Social media is a communication channel, and a great tool for you to use in executing your marketing plan; especially at your next trade show.

Trade shows are used for the face-to-face marketing, networking, and selling and ultimately aim to build and/or solidify relationships.  What about before and after the show?  Along with traditional marketing techniques, begin thinking of how to incorporate social media tools to augment your tried and true pre-show promotion and post-show follow-up strategies.  These can work regardless if your company is B2C or B2B.  Trade show booth staffers may be using these tools everyday to network with customers, so let’s tap into social media to continue that conversation.

The wisdom of the 4 B’s

The 4 B’s is a practice that can be used by anyone and applies to all types of social media.  Mike Yoder, a dear friend and founder of the method, swears by it – and I humbly agree!  Here are some ideas to link the “Be’s” with the tools:

Be Interesting (Before the show)

What sets your company apart from the competition?  What’s your show theme or the critical brand message you’re trying to introduce?  How can you engage clients to get the message and want to connect with you?

Try participating in BoothTag at your next trade show and/or provide a QR code that links to a landing page of a contest instead of your website.  Take this idea, and spread your message before the show, using both traditional methods (email and snail mail) and non-traditional (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc).  Keep it simple, interesting, and have a little fun with it, but…

Be Relevant (at the show)

Not everyone buys into gamification and contests in a trade show exhibit, because it doesn’t always bring qualified leads.  However, when done correctly, you can create a contest that is relevant to your brand, theme and other trade show initiatives, which will result in attendee sign-ups that become qualified leads.

For example, say you’re a software integration firm at a trade show offering attendees a free assessment of their systems software, but since this is a common industry practice many people may not be enticed by this offer. However, create a compelling message and offer a free assessment via a fun contest, coupled with a favorable chance to win an iPad, and voila!! …you’ve now lowered engagement barriers, spawned brand/message recognition and paved the way to more qualified leads.

Keep in mind that a perfect “give-away” promotion is tied to a business need and a personal interest, and done through a positive, memorable experience.

Be Helpful (during and after the show)

This point reminds me of a TEDx presentation by Angela Maiers called, “You Matter.” The message here is that there is a power and a genius in act of caring for others.  Demonstrate that you get this and you aren’t just processing people through your booth.  Use your social media tools to thank them for spending time with you and to keep the spark you started at the show going long after it.

A person overlooked, a need unacknowledged, or a promise simply forgotten are all missed opportunities that could potentially create a negative impression on your brand and on you as a person. The Internet through social media has created a networked mobile society, a culture of immediacy, and an expectation of expedited follow up.  Fortunately, social media tools also provide the opportunity for you to respond accordingly and to continue the dialog with your new contacts over networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Be Yourself (always)

Self-explanatory, but let’s go over a couple main points. The beauty of social media is that it is a more informal communications medium where you can be yourself, just as you might at a cocktail party. It is not a promotional platform or dynamic infomercial.  It is about listening, sharing and caring.  Channel your inner-self and empathize with your clients and followers and you may be surprised how influential and powerful you really are.

Again, social media is a communication channel and a tool for marketing.  However, as with all communication channels, your success is wholly dependent on the quality of the dialog and the skillful use of the tools available.

In addition to using social media, enhance your trade show strategy by reading the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This 32-page book reaveals the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using to boost their results and stretch their budgets.  Click here to request your free copy. 

A newly published white paper by Marketech reveals what 3,341 trade show attendees, in interviews held at 30 events, said caused them to visit trade show exhibits.   Skyline has sponsored this new research report and made it available free to exhibitors, who can get a copy by requesting it here.

The Value Of People, Product, and Promotions in Attracting Visitors To Trade Show Booths

Attendees gave their primary reasons for visiting trade show displays, and when the answers are grouped, you can see that people, product, and promotions are key in getting attendees into your exhibit:

Source: Marketech, Inc.

Product:  The number one reason given to enter a trade show booth was to obtain product information (32%).  Add product demo (11%) and you get to 43% of booth visitors interested in product.  So being ready to help attendees to learn about your products is paramount.

