Trade shows are a great way to showcase your wares and essentially have a store on the go. According to Forbes, people turn to trade shows to take in new innovations as well as shop for goods. While your merchandise is clearly crucial to the success of your trade show booth, there is one other factor that can literally make or break the success of your show.
Display and drawing an audience is the first and primary need when it comes to making money at a trade show. If people don’t even notice your booth, how can you expect them to shop with you? However, loud and garish booths covered in tinsel and fairy lights while pumping out pop hits at top volume may not be a step in the right direction either. While you may get more glances with a booth dressed up like a brothel, it may not draw people over and instead send them away, shuddering.
There is a definite art form to drawing people into your booth, and this art form is nothing new. Roman emperors, celebrities and salespeople have been using the same essential techniques of creating interest and desire since the beginning of time. With a combination of showmanship combined with an elusive promise that there is something more to be discovered, you can make people hungry to know what they are missing out on. And that, friend, is where the art comes into play.
According to Blazer Exhibits & Events, “A trade show booth should not blend into the background by any means, but it should also hold promises of more to come. An element of mystery intrigues far more than anything else. Make your booth seem like it has inner chambers from which delightful treats will abound. Never make your potential customer feel like this is all there is – tantalize them with the thought that your booth is sought after, your wares are popular, and many, many people want you and your products.” This is the same principle of love – to appear desirable to one, you must appear desirable to many. No one will compete for someone or something they perceive as having a low value in other people’s eyes. Create triangles among your customers; make them feel as they are competing for you and your attention – not the other way around. It’s irresistible.
Naturally, this can be difficult to do if has only a cigar cash box, one open table with cheap vinyl tablecloths and your wares piled haphazardly about. On the other side of the coin, it can also be difficult if your displays, however grand, only confuse potential customers, such as one hapless visitor to Comic-Con, who summed up puzzlement about a display by saying simply, “I don’t get it.”
Having an eye catching display can make people give a second look, but doesn’t mean it will draw them closer to find out more. You have to find that special balance between attention-getting and just confusing. In other words, make the displays relative to what you are selling or promoting.
Aside from basic relevance, your booth needs to also instantly show what you are about. Potential customers need to know from a distance what kinds of products you are selling or pitching.
Then, too, you also need to differentiate yourself from the hundreds of other merchants selling things alongside you. What makes you different? What do you have to offer that others don’t? You must first be able to answer that question to yourself, and then present your display in such a way that customers see for themselves that you do have something special.
The art form of a great trade booth display includes:
• Relevant and clearly understandable ads or displays
• Uniqueness
• Perceived desirability
• Grabbing but not overpowering attention
Master this balancing act, and you can watch your profits soar.
