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Part 1: Herding Trade Show Traffic

March 10th, 2010

Huge Thriller display in side the MJ exhibition shop at the O2

photo credit: Abi Skipp

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

Have you ever tried being a fly on the wall at a trade show and observed the traffic flow? It can be akin to watching the music video for Michael Jackson’s Thriller – without the dance choreography. In the end they’re just a bunch of zombies wandering the streets. They pace the rows of booths staring straight ahead and trying their best not to make eye contact and stuffing their gift bag full of brains, fridge magnets and whatever other free samples they can get their hands on – with no real interest in knowing what they’re grabbing.

“Sample clippings from the XCalibur 3000 Nose Hair Trimmer? SWEET! Wait, what am I going to do with that? Who cares! It’s FREE! I’ll put the little vial on the mantle at Nanna’s. She loves knick knacks.”

So how do you inject some life into those zombies and get something out of them? There’s a few key steps you can take to get the best bang for your buck at trade shows:

1. For starters, your display should provide adequate space for people to move around. Nobody likes to be crammed into those tiny phone booth sized displays that feel like they’re going to collapse on top of you with your next breath. Space is important to allow people to relax and feel at ease.

2. Make sure your booth is well staffed so that people with questions have someone to talk to. At the same time, your staff should be identifiable, be it branded attire or a name tag, etc. – something that lets people know who you are. How many times have you been at a trade show or in a department store when someone approaches you and asks, “Excuse me, do you work here?” This is usually a telling sign that your staff are not being recognized.

3. Prepare your staff to interact with people. Remember, consider the show-goers as zombies; they can’t talk. It’s important to be proactive and outgoing. Now, this of course doesn’t mean your staff should be chasing after people into the parking lot and waving a brochure in their face, but in most cases you’ll need to make that first connection.

Remember that you’re there to provide information and educate potential customers and generate new contacts. Selling shouldn’t be the goal of your trade show display. Stay tuned. Next week we’ll have a few more tips on getting the most out of your trade show experience.

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Posted in Branding Tips on March 10th, 2010

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