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5 Ways to Make Visitors Flock to Your Exhibition Stand A handy guide to making the most out of your exhibition

Creating brand awareness and generating sales or quality leads is undoubtedly going to be your top priority when exhibiting at a trade show But in order to achieve those things first of all you ll need to attract visitors to your stand Here s how to get people to stop at your stand instead of passing on by 1 GENERATE A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF NOISE Exhibitions are usually crowded and noisy places so one of the best ways to get noticed is to make sure your stand projects noise too You won t need to have music playing at full blast but at the same time you won t want your stand to blend into the background either Try doing a talk with a microphone on your stand or play videos that visitors can see and hear as they walk past Have seating within your stand if you have enough room so visitors can sit stay and watch for a while

Creating brand awareness and generating sales or quality leads is undoubtedly going to be your top priority when exhibiting at a trade show But in order to achieve those things first of all you ll need to attract visitors to your stand Here s how to get people to stop at your stand instead of passing on by 1 GENERATE A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF NOISE Exhibitions are usually crowded and noisy places so one of the best ways to get noticed is to make sure your stand projects noise too You won t need to have music playing at full blast but at the same time you won t want your stand to blend into the background either Try doing a talk with a microphone on your stand or play videos that visitors can see and hear as they walk past Have seating within your stand if you have enough room so visitors can sit stay and watch for a while

2 GIVE INTERACTIVE DEMONSTRATIONS If you have products to sell one of the best ways to get trade show visitors to buy them is to encourage them to try your products first Run live demonstrations on your stand where you can show how your products work and invite visitors to touch feel and even use your products themselves Be prominent if you don t have the space to run demos on your stand book a workshop or seminar session instead and let visitors know where to find you afterwards Use positive body language to draw visitors in smile and stand up straight look like you want to be there Connect with visitors by asking open questions and be prepared to respond to queries from them 3 RUN A CONTEST Everyone loves a good competition or contest as long as there s a worthy prize at the end of it Think about what kind of product or service you could give away and make sure it will be valuable to the winner Run the contest on your stand over the duration of the exhibition and announce the winner on the last day or via your website after the show has ended If your budget allows you could promote your contest in the Show Guide to give visitors advance notice about it If you talk to the show s organisers you may also be able to get them to mention your contest over the exhibition hall s Tannoy system although there could be an additional cost attached to this If you talk to the show s organisers you may also be able to get them to mention your contest over the exhibition hall s Tannoy system

2 GIVE INTERACTIVE DEMONSTRATIONS If you have products to sell one of the best ways to get trade show visitors to buy them is to encourage them to try your products first Run live demonstrations on your stand where you can show how your products work and invite visitors to touch feel and even use your products themselves Be prominent if you don t have the space to run demos on your stand book a workshop or seminar session instead and let visitors know where to find you afterwards Use positive body language to draw visitors in smile and stand up straight look like you want to be there Connect with visitors by asking open questions and be prepared to respond to queries from them 3 RUN A CONTEST Everyone loves a good competition or contest as long as there s a worthy prize at the end of it Think about what kind of product or service you could give away and make sure it will be valuable to the winner Run the contest on your stand over the duration of the exhibition and announce the winner on the last day or via your website after the show has ended If your budget allows you could promote your contest in the Show Guide to give visitors advance notice about it If you talk to the show s organisers you may also be able to get them to mention your contest over the exhibition hall s Tannoy system although there could be an additional cost attached to this If you talk to the show s organisers you may also be able to get them to mention your contest over the exhibition hall s Tannoy system

4 OFFER FREEBIES Have giveaways at the ready and make them exciting or useful It s another cost to factor into your budget but well worth doing at an exhibition if you want your business to be memorable A decent pen is nice to have as visitors will use them long after the exhibition has ended but these days visitors tend to expect more interesting goodies Depending on your industry you could consider desk or mobile phone accessories delicious chocolates mini calculators candles or even adult colouring books Think outside the box and visitors will flock 5 DO LOTS OF MARKETING PRE EXHIBITION Broadcast the fact that you ll be exhibiting well in advance Put together a special landing page about the event on your website and notify the media by sending out some press releases Email your existing customers and mention via your social media channels in the weeks leading up to the exhibition Explain what people will be able to see on your stand Trade show visitors often have a plan of which stands they want to visit If you don t tell them about your company beforehand you could be missing out on potential customers So ensure that your company is listed on the show organiser s website and in the Show Guide as soon as possible

4 OFFER FREEBIES Have giveaways at the ready and make them exciting or useful It s another cost to factor into your budget but well worth doing at an exhibition if you want your business to be memorable A decent pen is nice to have as visitors will use them long after the exhibition has ended but these days visitors tend to expect more interesting goodies Depending on your industry you could consider desk or mobile phone accessories delicious chocolates mini calculators candles or even adult colouring books Think outside the box and visitors will flock 5 DO LOTS OF MARKETING PRE EXHIBITION Broadcast the fact that you ll be exhibiting well in advance Put together a special landing page about the event on your website and notify the media by sending out some press releases Email your existing customers and mention via your social media channels in the weeks leading up to the exhibition Explain what people will be able to see on your stand Trade show visitors often have a plan of which stands they want to visit If you don t tell them about your company beforehand you could be missing out on potential customers So ensure that your company is listed on the show organiser s website and in the Show Guide as soon as possible

And Finally Trade show visitors tend to gather around exhibition stands that already look busy They ll assume there must be something worthwhile to see on a busy stand Follow the tips above to encourage traffic to your own exhibition stand once you receive an initial influx of visitors the rest should follow