Promotion:  There are several reasons for visiting a booth that can be grouped under promotion:  Giveaway (17%), in booth activity (11%), refreshments / hospitality (8%), ad / promotion (5%), and invitation (1%).  Those add up to 42% of respondents.   So consider this – does your promotion budget equal 42% of your trade show budget?  Probably less – so promotions are worth the investment.

People:  Attendees said they visited booths because of the greeter (13%), product demo (that a person usually does!) (11%), and to see a rep (10%), which adds up to 34% of interested attendees.  Thus, the people that you choose to staff your booth truly matter.

Other findings from the study.

• Sponsorships and ads do increase brand awareness among trade show attendees, but do little to increase booth visitation.  If the goal is to get leads, then sponsorship appears to be the wrong promotional tool.
• Pre-show promotions are key in getting attendees to the booth, as only 20% said they visited because of “happenstance.”
• Giveaways and greeters are effective investments for driving booth traffic.

Trade show booths are the intersection of people, product and promotion, and all are essential in attracting attendees.

The Incredible Value Of A Proactive Booth Staffer

When asked who started the interaction between them and the booth staffer, attendees said that 89% of the engagements were started by the rep.  So without booth staffers that engage visitors, exhibitors will get far, far poorer results.

To Influence Attendees To Buy, Help Them Learn

Marketech believes this is the key takeaway from this research report:  There was a strong correlation between learning from an exhibitor and being more inclined to buy from them.  For example, when an attendee learns something new, they were 27% more inclined to buy from the exhibitor, but if they did not learn something new, they were only 6% more inclined to buy from the exhibitor.  An attendee who learns from you is more likely to become your client.

But it has to be relevant learning, cautions Marketech:  “Identifying the visitor’s agenda and speaking to it must be one of the most important elements in preparing a staff to work an event.  Otherwise, the exhibit staff is merely delivering an information dump that does not achieve either party’s objectives and is a waste of time.”

Other “Best Practices” Recommendations For Exhibitors:

• Create a reason for attendees to put you on their “must see” trade show list
• Ask your sales reps to invite their customers and prospects
• Be sure to train your staff to best engage with attendees
• Create a learning environment in your exhibit to drive purchasing behavior, and be creative in transforming known information into something new
• Teach technicians to mention your brand name while they do demonstrations to increase memorability with attendees
• Pay attention to non-customers and influencers, too, because they can spread the word to buyers, too
• Increase memorability with hands-on demos

The size of this study – based on over 3,000 interviews – gives you an unprecedented body of experience to help you enhance your trade show program.  There’s great advice here, especially about drawing in attendees with product info, promotions, and the right people, and about creating a true learning environment to make attendees more likely to buy from you.

Boost your trade show results with insights from this new white paper, What Attendees Tell Us About Best Practices, based on over 3,000 interviews with trade show attendees.  Click here to get your free copy now.

You will see our booth just as you enter the exhibit hall.

Skyline would love to see you in our booth, #1325, at EXHIBITOR2012, March 5 to 7, 2012 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.  It promises to be an excellent show.

Many exhibit marketers have renewed their strong trade show schedules, and are looking to expand their booth spaces to take advantage of the face-to-face nature of trade shows.

But because our industry tends to lag the economic cycle, there are also exhibit marketers attending EXHIBITOR2012 who are in expansion mode, just now making up for the reductions they made during the downturn.

But all exhibitors have adjusted to the new reality:  They need a responsive exhibit partner who can augment their smaller team, boost their trade show results, all the while maximizing their highly scrutinized budget.

We look forward to meeting with exhibit marketers who attend the show, to demonstrate how we can help enhance their exhibiting success.  If you need a free pass to the exhibit hall, click here, and enter in promo code 4206 when registering.

5 Reasons To Visit Skyline At EXHIBITOR2012:

Free Trade Show Seminars

Skyline will host 12 “bite-sized” seminars in our booth.  You can get the best nuggets on insights about 6 popular trade show topics such as promotions, social media, booth staffing, exhibit design, and more.  We will present each 10-minute session twice during the show, every hour on the hour that the show hall is open.

