July 6th, 2011
Trade shows offer an excellent way to gain additional exposure for your product or service, to network, to learn more about what’s going on in your industry, and to amass huge amounts of leads. Here are our top tips for getting the most out of your next trade show booth rental.
To put it simply, just imagine that you were a participant in the trade show, and think about what would attract you to visit a particular booth or vendor. Consider the appearance and persona – these are the first two areas we’ll focus on in this article. Then, we switch over to the vendor perspective, and consider what makes the trade show appearance most valuable: viable leads. That’s where contact information capture becomes important, as well as follow-up and follow-through.
Appearance
One of the key aspects to attracting more folks to your trade show booth is the appearance. Remember, you’ll be competing for attention with a lot of other booths, so it’s important to stand out and garner interest, while maintaining professionalism. This includes your personal appearance – dress appropriately for the event, but make sure your own appearance is neat and polished. Keep your booth tidy and orderly, and give passers-by a reason to stop in and learn more – you can accomplish this with a freebie, contest or giveaway, or an LCD flat screen monitor that showcases your product or service. At the very least, rent an LCD projector and a screen to display images or video about your company and its offerings.
Persona
It’s not only your persona, but the “mood” of your booth that can make or break your success at a trade show. You’ll want to remain enthusiastic (but not overbearing) and interested (but not intrusive). There’s a delicate balance to strike between being too over-eager, versus too laissez-faire. Think about trade shows you’ve attended – what made you feel most comfortable at your favorite booths? A warm, genuine smile and friendly conversation goes a long way.
Capture
If you don’t provide some way of capturing contact information for everyone who visits your booth, you are most definitely leaving money on the table. This can be as simple as a clipboard-and-pen system, or as complex as PC tablet rentals. Hosting a contest or giveaway (random drawing) is an excellent way to entice visitors to share their contact information, allowing you to collect valuable leads.
Follow up
This is perhaps the most overlooked step in any trade show experience. Once you’ve collected names and contact information (email addresses or telephone numbers) from the event, the next step is to go through and contact all these warm leads. Be sure to add a personal note or phone call to anyone with whom you made a live connection.
Remember to check back later in the month – we’ll be providing additional information on trade show follow-up tips, plus sample emails you can swipe or tweak for your own use.
In the meantime, why not take a minute now to secure your rental projector for your trade show booth? The process is quick and hassle-free – just click here now to rent a projector from Projector123.com.
Leave a Reply
