Tradeshows and exhibitions are a fantastic way to generate leads for your business and nurture relationships with customers (both existing and potential). To help you get the most from your custom exhibition stands and the experience as a whole, we’ve outlined these 5 hot tips:
- First Impressions Count
There is nothing more important than making a good, solid first impression. In actual fact, you need to communicate your brand message in 3 seconds or less. It is much harder to shake a bad impression once it’s been made than it is to create a good one in the first place.
Make sure your stand communicates your message clearly and succinctly – don’t confuse people. People are lazy and need to be guided where to look and how to navigate your stand. When don properly, good design with engaging graphics will do most of the work for you.
- Monkey See, Monkey Do
People have a tendency to gravitate towards other people. When you look at a crowded restaurant versus one that is empty, you will often opt for the crowded restaurant. The theory is that it’s more popular, so it must be better. The same applies to custom exhibition stands at a tradeshow.
No one likes to feel like they’re the odd one out, so they don’t want to be the first to venture into an empty booth. Some businesses will employ spruikers to entice people in. Here’s a cheaper idea – why not get employees to act as visitors and buzz around your stand?
- Interaction is Engaging
Give visitors something to do. Interaction with visitors can be beneficial to both parties – if you can get visitors to develop some sort of physical connection with your brand, it will help them remember you. Plus, you can use the interaction to collect data and information.
Anything that involves visitors interacting and connecting in some way is a good thing – run a competition where entrants have to leave their details, perform a ‘hands-on’ demonstration of one of your products, or create a backdrop for people to take photos in front of.
- ‘Gell’, Don’t Sell
Show interest in others and they’ll show interest in you. Exhibitions and tradeshows are all about creating opportunities, networking and solidifying your position in the industry. Use your time to create new relationships and nurture existing ones.
Ask visitors about their company and where they came from first. On top of being useful information, they will naturally follow up by asking you similar questions. A ‘conversational sell’ is a more natural and effective approach than the traditional ‘hard sell’.
- Follow Up – And Fast
Don’t give people time to forget who you are. Follow up on all your leads as soon as you can after the show has ended; the longer you wait, the longer they have to forget all about you. They will have had many interactions at the show, so it’s tough for them to remember you.
A quick prompt could be all it takes to put your business back in the forefront of their minds. Don’t be afraid of reaching out too quickly. The day after the event is never too soon to follow up with potential customers, as waiting too long will dilute the connection.
Even with all of the marketing tools at our fingertips these days, meeting with someone face to face is still the most effective way to develop a professional relationship. We hope that the above tips help you to get the most out of your custom exhibition stands and exhibiting in general.
