Trade shows and conventions are opportunities for businesses of all sizes to get their names out there and build brand recognition and profits. But if you don’t know how to work a trade show or convention, you may be wasting your time rather than making progress. After all, you can spend a lot of money on a trade show booth, so you want to make the most of it and make it worth your investment. Continue reading for a few tips.
Pay Attention to the Quality of Your Booth
Your trade show booth is the first thing that people will see when they discover your business at an event like a trade show or a convention, so you definitely want to spend quite a bit of time doing your research into the audience that will be in attendance. This will give you the chance to cater your booth to that audience in order to attract the most positive attention and interaction. For example, you can invest in high quality pop up displays.
Be Professional and Friendly
Making a great first impression is imperative at a trade show or convention, so always make sure that you or one of your staff members is available to talk to people by standing at the front of the booth and showcasing a welcoming smile. Also, to keep your booth looking as clean and professional as possible, keep personal belongings out of sight, and don’t get caught talking on your cell phone, eating, reading, surfing the Internet, etc. You want to always be engaged, as well as professional in appearance and demeanor, in order to make the biggest impact and attract the most people.
Incorporate the Use of Social Media
Social media can be used to increase engagement with people who will be attending the convention or trade show that you’re planning on attending. Start by tweeting regularly about the upcoming event, incorporating the use of your own hashtags, as well as official hashtags associated with the event.
Once at the event, continue tweeting, encouraging people to stop by. At your booth, encourage people to tweet that they were there, in exchange for a freebie. Or make it really fun by telling people that they can take a photo at your booth and then post it on social media with a hashtag in order to enter a contest for a giveaway. All of this will serve to increase the promotion that you get at the event.
Give Out Freebies
Speaking of freebies, giving them away at the trade show is a great incentive to get more people to visit your booth and learn more about you. Whether you give out free snacks and coffee, or you focus on handing out free branded merchandise, this is an easy way to generate interest.
If you’re able to implement the tips above at your next convention or trade show, you should find that it’s a success and that you were able to spread the word about your business to a new crowd of interested buyers.