Here’s our free seminar schedule (you may want to print it and take it with you to the show):

Expert Advice
After each seminar we will take Q&A from the audience, answering questions about the session topic or any trade show or marketing questions you have. You can also visit the booth at any time to talk with our experienced staff.

Useful, Elegant Gifts
Attendees to our seminars will receive a cool, aluminum-clad notebook.  The elegant notebooks give you a place to jot ideas and reactions to our seminars.  The aluminum covers also evoke the clean, elegant look of our metal exhibit systems.

Chocolate
To complement our “bite-sized” seminars we’re offering bite-sized chocolates.  Stop by anytime during the show when you need a boost, and get a crunchy, creamy nugget of Ferrero Rocher chocolate.

Meet With A Trusted Exhibiting Partner
Whether you are an existing Skyline customer wanting to see what’s new, or an exhibit marketer looking for new ways to achieve trade show success, you can request a meeting with us.  Just click here to ask for a date and time to meet, or stop by to visit us in booth 1325.

Trade shows are a valuable marketing medium.   But they’re also hard work.  You need help you can depend on to succeed.  We hope to see you at our booth at EXHIBITOR2012.

Again, if you need a free pass to the exhibit hall, click here, and enter in promo code 4206.

The Indianapolis Convention & Visitor’s Association recent Indy’s Super Bowl Shuffle caused quite the stir in Indianapolis when it was released this week. 

Most of the outcry was due to those who thought the video was unoriginal and reflected poorly on the city.  Admittedly when I first viewed the video my reaction was, well…the same.  But when I learned of the context of which it was to be used I gained an appreciation for the video.  ICVA removed the video and posted the following on Twitter:

 @visitIndy Nov 30, 8:33pm via Seesmic

We decided to remove our SB Shuffle video.  It wasn’t intended to be a promo for indy- it was to introduce our sales team @ an industry event

The video was actually intended as a pre-show promotion for the Holiday Showcase trade show in Chicago coming up on December 15. While the roll out of this video was flawed, if we look at the video for it’s intended use, it really hits the mark for trade show promotion!

1. Have fun:  Be willing to laugh at yourself!  The ICVA produced a cheesy parody based on the 1985 Chicago Bears video.  With the chorus of  “We’re so bad, we know we’re good,” it’s obvious they were even poking fun at themselves.  Being able to show your fun side and willingness to laugh at yourself makes you more approachable on the trade show floor.
2. Promotion:  The video was posted to YouTube and an email was sent to the meeting planners directing them to the page.  In this case, this is where the execution of the promotion falls short. Consider using the unlisted video feature on YouTube to make your video viewable to the audience you provide a link.  Also, in creation of your video really tailor your video to your audience. Hindsight being 20/20, I’m sure if the ICVA had thought about creating some type of introduction to the video to make clear that this was for an industry event and not intended to promote the city, it would have been received entirely different.
3. Drive Traffic:  The piece was created in a fun way that would give the ICVA great visual recognition at the show and even talking points.  Creating a fun video that gets people talking will also get people talking at your trade show booth providing opportunities for engagement and relationship building.
4. Highlight your products/services: The ICVA did a great job of encapsulating some of the great hotels in our fair city.  Give your audience a tease of what they will get to see at your trade show appearance.  This can also be a great way to roll out a new product or service.

Using video and fun parodies to promote your next trade show appearance is a great tool to drive traffic.  Just make sure you consider ALL of the posibilities when it comes to creation and promotion.

To do your trade show promotions the right way, pick up the Creating Effective Trade Show  Promotions guidebook.  Get your free copy of this 76-page guide that takes you through the entire process from setting goals to execution to measuring results by clicking here.

Trade show promotions drive more traffic to your booth.  Yet, there are nearly an infinite number of promos and giveaways, and almost as many ideas about how to do promotions better, too.  So what should you do first?

