Exhibiting at fairs and events is a great opportunity to grow your business, but it’s not an easy task for those who organize the booth. To help with this task, our team has come up with 7 tips on how to organize a booth to assist you in this endeavor!
Participating in a trade show or event can bring many benefits to your company (brand awareness, service or product promotion, lead generation, and opportunities for new partnerships…). Organizing a trade show is a significant responsibility since participating in one can be quite expensive, but rest assured that if done correctly, it’s a price worth paying (otherwise we wouldn’t have so many companies willing to pay this price, right?).
A busy booth is a great sign
To help with this important task of organizing a booth, our team has come up with 7 tips for planning your booth to ensure your participation is a success!
1 – Align your expectations
Often, the cause of disappointment is not the result itself, but a misalignment between expectation and reality.
To avoid this, have a clear alignment with the company’s management on what is expected from the company’s participation in the fair, whether it is lead generation, promotion or launch of a new product or service, sales on site, seeking new partners or brand presence (after all, a brand that your customer does not know is a brand that does not exist).
Now that you know what you expect to achieve from participating in the fair, work to achieve those goals.
2 – Location makes a difference
In this case, you may not always have a choice, either because the fair has already sold the best spaces or because your company has already purchased the space. Now, if you can choose, choose your location based on your goal.
Think about what will be most effective. Is it in a place with a higher circulation of people (usually yes, but it may be that you prefer a place with less circulation to be more cozy for your visitor)?
Is it a place near your competitors? To show that your product is superior. Usually, you will want to be near those companies that are relevant to your audience.
3 – Think about your audience
Always consider (and very much) your audience, if your company has a persona, even better. Think about their journey at the fair. Will they go with their family on the weekend? Or will they go alone to make the most of it? Always try to make your potential customer comfortable in your booth and do everything to enhance their experience.
Remember that they will see many other booths on the same day, so make sure they will remember your company even after the fair is over.
4 – Have a differential
I would say that the most important tip on this list is to HAVE A DIFFERENTIAL!
Qiron’s booth
Beo robot during its passage through South Korea
Highlighted wherever it goes
Your booth has to stand out from the others, especially from your competitors.
The differential can boost your results, and a lot, and it can be the difference between a mediocre participation or a memorable one!
Remember that the audience has many different booth options to visit, some offer food, drinks, or giveaways, but be careful if you’re going to do this, as many other companies will probably do the same, and is something that many booths offer really a differential?
Therefore, pay close attention to which differential you will offer to your audience.
5 – Train how you will approach your audience
Many times everything is beautiful, a wonderful booth, a crowded fair, but your audience is not behaving as expected when approached by your team.
To avoid this, train your team on how to approach the audience, try to do it in a natural and efficient way.
In this matter, the differential and the decoration of your booth can help a lot, facilitating the approach of your audience.
Therefore, once again, think of your visitor, if it were you, how would you like your company to approach you?
It often helps if you develop a script with your team and train them before the fair day, so that it sounds natural. However, do not tie your team to the script, give them freedom to adapt to the person they are talking to.
6 – Arrive early
Having everything ready for the fair day is not everything, arrive early because many times we have unforeseen events, and having time to resolve these unforeseen events without the public present is much better than having to resolve them with the fair in progress.
Bring things that can be useful when setting up your booth. Some things that can help when dealing with unforeseen events: adhesive tape, extensions and rulers (outlets), glue, pen.
You can imagine things that can go wrong to already think about the solutions, so you spend less time resolving what went wrong. Be careful not to get too anxious about this, if you have a problem with anxiety, it may be better to delegate this function.
7 – Seek innovative ways to collect leads
This tip follows the same line of thinking as #4. Having an innovative way to collect your leads can make your audience more willing to deliver their contact information.
Keep in mind that the amount of information you ask for must be in line with what you are offering in return.
Pay attention to industry innovations, this can be very helpful when thinking about how to collect leads.
Some companies offer some giveaway in exchange for information, others offer a differentiated experience even using robotics and other technologies.
Bonus tip:
Prepare in advance!
Don’t leave everything to the last minute! Lack of time can harm your work.
Some companies in the industry work exclusively, meaning that if you take too long to plan, you may not be able to hire what you want.
Other companies offer installment options only until the date of the fair, so the earlier you plan, the lower the service installments will be.
These were 7 tips to help you plan your booth for your next fair.
If this content helped you, share it with your friends who need a little help organizing their booth for fairs and events.