooked.
In short – serve refreshments. But not the kind that comes cheap. The kind that you’d want to taste, the kind that would make you sit down for a minute and relax in the booth. It’s worth it!
Lighting:
Special lighting can break down the cold lighting of the hall, so that it’s easier on the eyes and inspire a squad of cheerleaders in the tired mind of visitors to sing your praises and smile, relax on the indulgent easy chair, and hear your message out.
Really. Sometimes, a single projector with the right intensity, in the right shade and focus and your booth can look completely different. (You need a specialist for this who will let you know what you need.)
No, it’s still not dead and gone! We love presents!!
True, a gift has to be a little more sophisticated, the kind that might be chosen by a hotel (think about what’s left behind in the room and what’s dragged home in your suitcase).
True, a raffle has to be publicized ahead of time to induce visitors to come to your booth for the chance to win something thoroughly worthwhile… (Have you thought of mailing every single prospective client before the trade show with a single puzzle piece that might fit the big picture in your booth, thus winning them some dream prize…?)
But the bottom line is we love gifts and love prizes. You just need to put in a little thought beyond the traditional roll of the dice.
And no, this doesn’t mean setting up a 42” screen that will play your movie on a loop. ☺
(Have you ever counted how many screens there are with demo reels on a loop there are at every single trade show…?)
Today, it’s possible to combine content development with advanced technology, and it’s not necessarily expensive. 3D exhibits, virtual reality, augmented reality, and more will make an impression and actually get visitors excited about the booth, exhibitor, and content which is presented in this indirect way.
And everything else that will help complete your story and lead visitors to stop and look.
There are companies that specialize in this and know whom to bring and how to properly integrate your story – along with how to stop people so they’ll turn and notice you.
These are just a few of the things it’s possible to do to outshine everyone else.
There are so many more ideas, and I’m proud to tell you that thanks to our good ideas, we’ve won prizes in the U.S. and articles full of praise at various trade shows in Europe and Israel. But at the same time, I need to add: these ideas and others will definitely stop visitors and bring them into your booth.
Now it’s completely in your team’s hands to do the work and keep them there.
We will go drink coffee with a warm cinnamon cake because we have done our part…
)I’ve written about this in the past in an article about training your team).
