Most of our advertising is done in the digital realm, but you can’t ignore person-to-person, real world marketing that happens at trade shows. These conferences are serious business. Don’t let the happy hours and free giveaways fool you – they’re also cut throat madhouses where friend and foe alike face off for the attention of their prospects. Also, they tend to be pricey. Especially the good ones where the multi-million dollar deals get done. So how do you make the most of the time and expense sunk into just a few days of activity? That’s where strong design comes in. We’ll tell you what makes a strong display booth design.
Get All Eyes On You
With digital marketing we have to contend with the diminished attention spans of distracted audiences, but the sensory overload of a packed conference or trade show offers similar diversions. When booth after booth is calling out, begging for a visit, how do you stand apart?
Own it. Don’t care about what others have done or haven’t done in the past. For example, we were invited as one of four advertising agencies in the US to have a booth at their infamous NI Day in Austin.
We just brought information we thought business owners would find useful: case studies, our own brains, and iPads to capture leads. What we didn’t bring were massage chairs, cookies or dancing pandas.
Find a strong message. If you have a banner stand, make sure the messaging positions you as THE authority without a hint of anything fake. If you have a good advertising agency, the tagline you have works as the attention-getter and the close. Don’t assume they have more time than they do online: Hit them with a powerful yet concise message that gets in their face and then inserts itself into their brains.
Multiply Your Media
A good looking booth goes a long way, but this is the 21st century and flat screen TVs are dirt cheap now. A bright, flashy animation can be a captivating medium for your message. An interactive touch screen experience can dispense information in ways a trifold brochure can’t possibly match. Use it to capture your visitors’ email address and then spam them until they buy or die (whichever comes first). Keep plenty of trade show marketing materials around as well. Some people prefer to an old fashioned paper brochure. To each their own, so give them each their own.
Incorporate Digital Ads
Smart trade show marketing strategy isn’t confined to your 10′ x 10′ booth. We like to increase our clients’ exposure by running geotargeted ads at the trade show location so that attendees can’t ignore us even when they’re on the phone.
Just Hire Us
We are an Austin, Texas-based marketing and advertising firm been doing this for a while, which is what qualifies us to write this post and to do your event and b2b trade show marketing. More than a trade show marketing company or rebranding firm, we look at your strategy holistically and produce a plan aimed at getting results before, during, and after the conference.
Here just a few examples:
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