Beyond Your Booth: 6 Ways to Power up Your Tradeshow Presence
In the world of B2B marketing, exhibiting at industry tradeshows is a frequent tool in the arsenal for building brand awareness and generating leads. Too often, businesses fail to think beyond their booth and never reach the potential visibility and results that can be gained. Here are the top six ways to get beyond your booth and power up your tradeshow presence – and results:
1. Visually support your brand with a professional booth.
Your booth should be professional and consistent with how your brand is conveyed on your website and in other marketing materials. Think beyond the booth display and graphics to the people manning the booth. It is visually effective for your company representatives to dress alike with shirts that are your brand color and are embroidered with your company logo.
2. Show your expertise as a speaker
Start early when you know a show is coming up and watch for the official call for speakers. While tradeshows have been an effective way for Red Sage to generate leads, the results go up significantly when I have an opportunity to speak and present our expertise. People who have heard me speak are far more likely to stop by the booth, or contact me after the show for more information. Prepare a speakers page on your website that includes your bio, showcases your experience, lists topics you can present, and information on your presentation style.
3. Start making connections before the show.
If a list of registered attendees is provided before the show far enough in advance, send out a pre-show mailer or letter inviting attendees to stop by your booth and possibly even pick up a special gift. Also take time to review the list of attendees and identify top prospects you want to talk to when you are at the show. You can individually email them before the show and request a meeting, or ask any mutual contacts to introduce you once you arrive. LinkedIn is a great tool for pre-conference research of potential customers and a great way to identify mutual contacts. Learn more ways you can get ready before a tradeshow in Katie’s video, “How Should I prepare for a Tradeshow?”
4. Look for key sponsorships to raise your visibility
Identify sponsorship opportunities that fit your budget and gain visibility for your company at the show. I prefer sponsorships where my logo is shown on a screen in front of all attendees and in conference materials and my company name is mentioned from the podium.
5. Make your booth more interactive and lively
Include a monitor with a video or slideshow of projects with your booth to make it more eye-catching – or build an interactive kiosk presentation for your i-Pad or tablet. We recently worked with the Greater Prattville, Alabama Chamber of Commerce to develop an interactive i-pad presentation that they used at a retail show to engage prospective retailers and showcase their community. A tablet kiosk can either be held or displayed in a locking stand at your booth.
6. Engage with social media during the show
At a minimum, use Twitter, which is the best way to connect with others and monitor buzz during the conference and make sure you use the conference hashtag. Menachem Wecker provides great advice on how to do this in his blog, “Conference Season is Here. Don’t Stink at Twitter.” You can also take it to the next level with a social media activity that draws attention to your brand. We have found great success utilizing social media contests during a tradeshow. We have a special promotional product for this- a small red car with our logo on it. We invite others to take creative pictures of our car anywhere in or around the conference and share them to enter to win a prize. In her blog, 3 Ways to use your Website this Tradeshow Season, Teresa recommends adding a page on your website where people can vote for their favorite photo. The photo with the most votes wins a prize, which can be a gift card, an i-pad, a FitBit, or just about anything.
Need More Help?
If you need a new exhibit, print materials for your booth, or if you want to take it to the next level with an interactive i-pad kiosk presentation, give us a call at 256.560.0098!