These 10 tips are the hidden gems, secrets, and guideposts that I’ve uncovered in the 20-plus years I’ve been doing, reading, and researching trade show promotions.  Follow these best practices to ensure your trade show booth a hub of meaningful activity:

1. Invent a great product demo to do in your booth, to pull in attendees, get them involved, and start valuable conversations.
2. Giveaways are worthwhile because they get more people to enter your trade show exhibit and help you be remembered after the show, but can attract the wrong people if their appeal is too broad and beyond your target market.
3. Set client and top prospect meetings in advance if at all possible, by offering them something of value such as a gift, access to decision makers, or exclusive information.
4. Promotions are great conversation starters — but your booth staffers have to keep the conversation going, rather than let the prospect walk off.
5. Discounts and show specials help you close the deal when you get rare face-to-face time with hard-to-reach prospects.
6. It’s a guy thing: Choose giveaways and promotions that appeal to the demographics of your target audience.
7. Assertive, friendly, and persistent crowd gatherers are worth their weight in gold-dipped foam stress balls.
8. Before the show, reach out to attendees at minimum with email that offers something of value, potentially with direct mail, and for top prospects, by personal telephone calls.
9. Put more effort into social media for trade show promotions — but only when you are already maximizing traditional pre-show and at-show promotions.  Your social media efforts should be proportionate to the social-media adaption rate of your target audience.
10. Giveaways that tie into your marketing message are much more memorable after the show.

I hope you get more attendees into your booth eager to engage with your booth staffers thanks to these ideas.  What is your own top tip for trade show promotions?  Please share it with us in the comments box below.

I hope you get more attendees into your booth eager to engage with your booth staffers thanks to these ideas. What is your own top tip for trade show promotions? Please share it with us in the comments box below.

This article is one of a series on Top 10 Tips for various key trade show topics:

>Top 10 Tips For Trade Show Booth Staffing

>Top 10 Tips For Trade Show Lead Management

> Top 10 Tips For Trade Show Exhibit Design

 Find more of the most effective strategies and tactics exhibitors are using today in the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper. Click here to request your free 32-page copy. 

Done right, promotions increase tradeshow booth traffic, make positive impressions, deepen relationships, and boost memorability.  Done wrong, they can waste booth staffers’ time, be a drain on your trade show budget, and erode your reputation.

Here are 8 wrong ways to use trade show promotions that exhibitors unfortunately do again and again – and how you can avoid making these same mistakes yourself:

1.  Get the cheapest giveaways possible

That thing you bought to give to booth visitors?  It has your company logo on it.  Do you want people to equate your brand with cheesy, cheap, and poorly made?  And when it breaks in two weeks, do you want your logo on it?  Nope, I thought not.  So invest in quality, as befits your quality brand.

2.  Pile giveaways in your booth – then ignore the people they attract

You heap an enticing stack of giveaways on the edge of your table, and lo and behold, the trick-or-treaters appear.  They grab and dash, and you feel helpless.  Instead, either put the giveaways further in your trade show displays, or out of sight altogether.  Better yet, guard them with a capable booth staffer, who can quickly qualify attendees with a single question.  You may find your giveaway trap is worth it, if you can find enough qualified leads amidst the treasure hunters.

3.  Offer giveaways that have no tie-in to your message.

Is your strategy to buy the latest cool gadget as a giveaway?  While people will love it, that gadget will not help them remember your competitive advantage.  Want to be remembered for the right reasons?  Find a giveaway that is appealing AND that you can memorably hook into your marketing message or theme.  That way, you create a deeper, more meaningful impression your booth visitor will remember after the show.

4.  Don’t tell your booth staffers about your promotions

Skip telling your staffers about your promotions.  Then, have that awkward moment when an attendee hands your staffer your pre-show mailer inviting them to come get your at-show giveaway, only to be met with a blank stare.  Feel how your company (and professional) reputation takes a hit.  Unprepared staffers won’t know about contest requirements, fulfillment expectations, or how to tie your giveaways to your marketing messages.  So train them.

5.  Offer a prize or raffle – without qualifying entrants

Want a big list of people who just want an iPad?  Raffle it off at your next show.  Unfortunately, that list will be pretty useless when you get back to the office – unless you are an iPad salesperson.  Instead, require attendees to answer a few qualifying questions on an entrance form first, so you know who are the good prospects right away.  Better yet, only do a broad-appealing raffle like this when most of the show attendees could be prospects for your products.  Otherwise, you waste a lot of time talking to non-buyers.

