Getting Traffic to Your Trade Show Displays

People invest a lot of money into putting up trade show displays at events and expos. Nobody wants to spend all of that money and then be disappointed by a low amount of traffic at the event. So how do you increase your trade show traffic in order to profit off of your participation? First of all, you want to do your own marketing of the event. And secondly, you need to make sure that your display really reflects yourself, your business and your product. These two things combined are effective in bringing in the trade show traffic.

Many people make the huge mistake of expecting the trade show organizers to do all of the event advertising. Of course they are going to do some of it because they are also seeking to turn a profit from the event. However, you can never be certain just how much advertising they are going to have the time or money to do. That's why you should make sure that you do your own marketing of the event ahead of time. This increases the traffic that the entire event gets and that naturally leads to more traffic for your booth.

More importantly, because you are specifically targeting the customers that you appeal to, you'll likely increase your own booth traffic with your marketing. The customers that you already have are a great start for marketing the event. Contact your customer mailing list and let them know that you'll have a booth at the event. Encourage them to attend as well as to spread the word. Offer an incentive such as a discount for anyone who mentions your marketing when they are at your booth.

You don't have to spend a lot of money to market the event yourself. First off, you can contact the trade show organizers and ask if they have any fliers, web banners or other tools that you can use to market the event. Many will supply these to you since they are seeking to spread the word. Secondly, you can use social media to market the event at a low cost. Spread the word via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, mention it in your blog, and add the information for it to your email signature.

Marketing the event is what you do before the trade show to increase traffic. But what should you do once you are there? There will be a lot of other trade show displays for people to visit so how do you get the traffic to come your way? The most important thing is that everything about the display, including your own presence, really speaks to the core values of your business and the products that you're selling.

This is an important point because so many people go against this in an effort to take advantage of the latest trade show crazes. For example, many trade show exhibitors are using so-called "booth babes" (attractive women) to draw crowds to their displays. This may draw in a crowd but if it has no relevance to the company or product then it's not going to result in useful traffic. It is never just about getting people to the table. It's always about getting the right people to the table.

It will be the little things that count when it comes to your trade show displays. For example, you should dress well and look great. You should exude confidence but not be excessively aggressive. The display should reflect the colors in your logo. Giveaways should relate to products that are important in your line. Keep everything streamlined to reflect what you're really all about and the right traffic will wind up at your display.