Though trade shows are a prime opportunity for small businesses and large corporations alike to grow, success doesn’t come without a fair amount of preparation. After all, with all the other vendors you’ll be in the show with, you’re one of many, so visitors will flock to the booths that stand out and appeal to them the most. Because of this, it’s important to have an interesting and original booth that people will notice, and to do that, you have to understand what, exactly, makes appealing booths so appealing. Let’s take a look at a few things you can do to make yourself stand out during your next outdoor trade show.
Start Ahead of Time
Before you even start setting up your booth, get the drop on the competition by raising awareness. Whether through flyers, social media, or advertisements, let people know that you’re going to have a booth at the trade show, and tell them about the unique things your booth will bring to the table, things that they won’t want to miss.
You can start letting people know that you’ll have a booth as early as you want, but we recommend giving yourself one or two months at a minimum. This should give you enough time to build up some hype about your booth and get people interested in visiting you, but the more time you allow yourself, the better. Once you’ve gotten people in the door, though, it’s time to wow them with the booth itself.
Make Yourself Stand Out
To make a booth that people will want to visit, you need to start with an interesting, eye-catching design and signage. Use bright colors and prominent logos that are designed to stand out, and try to implement a unique theme of sorts that relates to your brand. If your booth does something that the other booths haven’t, you’ll stand out far more and stick in the visitors’ memory for much longer, increasing the chance that they’ll stop by to purchase something.
Come Up With a Team Uniform
While you’re working on making your booth more recognizable, you can do the same thing with yourself and your team members. By designing a unique uniform and having your entire team wear it on the day of the trade show, you’ll not only create a sense of cohesion among your team members, you’ll also make an even greater impression on your booth’s visitors than you would with a spiffy booth alone.
Take Cues From Other Booths
If you see other booths doing something that looks like it could work for you as well, don’t be afraid to adopt it! Chances are, a lot of the other brands have done trade shows before, so if they’re doing something now, it’s probably because it worked for them in the past. Once you’ve put your own brand’s unique spin on whatever they’re doing, you’ll have a powerful new tool at your disposal to attract more visitors.
Put Things on Sale
If there’s one thing shoppers love, it’s a good sale. Everyone likes the feeling that they’re getting a bargain, and may even buy things they wouldn’t have otherwise if those things are being sold at a good price. Something like a buy-one-get-one sale may be just the thing you need to attract visitors to your booth and get them to make purchases, especially if you have a unique and interesting product to begin with.
Hold a Giveaway
Of course, if there’s one thing shoppers love even more than a good sale, it’s free stuff, which makes holding a giveaway one of the best trade show marketing tactics out there. After all, if they don’t win the giveaway, they haven’t lost anything, but if they do win, they get something interesting out of it, so they really don’t have a good reason not to stop by your booth and sign up. In addition, you can even use the prizes of the giveaway to promote your shop by making those prizes gift cards and merchandise from your shop. If the prize winners enjoy their free product, they’ll likely recommend it to others, and may even come back to buy some more!
Offer Refreshments
If you’re participating in an outdoor trade show, there’s always a chance that the weather doesn’t cooperate, forcing visitors to stand outside in the heat or cold. We’ve all been in a situation where the temperature was making us uncomfortable, and we’ve all thought to ourselves that we’d do anything for a cool glass of water or a mug of hot cocoa. If your booth has a table that provides complimentary refreshments, it’s only natural that people will want to pay you a visit, and are likely to tell other visitors about you as well. This means more foot traffic, more recognition, and ultimately, a better end result for the trade show.
Work With the Other Vendors
While the other vendors at the outdoor trade show may be your competitors, they’re not your enemies by any means. A successful trade show is already a group effort, with everyone setting up their own booths to create an interesting and exciting event, so why not take it a step further by collaborating directly with some of the other participants?
You could, for example, recommend each other’s booths to your visitors, or even provide discounts to their shop if a visitor has shopped at yours first. This will encourage visitors to stick around longer than they may have otherwise, and to shop at more booths as they hear about them and rack up discounts, ultimately giving all of the vendors some extra foot traffic.
There’s a lot that goes into setting up a successful booth at an outdoor trade show, but with the proper planning and high-quality equipment, yours will go off without a hitch. If you need more tips on planning outdoor events or want to stock up on the equipment to make them happen, feel free to visit our site at Tent and Table today!