6.  Treat your customers like strangers

Don’t reward your customers for their loyalty.  Give them the same $1.29 giveaway you handed over to everyone else.  Let them feel how special you think they are for giving you their valuable business.  Don’t like the way that feels?  Then have a second, higher-level giveaway stashed away that’s only for clients.  A welcome bonus – you’ll be surprised how often when you give that to a client while thanking them for their business, that they answer you by saying, “You know, we do have this new project coming up…”

7.  Hire a celebrity, then ignore the line

Celebrities, especially those within your industry, can draw a crowd.  But that crowd is worthless if your staffers ignore the line waiting to meet the celebrity in your exhibit.  Staffers can engage attendees by talking about the celebrity, but then also ask them about their needs, and record their answers.   So your staff will know who the qualified leads are before they get the celebrity’s autograph.  The same applies to other entertainment you hire that gets a line forming.

8.  Give a great gift – but then don’t follow up

After you’ve invested $5, $10, $20 or more on a high-quality, memorable gift with your best prospects, you let those valuable opportunities die on the vine by not calling them after the show.  Sure you can hope the gift alone will compel them to pick up the phone and place an order with you.  But their desk will be cluttered with work that piled up while they were at the show.  Instead, be sure to prioritize your leads by quality, so your sales force can reach out to those top-level prospects while they are hot.  And tell your sales people what giveaways the leads received, so the sales people can refer to the gift in the follow up call, and tie the goodwill of the gift to them.

Promotions are a powerful tool for trade show marketers.  But like all tools, they need to be used the right way for full effect.

What other wrong ways have you seen exhibitors use trade show promotions?  Share with your peers in the comment box below.

Learn more ways to do trade show promotions the right way! Click here to get the 76-page Creating Effective Trade Show Promotions book, filled with articles, worksheets, checklists, and ideas to boost your booth traffic.

Congrats — you’re no longer the trade show rookie.

You’ve trained your booth staffers to work the aisles.  You’ve asked for (and received) a trade show display with bold images and clear messaging.  And you know how to put together a trade show promotion that gets more people to your booth.

Been there, done that.  Now, you’re ready for something more.

So here are 6 advanced trade show strategies and tactics you can use that will stretch – and grow – your trade show program:

1.  Select Vertical Market Shows

All too often exhibitors can get caught up with doing their best in front of their competitors.  So they invest substantial time and capital in a large trade show booth at their main industry show.   And while plenty of potential customers can attend your big industry show, some, more savvy exhibitors have left that crowded battlefield in pursuit of only their very best prospects.  You can, too.  Find the shows, which may be smaller, where your best vertical market clients gather.  Once there, re-examine your whole approach.  Can you focus your exhibit graphics message and promotions to appeal more directly to that vertical market audience?  Do you have employees with greater expertise in that vertical market you can bring as booth staffers?  And is there more than one vertical market worth this extra effort?

2.  Exhibit At International Shows

It’s most likely that if you are reading this, you are an American.  (If you are not, pay no attention to this – you already are much more likely to exhibit internationally).  Over the last few years, there has been a surge in U.S. companies testing the waters overseas – especially since the GDP growth rate worldwide has been double the growth of the United States.  Exhibiting internationally is a worthwhile way to grow your business – and it’s definitely an advanced strategy.  You have to deal with customs (both the laws and the culture), time zone, language and currency differences, and starting over from scratch, since your company and products are probably unknown there.  If you want some help getting started, Skyline offers a free white paper called International Exhibiting – click here to get a copy.

3.  Set Appointments For Meetings In Your Booth

Exhibitors’ objectives progress through a sequence:  First they exhibit to get awareness of their company, brand and products, second they exhibit to get leads, and finally, they move up to exhibiting to get lengthy face time with their clients and best prospects.  Focusing on meetings requires a new way of thinking.  You have to see your trade show program not as an isolated marketing touch point, but as a key component in your selling cycle.  You have to work with your sales team to identify and entice known attendees to set aside considerable time to meet with you while they are at the show.  You need promotional activities that will resonate with people who already know you, and you want them to really come to your booth.  You need to bring higher-level employees who can advance the sale, and the people who your clients want to take time to see.  Your exhibit design changes, too, because you are more likely to add an element of hospitality.  This strategy leverages the face-to-face nature of trade shows to their fullest.

