7 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Tradeshow Booth

Man standing in front of a large screen, seated audience looks at him

When it comes to tradeshow booths, “If you build it right, they will come.” Check out these ways to create a tradeshow booth that attracts attention, visitors and qualified traffic to your booth. 

#1 Post on Social Media Before, During & After the Show 

Put social media to work for you before, during and after the show. Use it generate excitement before the show begins, continue the momentum during the show and keep the excitement alive after the show ends. 

Before 

  • Use the tradeshow hashtag, the city hashtag and create your own company/product/service hashtag to use  
  • Create Facebook Events 
  • Post YouTube videos to promote your booth 
  • Announce your participation in the show, promote your booth location and give away tickets to the show 
  • Share a special codeword on social media that visitors can tell you at the booth to cash in for a prize 

During 

  • Offer freebies or prizes to anyone who retweets or shares your news 
  • You can retweet or share any social posts others share about your booth/company at the show 
  • Host a live newscast from your booth to share what’s happening now and what’s coming up that they don’t want to miss. Use the conference hashtag, the city hashtag and company/product/service hashtag when you stream updates and news throughout the event 
  • Have visitors “check-in for the win” to generate booth buzz. You can give them a prize for checking in and using your hashtag in their post 
  • Ask booth visitors to tag their posts with your hashtag  
  • Have ambassadors livestream about your product/service  
  • Livestream demos of the product or live knowledge sessions about how to use the product. Use the conference hashtag, the city hashtag and company/product/service hashtag 
  • Have employees at the tradeshow attend education sessions or events and share on social media. Use hashtags and follow and tag the speakers 

After 

  • Post pictures and videos for people who missed the tradeshow 
  • Talk about how successful the show was 
  • Listen to what booth visitors tell you. Post solutions to their problems or ways you’re modifying your product/service to solve their problems  

#2 Make it Comfortable  

Create a comfortable space so people hang around your booth, hear what you have to say and interact with other visitors. A booth with lots of visitors attracts even more visitors.  

  • R&R Lounge: Set up your booth (or an area of your booth) like a lounge or living room. Add floor mats as cushions for people who are standing in/around your booth. Add seating and make food and drinks available 
  • Charging stations: Offer charging stations for phones, tablets and computers. Again, this helps to keep visitors to your booth hanging around 
  • Workspace: Build workspaces where visitors can set up their computers to work, check email, etc. You can also use this space for meeting with prospects and customers 

#3 Lure Them In  

You want to build a tradeshow booth that grabs their attention from across the show floor. Use bright colors, attractive graphics, signs and music to lure them to your booth. Be creative in the ways you set up your booth, so it grabs their attention and is memorable.  

Get creative with a theme for your booth. You can weave the theme throughout everything you do from the booth setup to the swag you hand out to visitors. A theme can really make heads turn and visitors flock to your booth. 

  • Add living walls/art installations 
  • Use chandeliers/lighting 
  • Tree house design 
  • Overhanging roof with branding 
  • Create an outdoor living space 

#4 Make it Interactive 

Another way to attract visitors is to have exciting things happening at your booth. Rather than just stand there giving your spiel to visitors, offers ways they can be entertained, interact with your brand and immerse themselves in your company. 

  • Mini golf 
  • Hire entertainment 
  • Bubbles 
  • Mini massages 
  • Videos, polls and surveys on tablets 

#5 Speak at the Show 

If you have the chance to be a speaker at the show, do it. Share your knowledge and experience with attendees (it should not be a sales pitch). Position yourself as an expert in your field with the topic you speak about. This indirectly drives traffic to your booth because attendees of your talk now know you’re an expert and everyone wants to work with or buy from an expert.  

#6 Add the Right People 

The personnel that represent your company at your booth matters. You want to put people at your booth that are engaging, welcoming, friendly and knowledgeable so visitors come to the booth and hang around. 

#7 Create an Info Hunt 

Create an “Info Hunt” before the show for attendees to “hunt down” the answers to questions they can easily find about your company before visiting the booth. This helps attendees get to know your company and product/service and engages them before you meet them at the show. Encourage them to bring their questionnaires to the booth to register for a prize/giveaway. 

NAHB International Builders’ Show is in Vegas on January 31 – February 2, 2023! Apply to exhibit to create a booth everyone wants to visit.  

Comments

  1. Thanks for the reminder that it’s important to also consider the walls when assessing a booth space. I want to join a tradeshow soon because I plan to launch a business revolving around scented soaps. I think that joining a tradeshow will help me make my business a lot more visible.

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