Driving Traffic to Your Trade Show Booth

April 20, 2015 Megan Stoeckel

So you've signed on to participate in The Event Planner Expo 2015, now what? It's not until October, so you can pretty much just kick back and relax until the show, right? Wrong. It may seem far away, but you should start planning for your trade show booth as early as six months ahead of time to allow ample time to order an excellent display, prepare your marketing plan, order promotional items, and create an entertaining booth experience for the attendees. Remember that last minute changes may come up so the more time you allow yourself to adjust where need be, the better. With the expense and time involved in preparing and participating in a trade show, its obvious you will want to take every possible step to drive traffic to your booth so that you get the best results possible.

Here are some excellent tips and tricks to help you boost traffic to your booth:

Create a Pre-Show Marketing Plan

Pre-show efforts are vital to boosting traffic at trade shows. Often times as attendees enter the tradeshow floor, they are overwhelmed with everything there is to see, so they may just blow past your booth with out even thinking about it. Marketing your business and booth location ahead of time is a great way to make sure attendees enter the room already knowing your name and in fact looking for you as soon as they walk through the doors. An invaluable trade show marketing tactic is to announce a giveaway or prize to add excitement to the day. A contest or raffle is always a good way to go!

Stay Connected on Social Media

Using social media is one of the most inexpensive way to market and drive traffic to your booth. Using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or any other platform allows you to make sure your followers and connections are aware of your participation in the tradeshow. Chances are, your followers are your target audience anyway so keep them excited about what you will be bringing to the table. During the show, keep the excitement going by using hashtags, hosting giveaways, and making prize announcements. Offer rewards for retweets and reposts which in turn will increase your promotional push. It’s a disguised form of having your followers work for you. Remember that if anyone comments or asks questions on your posts, respond to them quickly. The better your relationship with your followers, the more likely they will support you at The Event Planner Expo by visiting you at your booth. After the show, keep the excitement going by using follow-up messages and posts to thank your attendees and congratulating contest winners. Make sure you post as many videos and pictures throughout the day and following the event.

Create Excitement Through Pre-show Contact

By creating a buzz about The Event Planner Expo before it starts, you will be able to increase your ROI before the show even starts. Get people excited about the show and the fact that you are going to be there. This way they will come looking for you on the day of the event. Send e-mail announcements, physical mailers, and make calls to let your clients, colleagues, and the rest of your contact list know that you will be exhibiting at The Event Planner Expo. Invite them to stop by your booth and let them know about any special promotion, contest or raffle you will be hosting. If you are sending snail mail, keep it sweet and short by sending out a postcard that highlights what you will be offering. Make sure the graphics and fonts are appealing to the eyes because you want them to catch your name when they quickly scan the postcard before discarding it.

Host Contests and Giveaways

Everyone loves getting free stuff, so having promotional giveaways is ideal when looking to drive traffic to your booth. If you’d like to keep it simple, remember that you’re enticing human beings who get hungry and thirsty between seminars and workshops so having food and drinks readily available is effective and rewarding. Branded promotional items are always great too, this way attendees will take something home with them, use it daily, and be reminded that they got it from your company. If you’re having trouble thinking of what items to get, tote bags, water bottles, bottle openers, pens, and chap sticks are always crowd pleasers.

Entice Attendees with your Presentation

Creating an interesting and crafty presentation is sure to attract people who are walking by. Use video, sound, and graphics as best you can but remember to keep it short. With so many items listed on the trade show agenda, people often have very short attention spans when walking past the booths. Create a display that will draw people in, and then provide a quick and simple presentation that captures your message in an inviting manner. Make sure you staff your booth with great sales people that will hold the attendee’s attention, provide them with the important information, or even close a deal on the spot!

Participating in a tradeshow can be overwhelming at first, but we are here to help! We want all of our exhibitors and attendees to get the most out of their experience and enjoy a day of networking and getting new business. For more helpful tips on getting the most out of The Event Planner Expo 2015, call 212.254.3700 and speak to an expert!

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Welcome to The Event Planner Expo - #1 Event Planning Conference. Meet thousands of event planner

Driving Traffic to Your Trade Show Booth

Create a Pre-Show Marketing Plan

Stay Connected on Social Media

Create Excitement Through Pre-show Contact

Host Contests and Giveaways

Entice Attendees with your Presentation

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Driving Traffic to Your Trade Show Booth

Create a Pre-Show Marketing Plan

Stay Connected on Social Media

Create Excitement Through Pre-show Contact

Host Contests and Giveaways

Entice Attendees with your Presentation

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