4.  Add Video and Interactive Technologies

Whether it’s a video on a monitor, flat screen, or an iPad, you can create more visual stopping power and give your staffers presentation and demo tools with video and interactive technologies.  Videos that are short, punchy, and have high production values get attention.  Exhibitors with highly technical products can grow into interactive technologies to help their staffers tell a detailed, consistent story, while keeping attendees more engaged.  The advent of touch screens and iPads make them even more appealing and user-friendly.  Creating content and sourcing these tools require a new skill set that many exhibit managers simply don’t have.  That doesn’t mean it can’t be done, just that they have to work with either their company’s ad agency, or go looking for vendor that has experience making videos especially for trade shows, and interactive technology that helps booth staffers be more convincing.  One tip: design your trade show exhibit with the technology in mind from the beginning, rather than trying to bolt on the tech after the fact.

5.  Tie Your Lead Gathering Closer To Your Company Database

You’ve gone beyond just gathering business cards from your trade show visitors – you get a scan from their show badge that adds some vital qualifying data, or even use your own lead cards to write down more information you gleaned while talking to them.  Now go even further, and tie your lead gathering tighter to your company’s sales and marketing CRM database.  Perhaps it’s getting the data file from the lead retrieval machine you rented from the show, and importing that right into your database.  Or it’s buying (rather than renting) your own lead retrieval machines that you ship to every show, which has a consistent lead format you define for easier importing into your CRM.  Or maybe even using laptops or iPads that, with Internet access in your booth, let staffers enter leads directly into your company database in real time.  That way you can prevent mistakes from bad handwriting, get a head start on reporting results, have a better chance at tying leads to sales, start fulfilling the leads before the show ends, and most importantly, forward your A-quality leads to the appropriate sales rep for immediate follow up.

6.  Measure More Of Your Trade Show Activities

Go beyond just counting leads, and even measuring the ROI of your overall trade show program, and use measurement on a more granular level to help decide how to actually improve your trade show program.  Count the qualified leads each booth staffer brings per hour, so you can decide who staffs the next show, and who stays home.  Measure the impact that major parts of your program give (such as promotions, presentations, interactive technology, and sponsorships) versus their costs, to better allocate your budget at future shows.  And if ROI is not your objective, find a way to measure your objective anyhow, like using surveys before and after a show to measure the brand impact your show program created.  Also, rather than looking at each measurement in isolation show by show, start comparing each show to one another, and at each show over the years.

Which strategy of these strategies is best for you?  Meet with your team and brainstorm which ones will garner the greatest boost for your efforts.   Then dive into these advanced strategies and tactics. You’ll increase your results, grow your skills, make yourself more valuable – and make your job more interesting!

If you’ve used these advanced strategies and tactics yourself, how did they work for you?  Are there other trade show strategies you graduated to once you’d mastered the basics?  Share your experiences with us in the comment box below.

Get more great ideas on advancing your trade show program with the What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper, in which over 170 exhibitors told what they were doing to improve their trade show results.  Click here to get your free copy.

Skyline hosted webinars called “What’s Working In Exhibiting” on July 13th and 14th, 2011.   Thank you so much for your participation and your questions about how to get the most of of trade shows, be it promotions, show selection, booth staffing, lead management, and more.

As promised, here is the pdf of the actual presentation content.  (If the pdf viewer is not loading on your browser, you can go to the actual pdf file by copying and pasting this URL into your browser window: skyline.com/images/webinars/WhatsWorking_July-13-2011_Webinar.pdf

During the seminar we offered several items.  If you did not attend or did not ask during the webinar, just click to request your copies:

• Measurement Made Easy CD computer program
• What’s Working In Exhibiting White Paper
• Info on Skyline’s portable displays and modular inline exhibits
• Info on Skyline’s custom modular island exhibits

Thanks again for attending!

The use of video for trade show promotions has become increasingly popular. Recently I met with Dave Anderson, Principal of Stream Three Creative an Indianapolis video production firm that assists in clients taking advantage of the power of video.

