How to Outshine the Competition at Your Next Trade Show

trade show

Wondering how to improve your next trade show?

Did you know that trade shows create more than $16 billion in U.S. revenue each year? Big bucks mean stiff competition. If you want to frequent trade shows and make it worth your while, you’ve got to have something your competition doesn’t.

What sets you apart?

A less expensive product would set you apart. An unusual service would set you apart. A better guarantee would set you apart.

But can you increase sales at your trade show without changing aspects of your product? Of course, you can, and we’re going to tell you how. The sections below detail tricks that marketing experts use to thrive in overpopulated events.

If you want to learn how to do it yourself, read on.

Create Hype

Publicity sells. When attendees rave about your trade show booth while they’re standing in the line for the bathroom, you’d better believe it boosts your profits. When they talk about your epic product at lunch in the full cafeteria, rest assured it means more sales.

Whenever you hear someone praising your booth, your product, or your team, twenty other people are doing the same thing. When you create that sort of interest, you acquire more prospective buyers.

Then how do you create hype?

Creative marketing and branding. You make something people haven’t seen before, something that affects them emotionally. Experiential marketing is a great example.

In experiential marketing, a consumer experiences a brand, service, or product in an immersive fashion. For instance, the video, Red Bull Stratus, shows Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic freefall.

He soars into outer space with the help of a weather balloon. Then he parachutes back from a height of 128 kilometers above the earth. Consumers experience his journey with him.

The experience taps into their emotional centers. Does it work with things other than video? Absolutely.

What about building a booth with the best artwork in the state? Or one that hosts an actor dressed like Severus Snape? It doesn’t matter what the stunt is, so long as it gets attendees talking.

You can even make the booth a spectacle, itself.

Give Away More

We’re talking about swag. Nothing gets the gossip mill started at trade shows like remarkable swag. Think big logos, useful items, and substantial prizes.

During your next conference or show, take a few minutes to look around. What do you see? What sticks out?

What kind of bags are attendees carrying? Your eye is naturally drawn to big bags that sport similar logos. Everybody else’s eyes are drawn to those same bags.

You can bet whichever booth that logo belongs to boasts the highest number of visitors in the trade show. The same is true for the booth with the largest prize and the booth with the most useful free items.

Get into your customer’s heads.

What can you give away that’ll wow them? What can you offer that guarantees your logo is plastered across that event? What can you create that’ll make them flock to your booth?

Figure that out, and you’ll be the one with the most visitors at your next trade show.

Other Trade Show Considerations

We spoke mostly about how to attract more people to your trade show booth. But what happens after they arrive? Yes, you need to wow them, so you can continue building hype, but there’s more to it.

You need an elite sales team on staff to sell, cross-sell, and upsell your wares. You must have a booth that screams professional and unique. And don’t forget about the most important ingredient: your product.

Build one that outstrips, outlasts, and undercuts your completion. Then, your next show is guaranteed to be a raging success.

If you found this information helpful, take five minutes to browse our library of other marketing ideas.

So long and good luck!

trading rules

5 Essential Trading Rules of Cryptocurrency

winter checklist

Winter Checklist: 10 Things Every Homeowner Must Do