How to Captivate Your Target Audience through Interactive Trade Show Displays

Trade show exhibiting is an important aspect of marketing for your business. Whether your company has been participating in trade shows for some time or if it is your first time exhibiting at one, an important thing to take note of is a trade show is one of the best ways to market your product or service. If done right, a trade show marketing presence will create lasting impressions to your target audience. They are also great face-to-face events, providing an opportunity to engage with your current customers and other attendees.

An average trade show can feature hundreds or even up to thousands of booths, depending on the size of the event. Therefore it is essential to have solid trade show planning to make sure that you will attract your target audience and get them to your booth.

Let’s look at it from the perspective of a regular trade show attendee. The numerous booths may become monotonous after a while, especially if the companies all have similar products and services.

Some of the best trade show booths mix experiential and interactive ideas in order to involve trade show attendees. These unique booth designs focus on boosting engagement and giving the audience a memorable brand experience. What you need is to have fresh trade show ideas that stand out in a maze of booths.

Here are excellent trade show exhibit design ideas that will captivate your target audience:

Provide Interesting and Engaging Product Demonstrations.
Just looking at stunning visual displays of products may not be enough. Visitors need to interact and experience the products first-hand. One of the ways to create an impact is through product demonstrations. This provides an opportunity for prospective customers and visitors to try out your product right there on the trade show floor. Today, about 77% of marketers use experiential marketing as a vital part of their brand’s advertising strategy. According to marketing company EventTrack, 80% of attendees say that live demonstrations and free samples help buyers with their purchasing decision.
To drum up attendees, announce the demonstrations ahead of time through email or through social media. Make sure that salespeople are on hand to take orders once the demonstration is finished.

Use Great Graphics.
There is power in beautiful graphics because people are naturally attracted to great design. The booth banner design should attract passers-by, so your booth signs and branding should stand out and create a huge impact.
Invest in a great graphic designer with a sterling reputation. Use large-scale graphics, but you shouldn’t limit yourself to the typical two-dimensional design.  Aside from using a great backdrop, use table wraps, floor graphics, and free-standing posters to make the booth experience as immersive as possible for the visitors.

Have Interactive Games and Raffles.
One of the best ways to attract trade show attendees to your booth is by giving out prizes. Games and raffles are a great incentive to keep visitors in your booth and an ideal way for them to interact with your brand. However, don’t just have games and give out raffle prizes that don’t mean anything to your brand. You and your team should be able to think of creative ways to incorporate your brand or product to your games. It also pays to have a lead generation strategy incorporated into your in-booth activity game plan. In some cases, a simple trivia quiz about the business or product will engage visitors and initiates conversations about what you offer.
In planning for games and raffles, consider the prizes that you are giving out. Prizes are the main reason why an attendee participates in a game, so it should be factored into your budget. Having in-booth activities also entails getting additional staff, so it needs to be taken into account when budgeting for the trade show.

Use Interactive Media Displays
Technology has a big role in creating an engaging booth. Many exhibitors incorporate features such as streaming videos, touch-screen Q &A functions, branded mobile app demonstrations, projected gaming systems, remote-control drones, and more. Digital integrations allow booth visitors to stay longer and get to know what the company offers in a deeper way.
Two of the most effective ways to infuse interactive media into your booth display are through virtual and augmented reality and touch-screen displays. Virtual and augmented reality creates an exciting immersive experience for booth visitors. It surely builds a lot of hype on the trade show floor, but more than that, it allows your company to showcase entire product lines or complete service offerings. A simpler but equally effective way of incorporating technology into your product display is through touch screen displays. You can add a touchscreen kiosk in some areas of your exhibit that will showcase your company catalog, have virtual tours, show company videos, and allows visitors to view your portfolio. This is also a great way to manage booth traffic.

Train your Staff to interact with Booth Visitors.

One of the secrts to having a successful booth in a trade show is amazing staff interaction. Your team is arguably the most important part of your exhibit. They should be friendly, confident, and knowledgeable about manning a trade show booth. Prior to the trade show, the staff manning your booth should be trained intensively on customer interaction, even giving them conversation prompts to study. They should not simply hand out literature but also go out of their way to ask engaging questions such as “Are you interested in knowing how our product can help your company?” or something as simple as, “What brings you here today?” Staff should also be trained not to be too “pushy” but just naturally draw prospective customers in. All your expensive investments in technology and graphics are useless if you don’t have excellent staff. The more knowledgeable, hard-working and approachable your staff is, the more leads you are likely to gather.

Create a Photo Opportunity
A cost-effective way to engage attendees is by creating photo opportunities. You and your team should come up with a creative, original photo booth design that would entice trade show attendees. The design should make them stop by for a picture. You can provide props connected to your brand or incorporate your logo into the design. Another way of bringing in guests into your booth is by giving them value. You can offer to give them an updated professional headshot for their LinkedIn account. Of course, you can get their info before you send them the photo. Everyone loves a great photo, especially if they are worth sharing on social media. If the photo opportunity that you create is “instagrammable” or worthy to share on social media, then it’s an instant win for your business. Make sure to provide hashtags when visitors decide to post onto their social media accounts.

Schedule live Entertainment and Performances 

Trade show attendees will likely remember a brand if they see an engaging performance or presentation. If you have the budget for it, consider hiring a professional entertainer to attract attention to your booth. However, the type of entertainment and the content should still be connected and aligned to your brand; otherwise, the attendees will just remember the performance without recalling the product or service associated with it. It is important to get a performer or invite a special guest that supports your brand. It is also important to promote the live performance within the trade show, printing it on the agenda or announcing it beforehand. You can also keep people on the loop by posting it on social media.