In this segment we discuss some of the benefits of using video in your trade show display.  We’ll discuss everything from the power of video as a relationship-building tool to engagement and budget.

In this segment with Dave Anderson, Principal of Stream Three Creative. Dave and I discuss using video on the trade show floor in your display. We cover topics such as taping promo’s before the show, collateral after the show and live streaming.

Video continues to increase in popularity. We’ve had clients want to integrate video more often into their trade show booths, which is why Skyline has new products like the DesignView Presentation System, the Large Monitor Station and Mirage Monitor Mount, to give them multiple ways to present video.

I hope you found this helpful if you were planning on using video in your trade show booth – and perhaps inspired you to consider video if you were not planning it before!

Trade show marketers are using more technology and social media as part of their jobs. Find out more in The Evolving Role of Exhibit Marketers, a detailed research report that shares how other exhibitors have adjusted to changes in the economy, their companies, and their jobs. Click here to request your free copy.

When visiting the Fancy Foods Trade Show in New York City, I took some time to visit the various trade show booths representing various states. I was sampling the impressive array of food and drinks offered as treats at each booth.

I noticed that the trade show display for a certain southern state had a young woman giving away samples of gourmet seasoned cashews and anticipated enjoying a cup of them. I wasn’t disappointed – the gourmet nuts were so warm and delicious, I circled around in order to get another sample.

Staffer Skimps On Treats

The staffer at this trade show booth recognized me and she obviously didn’t appreciate my extreme fondness for the treat she was handing out. When I got to the head of the line, she carefully counted out six small cashews that amounted to less than a third of my previous serving.  Her entire demeanor said that she didn’t appreciate my attempt to get more of their great tasting snack.

Weighing Goodwill Against Cashews

While it may be understandable that the young staffer wanted to make sure she had enough cashews for every visitor to her trade show booth, she failed to weigh the potential goodwill of a visitor against the value of a few cashews.  I walked away from the booth disappointed in that state’s brand of southern hospitality.  The young woman had not represented them in a positive light.

Perception Is Everything

The staffer giving out the gourmet cashews looked at me as simply an interloper trying to get an extra treat.  But what if she had looked at me in a different light?  If she had stopped to consider that I was a potential client, she could have created an opening to praise her state and cement a new business relationship.

If she had smiled and welcomed me with enthusiasm, she could have created some goodwill and ensured that I praised her state to others.  She might have said, “Welcome back!  I guess you just couldn’t resist our yummy gourmet cashews! Here, have an extra serving, and be sure to tell everyone you got them from the our trade show booth, where gourmet treats are just the beginning of our big welcome!”

Lessons Learned For Your Staffers

Reviewing the actions of this trade show display staffer, you’ll realize that there were several moments when she had the opportunity to make a wonderful impression for her state, but chose the wrong action:

1. When the staffer inadvertently turned me off and no doubt some other visitors as well.  Don’t let your facial expressions damage your brand identity.  You may be frowning at someone in particular, but plenty of others will see you and turn away.  No one likes to approach someone who looks unhappy or upset.  Remember body language is fast and powerful and is 55% of our communication.
2. The trade show booth staffer chose to save a handful of nuts and in the process lost my interest.  Your trade show booth display may be the only opportunity your company has to make a great impression.  Does it really make sense to skimp on the little things instead of focusing on the big picture?  Relax a bit and don’t be afraid to be generous.
3. The staffer missed a golden opportunity to build a stronger relationship with a visitor to her trade show display. If she’d taken the “Welcome Back” approach, her entire state might have benefited from it.  Look at every interaction as an opportunity to strengthen a relationship, maximizing your business’ positive image.
4. Staffers represent your brand and remember 90% of what visitors remember about your company at a show will be based on your booth staff.

Your staff can make an elephant-sized impression on your booth visitors.  Make sure they understand how their use of giveaways — even gourmet cashews — can have a big impact on how your brand is perceived.

Don’t let your booth staffers pass up the chance to make a great first impression. Find out how to engage your visitors, get tips and more by requesting your free copy of the Booth Staffing Guidebook by clicking here.