What you do (or don’t do) to engage attendees before, during, and after a trade show makes a world of difference.
You either become the brand people remember or the exhibitor your ideal clients didn’t notice.
Here's how to avoid the latter and pull people into your booth.
1. Interact with your ideal customers before the show
Of course, engaging attendees doesn’t start at the show itself. It starts way before that.
We’re talking ‘Save the date’ announcement emails to existing clients, social media teasers, personalized DMs to clients and warm leads, exclusive invites to product demos, reminder emails, and so forth.
Exactly how long before the show you start reaching out to your ideal clients depends on different variables, including:
- The specific channels you’re using to engage your audience.
- The types of people you’re looking to meet at the show.
- The size of the show you’re attending.
As a rule of thumb, we recommend starting to engage with attendees around three months before the show.
This timeframe allows you to raise awareness, build anticipation, book appointments, and interact with your target audience across multiple channels.
2. Go bold, not bland
The table and pop-up banner setup has its place, and we’re not completely bashing it. But you’re hardly going to stand out on the trade show floor if you go for this option.
You should look for something that sets you apart visually and experientially. For example, a custom booth that incorporates various shapes, colors, lighting, and audiovisual (AV) components. This will immerse people in ways that a generic pop-up display simply can’t.
Virtual Reality (VR) is a tried and tested technique for delivering strong ROI—in one trade show activation, a $8k investment resulted in an impressive 140% return within just three months.
You may want to go a step further by adding interactive elements or gamification to your booth. Interactivity at booths has been shown to increase the level of engagement between visitors and exhibitors by around 50%.
Both of these ideas allow attendees to engage with your brand on a much deeper level. Gamification, in particular, facilitates active brand engagement while enabling you to collect data you can use to engage further with attendees after the show (more on this below).
3. Engage in genuine (not generic) conversations
Hopefully, you and your booth staff are already having genuine conversations!
You must nail the basics of attendee engagement—if you haven’t already—to give yourself any chance of getting deals over the line. These are as follows:
- Employ open, welcoming body language.
- Greet them like they’re an old friend who you haven’t seen in a while (but keep it professional)!
- Ask open-ended questions as opposed to something generic that could be interpreted as overly pushy, such as ‘Can I help you?’). A question like ‘What’s been the highlight of the show for you?’ shows that you’re interested in engaging in deeper dialogue.
- Make notes where possible so that you can refer to them further down the road.
Great booth pros listen actively, empathize, ask the right questions, dig into pain points, and form genuine connections.
For more tips on how to engage visitors and passersby, check out our video 4 Ways Prospects Approach a Booth and What To Do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTjC1iyKNN0
4. Have a solid lead capture system
Effective attendee engagement is only part of the trade show puzzle.
Without strategic data capture, even your most engaged leads could disappear into the void.
You need data in order to:
- Instantly record attendee details, preferences, and interaction history.
- Track how attendees are engaging with your booth.
- Personalize follow-up messages.
- Increase engagement and close more sales after the event.
You can do the above and more in a number of ways.
For example, once an attendee walks into your booth and engages in conversation, you can prompt them to play a game or answer a poll or multiple-choice quiz related to your offering. To do so, they must enter their details in a short form.
This simple strategy works on a number of levels. You’re not simply collecting an attendee’s information—you’re gauging their preferences and establishing whether or not they’re likely to be an ideal customer for your business.
There are some amazing lead capture and badge scanner apps that’ll help you capture all the right data and achieve your desired outcomes.
5. Create a comfort zone
The trade show floor can be a rather intense environment at times, to put it kindly. It’s loud, it’s busy, and it’s frenetic.
Studies show that prolonged exposure to loud noise levels can lead to stress and anxiety and that, naturally, leads to a drop-off in engagement.
But you can cut through the clutter, stand out from other exhibitors, and foster more organic engagements in your booth by making it into a comfort zone.
Think of this as a calming space that reduces sensory overload and event fatigue. It makes the whole trade show experience more comfortable for neurodiverse people or attendees who are simply feeling overwhelmed.
You could opt for lounge seating, massage chairs, warm lighting, noise-reduction elements like acoustic panels, textured surfaces, soft ambient music, subtle scents, and so forth.
These details not only give a stellar first impression of your brand but can also enhance information retention.
When people feel at ease, they’re more likely to engage with what you’re selling. And when they’re more engaged with what you’re selling, well… you know the rest.
6. Create personalized experiences with strategic giveaways
Ok, we get it. People love swag at trade shows.
But don’t just give away generic swag for the heck of it. This is the quickest way to quell any meaningful future engagement someone may have had with your business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA6sf2HJaMY
Instead, offer something personalized and strategic. For example:
- Items that attendees can create themselves, such as customized, branded apparel and engraved, reusable water bottles
- AI-powered photo booths
- Custom trading cards
- A claw machine
- A custom-branded game that attendees can play in order to win swag
These aren’t just random items someone will throw away the minute they get home. They’re fun items a person will use in their day-to-day lives, and most importantly—they’ve got your stamp on them.
That person is engaging with your brand every time they pick up their water bottle or put on the branded cap you gave them.
When you engage with them after the show, this makes the sales conversations a whole lot easier, as your brand is already front of mind and familiar to them.
Other strategic giveaways you may wish to consider include exclusive private demo offers, QR codes linking to tailored educational content, and an invitation to a private webinar.
Whatever giveaway you go for, it must encourage attendees to engage further with your brand and spark valuable follow-up conversations.
Speaking of which…
7. Fortune favors the follow-up
You’ve just returned to the office in a celebratory mood, having successfully engaged your ideal prospects and wowed them with your offering and booth space.
But these conversations mean nothing if you don’t have a structured follow-up plan on how to turn these prospects into clients.
During our 40 years in the trade show industry, we’ve seen countless exhibitors fall at this hurdle, having done everything right up until this point.
So, how do you make sure you’re not one of them?
Here’s how:
- Send personalized thank-you emails within 24 to 48 hours of the show’s conclusion.
- Publish post-show social media posts and articles on your website to encourage further engagement from warm leads.
- Like and comment on social media posts from attendees to further nurture the relationship.
- If you made any notes during conversations with attendees, refer to relevant details they mentioned when you send them a direct message and/or email.
- Engage in any post-show discussions you encounter on social media.
- Segment your leads based on interest level (this is where polls and quizzes come in handy) and the conversations you had, and tailor your outreach accordingly.
- Share a helpful piece of content if you deem it necessary.
We could go on, but you get the point.
Don’t rely on a single channel or touchpoint, and don’t let productive conversations turn to dust.
Have a solid, structured game plan, act fast, cast the net as wide as possible, and capitalize on the hard work you’ve done on the trade show floor.
Related: How To Prepare A Strategic Marketing Campaign For Trade Shows
Create immersive storytelling experiences with The Trade Group
We’re your strategic trade show partner. Put simply, we’re here to help you bring your story to life and spark engaging conversations.
Whether you want a custom exhibit for your next show or require general event services, we’re ready to work with you.
Send us a note here or call us at 800-343-2005.
