What makes a trade show appearance truly spectacular? The answer lies in the details. Trade shows are excellent opportunities to introduce your brand, showcase your products, develop new connections, and grow your customer base. Yet many businesses struggle to see true ROI from their attendance. This could happen from any number of issues, such as having a poor display, hiring untrained booth staff, or talking more about yourself than the client.

After working with businesses for many years, we have realized that there are keys to having a successful trade show appearance. We share these secrets below.

Choose Your Location Wisely

Booth location has a huge impact on your success. If your booth is all the way in the back, you’re more likely to get tired, less interested traffic – and perhaps less traffic overall. If your budget allows, consider paying extra for a prime spot. They go quickly, so you’ll have to act fast and early. You may also ask about being grandfathered in for next year if you can’t make it on the list this year.

Have Your Exhibit Custom Made

Your display must be awesome. Buyers are attracted to booths that use bold colors and incorporate technology like virtual reality, touch screens, display signage, and LED lighting. Work with a professional exhibit design firm to get the look you want. You can invest in a custom booth that can be used for all of your events, or save money with a portable, modular, or rental display.

Hire Friendly, Knowledgeable Booth Staff

Choose your booth staff carefully. We understand that not everyone enjoys standing on their feet and mingling all day, but you need your best people out there. All staff should be trained in advance on what to say, how to act, and how to operate the booth, if need be. They should also be friendly, smiling, and approachable, otherwise people will keep on walking by.

Hire an Entertainer

Another way to drive traffic to your booth is by hiring a host or entertainer. This person should go along with your company and the theme of your trade show. For example, an exhibit at a beauty supply expo would benefit from a model. A booth at a toy convention would perform best with a magician or professional juggler.

Offer Promotions and Incentives

A simple way to reach success is by offering promotions and incentives to people who stop by your booth. This can start a few months in advance as you promote your trade show attendance on social media. Be clear about what your promotion is and what buyers can expect by visiting you, exchanging information, etc.

Serve Snacks and Foods

People get tired of walking around trade shows, so having a fresh bottle of water or bag of pretzels is a nice pick me up. You’ll get more traffic to your booth this way, plus people will be more open to hearing your message. Choose drinks and snacks that align with your company and attach branding so people remember who satisfied their hunger.

The more trade shows you attend, the more you’ll see what improvements make a difference for your business. In the meantime, try out a few of these tips for a more successful trade show appearance.