How To Wow! Your Audience

The toughest thing about trade show promotion is that it can be truly exhausting. It is a condensed marketing strategy and it requires significant effort.

1) Be neat… Be visible…

Your display is one of the most important aspects of your presentation. Use display shelves for your products at eye-level to draw customers into your display. Your booth and items must be organized and tidy all the time. Exhibitors who put the most time and effort into their booth and booth presence get the best results. One way to set your presence apart from others is by the size of your booth. Rent two booths for a bigger impact. Bigger is better in the trade show game.

2) Items on demand.
If you are selling or retailing items, give an impression that your items “HOT Stuff” or “BEST SELLERS”. Customers would like to try out what you are offering out of curiosity.

3) Draw & encourage potential customers to your booth.

Use colorful displays such as balloons, streamers, live presentations or demonstrations. Make them curious with what you are offering.

4) Prepare giveaways for distribution.
Small items that people can take home and use are best. Place these items in a location where people will have to walk into or through your display to get them. Do not forget to include your contact details to remind them how to get intouch with you. You can also donate the same giveaways for the hourly raffle. Remember, everyone loves hourly raffles.

5) And the winner is!
Having some kind of contest is a great way to collect contact information from booth visitors. You can give away promotion items as prizes to encourage people to participate.

6) Prepare  plenty of flyers, brochures and calling cards.
It is important to have plenty of supply of colorful fliers and brochures and business cards that you can hand out to booth visitors so it will be easy for them to contact you in the future. Other suppliers use perfumes/scents so that visitors can remember them.

7) Be ready to do business.
You are joining a Bridal Expo or Exhibit because you want to do business. Be sure you have all your forms ready such as order forms, pens, contracts, and other forms that you would need to conduct sales and keep track of people’s bookings or orders.

8) Manning your booth.

Wear comfortable shoes and make sure you bring breath mints (but not chewing gum). There are some Exhibitors who set up their booth and then sit in the corner on their cell phone all weekend. Just being present is not enough. To get maximum results you must be present, smile until it hurts and give it all you have. Renting a booth and putting your products in it will not guarantee you the success you want. If you can’t be present you’ll need the right people to assist you.

Assign someone to man your booth if you can’t be there to entertain your visitors, someone who can greet customers and take sales orders. In a 2×2 sqm booth it is advisable to have 2 representatives to man your booth. Less than that, your representative will have a hard time entertaining multiple visitors. More than 2 representatives will make the space too small for them. A nice touch is to have your booth staff wear a shirt with your logo on it in your company colors perhaps.

9) Interact with visitors.

When people approach your booth, offer a friendly welcome and ask how you can help them or if they have questions. Remember to smile; don’t stand there with your arms crossed over your chest. Engage your booth visitors into a conversation, and find out what aspect of your business they’re most interested in.

Train your staff in some way for their active participation in your success. Encourage them to smile and have a welcoming attitude and to be prepared to offer specific solutions to visitors’ questions.

10) Follow up promptly.
Bridal fairs can be incredible sources of contacts and customers for your business. Gather as much information from your visitors and send out emails, regular mails, or make the phone calls to follow up on the contacts and leads that you got during the Expo as soon as possible. The faster you send them out, the more you will be remembered by the customer.