Ideas on how to get people to your trade show exhibition stand!

If you are exhibiting at a trade show it is vital you get the right type of people and potential customers to your stand. Below are a few tips you may find useful:-

Your stand is your shop window!
What is your reason for being at the show? For most people it is to sell, launch a new product or a simple brand awareness exercise. You must select signs, posters, colours and marketing materials that reflect this.

You don’t have to have a big stand
When you are exhibiting you do need to have big desires but that doesn’t mean you must have a massive budget. Don’t get carried away with having the biggest stand, location is more important and if you get the look right a smaller stand can work just as well.

Exhibiting at a trade show does not mean you have to spend lots of cash. Try to use things you can use again. You will always find there are things in your office you can take and if you have room, taking things like chairs means you don’t have to hire them.

Test before you go
Get everything together and make sure it will all fit in your vehicle. There is nothing worse than packing up the day before to head off to the exhibition hall and it won’t fit in the car. It may take you some time to work out how to fit it all in so you may need to rethink what you are taking. Once you get everything into your vehicle then take a photo on your phone to help you remember.

A good idea, if you have room, is to set it up at work before you go. That way you can see how much space you have to work with and how it will feel to your customers.

Promotional items and giveaways
Make sure your promo gifts clearly show your message or brand and they don’t end up on the floor of the exhibition. If you are going to spend money on gifts then make sure they are something people will take away with them and they market your business.

Location, location, location
Where your stand is located can be critical. Get a floor plan before you book your space and see if you can find out where your competitors are located. You ideally want to be on main walkways but if all the better spaces have been booked not to worry you can hire experienced exhibition staff to attract people to your stand.

Who are you going to take with you?
Many exhibitors hire experienced promotional staff and exhibition staff to increase stand footfall. This is a much cheaper option than taking someone from work who you have to pay hotels, lunches and travel for. Remember if you take one of your sales people, who is making those sales back at the office?

Don’t go alone, if your stand is busy how are you going to pop to the loo, go for lunch or be focused on clients when you have other waiting. Having another person with you means they can chat to visitors whilst they wait, they can promote your brand, take down contact details and your stand always has someone on it. You can also get them to go and get the coffee’s or make them if you have the facilities.

Tell people about your exhibition stand!

Don’t forget to tell people! Put an article on your website, banners on social media and email your existing and prospective clients.