How to Increase Trade Booth Traffic at Your Next Event

A trade show is a feast for the senses and a playground for networking and generating leads. A large trade event like this can be a brilliant opportunity to grow your business, increase brand awareness, and learn more about the industry you love.

However, generating and converting leads is not a done deal once you’ve signed on to participate in a trade show. In order to properly utilize your time at your next trade show, it’s crucial that the attendees remember your display and brand after the show has ended and they’ve gone home.

In order to make that happen, you will need to plan accordingly. This can mean a number of things: designing your booth in a way that both engages prospects and displays your brand, giving your event staff the training they need, or choosing a trade booth with the size and amenities that reflects your product or services.

Above anything else, you will need to ensure that your trade booth is actually receiving visitors. After all, there’s no point in spending a bunch of time and money on a beautiful booth if it stays empty through the whole show!

If you’re wondering how to increase traffic to your booth at your next expo or trade show, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled a few of our favorites tips of the trade for keeping your display booth busy and your business booming.

1. A Familiar Face Is Sure to Entice

Have you considered hiring an influencer or endorser to work your next trade show or expo? This is a great way to draw attendees and prospects inside your booth, as well as spread the word throughout the show about your brand.

By choosing a well-known and likeable personality to represent your company at a trade show, you’ve already given yourself an edge over the competition. Passersby and attendees who recognize your influencer from social media or television will likely stop to interact with them.

Even people who don’t already know who your endorser is will notice the buzz surrounding your trade booth. Soon enough, you’ll be the toast of the town.

2. Use Multiple Booths for a Branded “Village”

Who says your brand can only have one trade booth? Many crafty companies are making the most of their trade show budgets by swapping a giant display for a few small booths.

This can help set your company apart from the other businesses and keep attendees immersed in the world of your brand longer.

Set your collection of booths up in a manner that allows your customers to easily walk between the displays as if they are in a town built by your brand, and be sure to organize your displays in a cohesive manner—each booth should be different!

3. Stay in Charge

During an important industry event or trade show, a low-battery cellphone isn’t only annoying, it also throws a wrench in potential networking and business opportunities.

By installing a phone and device charging area inside your trade booth, you are doing both your attendees and yourself a favor. For passersby and trade show participants, it’s a chance to relax, recharge their devices, and take a break from the stimulating expo.

For you and your brand, it’s an opportunity to bring new prospects to your trade booth and teach them about your brand and mission in a way that’s organic and low pressure.

It also fills your booth with people and keeps them there for longer, which tends to entice even more people to visit you.

4. Give a Hint of What’s Inside

Most trade booths are relatively plain on the outside, with exciting freebies and innovations inside the display. This may be common, but it’s not the rule. For your next trade show, try focusing some of your design attention to the outside of your booth.

By doing this, you are giving passersby an intriguing glimpse into what they can find inside your booth. Some brands who have been utilizing this technique have found success by making their exterior design interactive, whether that means drawing, playing with something, engaging with a mascot, or anything else your marketing team can dream up.

5. The World Loves Freebies

It’s no secret that giveaways and freebies are a surefire way to bring prospective customers to your trade booth. It’s one of the most successful techniques at expos and trade shows for one big reason: everybody loves free things!

Most brands have some sort of freebie or giveaway for browsers to take with them at trade shows, but some are better than others.

The key to designing a successful giveaway for a trade show or expo is straightforward: Ensure that your freebie is clearly branded, somehow related to your mission, useful, and innovative.

Stumped for ideas? A few trade show freebie trends over the past few years have included fidget spinners, phone toggles, and trendy reusable drink bottles.

6. Engage Your Prospects with the Best Event Staff

Have you ever eaten a wonderful meal at a restaurant with poor service? No matter how delicious your food was, being treated rudely has likely deterred you from wanting to return or tell your friends.

The same applies for service and staff at a trade show. Expo attendees spend many hours at an event and speak to dozens, even hundreds of people in a day.

If they are ignored or treated with disrespect by booth staff, they will forget your brand entirely—or worse, remember it with a bad taste in their mouth.

If you want to give your attendees the best experience possible as well as bring more people to your display, it’s crucial to hire the best event staff possible and to train them well.

Make sure that they are engaged, helpful, knowledgeable about your mission, and passionate about your brand. Their enthusiasm will naturally draw people in and leave them with a positive experience to tell their colleagues about.

7. When in Doubt, Let the Pros Help You Out

Presenting in a trade show or expo is an enormous undertaking. Whether you are about to attend your very first show or you’ve been doing this for decades, it is always a good idea to let a professional help you out. They will know the latest trends and technologies, make sure you don’t miss anything, and take care of the logistics.

At Exponents, our world revolves around trade show culture. We offer trade show booth rentals in every size and with any amenity you can dream up.

Our team takes pride in our 30+ years of experience in the industry, and are ready to help you with every step of your next expo: booth design, project management, on-site supervision, construction, assembly, dismantling, transport, and delivery. With us, there’s no need to think twice—we have everything you need to turn your expo fantasy into reality.

Get in touch with our team today and we will help you find and design the best trade booth for your brand, your business, and your budget.