Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Need Tradeshow Grabber Ideas

Posted by Anonymous on 8/13/2008 at 10:47 AM ET 250 Points
I'm going to a tradeshow soon and need ideas on how to get people to stop at our booth. The audience isin the 45-55 age group, executives and decision makers. I don't want to do a hoaky spin the wheel game but can't think of something attention grabbing. Any ideas?
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  • Posted on 8/13/2008 at 10:53 AM Member
    My best advice is don't do anything hoky. Instead, try standing in front of the booth (rather than out of traffic behind it) and making eye contact with passersby. Some will ignore you, but more often you'll draw them in with just a smile. These are the ones who turn into meaningful conversations about your product, not anyone who's coming for a gimmick. Always remember at tradeshows that your goal is not to talk to everyone. Your goal is to talk to the people who will turn into sales!
  • Posted on 8/13/2008 at 11:15 AM Author
    The industry is oil & gas. We specialize in mobile field data collection. I figured we would have a drawing near the end and give away a juno (gps) but wanted something extra in the booth to attract people and spark interest to actually come visit.
  • Posted on 8/13/2008 at 11:25 AM Member
    If you can obtain an attendee list before the show you can create a nice email that announces the giveaway, gives a brief overview of your services, and draws traffic to your booth. I always try to create a buzz about us before the show even begins!
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 8/13/2008 at 12:07 PM Member
    Keep the flashing lights to a minimum and instead create a simple headline to start the conversation: "Guaranteed 25% Saving In Drilling Costs". The headline/banner message should be the focal point of the booth, and the people that engage with you are those that are specifically interested in your benefit.

    Contacting people pre-show (as sfolwler suggests) is a very good thing. If you have something notable, attempt to schedule 1on1 meetings with attendees pre-show as well.
  • Posted by michael on 8/13/2008 at 12:09 PM Accepted
    Two things never fail

    1) Free e-mail stations
    2) Rapid cell-phone charging stations

    Still, the goal is to make certain qualified people are there and you can engage them in meaningful conversations.

    Michael
  • Posted by Mikee on 8/13/2008 at 12:18 PM Accepted
    Sarah is right about making eye contact and not being trapped behind a table.

    I just did a show last month and watched the different styles. The people that were standing and not behind a table talked with many more people than those who sat behind a table.

    Think of some catch phrase. I have an exam registration service and there is only a couple of people at a school that might be interested in my service. I was passing out a brochure and would start with the line "Could I get you to pass this on to your AP Coordinator". This accomplished a few things:
    1) It established contact with those passing by.
    2) It relieved people to know that I was not going to take a bunch of their time.
    3) It helped me identify people that I needed to have a more in depth conversation with. The AP Coordinators would tell me they are the AP Coordinator and I now knew I needed to change gears and do some more explanation. Even some who were not coordinators asked what they were passing on and became more informed allowing them to be more invested in passing the information on.

    In my case the schools were paying for people to attend the conference/tradeshow. These people feel obligated to bring back information for others. In some ways we helped them by giving something to bring back to a particular colleague, allowing them to check that off their list. In most cases they were perfectly willing to do this.

    Being able to do all this was only possible because of how we arranged the space. We did not sit behind a table, but had the front of the booth open so that we could step into the aisle if needed to hand somebody something. Psychologically it makes a big difference if there is a barrier between you and them.

    To use this technique you have to have a thick skin as there will be some percentage of people that will make not make eye contact or even acknowledge that you exist. In those cases those people would have never talked to you anyways, so there is no harm.

    It is also helpful to try to remember who you talked to so that you do not bug them repeatedly. You can smile and acknowledge that you remember you have already chatted with them.

    Hope this Helps,
    Mike
  • Posted on 8/13/2008 at 1:33 PM Author
    Thank you for all of your feedback. I think coming up with a consistent theme for banners and props will be crucial and will try to incorporate the other ideas too.
  • Posted on 8/15/2008 at 6:02 PM Member
    Is there any type of demo or presentation about your company and/or product you can play in the booth? I've found doing presentations in the booth help to draw traffic.

    I worked for a company that gave away colored hats with their logo and with the stipulation that the person taking it wore it during the show. Some said no, but many got a kick out of it. It ended up looking like a sea of red hats and many people were coming up to the booth asking how they could get one.
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