Discover How to Attract Prospects to Your Exhibition Stand

Remember to keep your business objectives at the forefront of your mind

When it comes to making an impression, to adapt a much-used saying, “All’s fair in love and exhibitions”. And if you want to attract the right prospects – those with the potential to add long term value to your business – it’s crucial to have the right stand and the right team.

• Understand your target audience and the type of stand that will draw them in.
• Create open entry to your stand, ensuring that visitors won’t feel daunted by the design.
• Train your team on how to nurture different types of attendee.
• Get your team out in the aisles to drum up interest and enthusiasm for your stand.
• Have high impact giveaways to encourage prospects to remember you.

Maximise your footfall

As with all event planning, organisation is the key to success at exhibitions. It’s worth having a diary of exhibits you’d like to attend so that you can book your space at the earliest possible opportunity

Not only will this give you the greatest possible amount of time to devote to your stand design and strategy.

You’ll have the pick of stand locations, with maximum footfall putting you on the path to success from the outset.

And a central location means it’s easier for your team out in the aisles to point visitors in the right direction.

Bigger doesn’t always mean better

When it comes to the design of your stand itself, it’s crucial to understand exactly what makes your ideal customer tick. And for maximum impact, you need to focus on incorporating an interactive design element that will appeal to this type of person.

Don’t go for stand size, go for impact, but make sure it’s inviting.

When investing in a new stand, don’t forget to keep your business objectives at the forefront of your mind.

It’s vital to consider whether you’ll re-use your stand, how you’ll track results and which members of your team will help achieve the best possible outcome.

Making your print materials consistent with your brand and stand image will also contribute to the overall effectiveness of your exhibition attendance.

Take prospects on a journey

To give prospects an understanding of your business – and to make it more likely that they’re ready to talk – it’s incredibly effective if your stand takes them on a journey

• Various touch points should demonstrate what you offer.
• Try and include live demonstrations or interactive sessions throughout the journey.
• If you’re limited with space, use video footage or prize draws to attract prospects.

Identify your target audience

If your stand is high impact, it’s likely to be popular. However, while your design will naturally appeal to your target customers, your stand is also likely to attract individuals that won’t benefit your business in the long term

To identify the right people, it’s helpful to formulate a single question that your team can ask prospects.

Make sure it’s not obtrusive or aggressive but skilfully create it to immediately identify whether this visitor is an ideal customer.

Give them something to remember

The best way to ensure that visitors remember you when reviewing the exhibition is by putting something different into their hands

Remember, they’ll receive a wealth of material, so think of ways that you can stand out.

Items that look good and are useful – branded pens or memory sticks, for example – are far less likely to be binned.

Prize draws also work well, and give you precious data that you can follow up and nurture.

Whatever your objectives and aims, you’re far more likely to achieve them if – a few weeks after the exhibition – your target audience recall you with enthusiasm and excitement.

An exhibition gives you an amazing opportunity to make your business shine, and with the right tactics, you’ll outsmart the opposition and do just that!