Create Immersive Trade Show Booths to Wow Visitors & Generate Leads

Most people attend trade shows because they have to, not necessarily because they want to.

To keep up with the who’s who in their particular industry, attendees will flock to industry trade shows to walk the show floor, check out any of the latest products or offerings, and — ideally — leave with something they can bring back to help their firm.

Exhibitors, on the other hand, are looking to attract attendees to their booth to generate more leads and sales. One way to attract more attendees to any trade show booth is to work to make the booth an experience.

In this post, we’ll discuss incorporating experiential marketing into your next trade show booth and some of the strategies to help create that can’t-miss booth. Read on to learn more:

What is Experiential Marketing?

There’s conventional marketing, like advertising in print, radio, and TV. These types of marketing tend to work best for brand awareness campaigns, as they often involve creating an advertisement intended for a large group of people — typically targeting a certain age group or demographic.

And then there’s experiential marketing, a next-generation tactic that consists of directly involving the customer to help share a brand experience or bring a particular brand or product to life in a meaningful way. One of the best examples of experiential marketing is a trade show booth, as the goal is to bring the customer or potential customer to you to share your brand or product and convert any interest into a sale or long-term relationship.

But attracting attendees to your booth is easier said than done, especially if you’re exhibiting at a large trade show with hundreds — or even thousands — of booths all attempting to do the same thing on the show floor. So how can you make your booth stand out at a trade show as a can’t-miss destination? In the forthcoming sections, we’ll discuss strategies to enhance your trade show marketing by making your booth more immersive. We’ll also discuss key features to include at your booth.

Enhance Your Trade Show Marketing with an Immersive Booth

First, let’s define what makes a trade show booth immersive. Simply put, an immersive trade show booth is interactive.

Often at trade shows, booths tend to be more static. That is, they might contain displays, signage, and pamphlets that attendees walking the show floor can take with them to learn more about a particular brand or product. But these static booths are far from interactive and unlikely to attract the average attendee who’s there to walk the show floor.

A good immersive booth is designed to attract the average attendee — and there are a variety of ways to do this. From virtual and augmented reality to interactive displays to games, trivia, and even happy hours designed to encourage networking, there are several ways to make your next trade show booth a must-see destination. In the next section, we’ll explore some of these strategies in more in-depth.

Key Features to Include in an Immersive Trade Show Booth

So how can you take your trade show booth from static to immersive? Here’s a look at some strategies you may consider incorporating into your next booth to help attract more visitors and generate more leads:

1. Augmented and virtual reality: AR and VR offer attendees the opportunity to interact with your brand or product in an innovative and fun manner. These technologies are particularly good if you’re showcasing a product that’s large and complicated (and thereby difficult to fit in your booth or get onto the show floor) or to tell a story about your brand.
2. From a 3D model to a VR headset, virtual and augmented reality allow attendees to interact with a brand or product without it being physically present at your trade show booth.

2. Interactive video walls and monitors: Video walls and touch-screen monitors are other emerging technologies becoming all the more popular in immersive trade show booths. Ideally, you want everyone coming to your booth to interact with a human who can deliver specific information and answer any questions about a product or brand.

But until attendees can interact with a human, touch-screen monitors, and video panels can help provide an introduction — and they can provide it at the desired pace of your particular prospect.

3. Create your app: This strategy involves extended lead time and can be costly, but creating your app for the trade show you’re attending can accomplish a variety of things should attendees download it. One, you can help people find your booth, something that can be especially helpful at large trade shows with hundreds — or even thousands — of exhibitors occupying the show floor.

Two, you can include videos, product demonstrations, games, and more to help people learn about your product or brand. And three, you can include special incentives for those who download and use your app, such as a ticket to a happy hour at your booth or the chance to win a prize.

You can also promote your app via conventional marketing, such as advertising in industry publications leading up to the show or even advertising in the specific show guide…(more)