Trade Show Promotional Gimmicks

Building your booth display and getting a great trade floor display pitch is no guarantee that you will attract visitors in the numbers you need to ensure your conversion rations hit your targets. You want your booth to have something which will grab visitor attention and hold it for long enough to allow your booth staff to engage, and have a meaningful business conversation so they can be qualified as a prospect.

Here are some of the tried and tested ways to grab visitor attention and allow for meaningful business discussions to go forward.

Booth Babes

Trade Show Promotional Gimmicks

Ad men have known it for millennia - sex sells. This does not mean you should restrict yourself to a sexy, scantily clad nubile young thing, but also take a look at the beefcake options too, especially if your product is targeting women. Good looking people are always an attraction, and especially if you have people with personality, in fact, if you are going down this path you should ensure that the people you hire have personality in buckets!

A great figure and a great smile are fine, but once that eye contact is made your booth babes need to be able to work the charm and engage in an initial conversation which is geared around your business proposition.

Entertainers

Magicians and juggling acts are an excellent means of garnering attention for your booth, but they are more than just booth candy - send your entertainers out into the arena to actively seed the crowd with your name and booth location.

In a bustling arena with booths vying for attention, consider using something other than visual impact to catch the eye - try catching the ear! Hire an opera singer to belt out an aria or two or a string quartet to play by or in front of your booth.

The Big Prize

Depending on your budget, offering a really good prize for a raffle will be a major attraction for visitors. If you are offering a fantasy holiday to an exotic island paradise or even a car, then you are more likely to be outdoing your competitors that are providing run-of-the-mill raffles and business card draws. A prize of this nature is also likely to gain attention of the trade show management too, so you can enlist their help in promoting your booth and company.

Seminars & Presentations

Trade show management will bear a fairly heavy burden in promoting the event generally, but there is a way you can tap into this marketing effort and help make someone else's marketing budget work specifically for you. Events typically include a series of scheduled conference presentations and round table sessions with panels and speakers made up of select experts. Volunteering your services as a speaker or presenter for these sessions will raise your exposure amongst trade show management and get your name and company further exposure in the management marketing efforts.

Promotional Gifts

Promotional giveaways are rampant but for most, there is a distinct lack of thought in choice of giveaway and how they are used. Choose several levels of promotional gift - the low level gifts can be cheap and liberally given, but for the better giveaways, visitors (and booth staff) should understand that something must be given in exchange. Better levels of promotional giveaway require engagement with your booth staff by the visitor - completing a business survey, undergoing an interview or general qualification discussion with the gift given at the end of the exercise.

Ensure promotional giveaways have your brand name and contact information on them and target gifts which have a long life and utility for the recipient.

trade show booth displays