For the better part of the last two weeks the inbox for my personal email has been emulating a high speed Tetris game with new email after new email stacking nonstop one on top of the other. Every brand I’ve ever purchased from, and many that I haven’t heard of that probably bought my info along the way, have been sending me first their Black Friday buildup, then the actual deals, then the “we’re extending the deals”, then the Cyber Monday, then the (you guessed it) “we’re extending Cyber Monday deals” and so on becoming a constant email barrage. This isn’t a total nuisance though because there ARE brands and items that I’m in the market for, and I am interested in what deals are available. So my job is to cut through the clutter to find what I’m looking to purchase.
It dawned on me that this whole experience comes to life at a trade show. Though it likely reflects the email campaigns that frequent your work inbox versus your personal, the trade shows you go to as an attendee probably have a lot of those same companies in physical, three-dimensional form.
Bringing that 2D inbox into a real physical structure only adds to the complexity of finding what you’re looking for as an attendee. That is why so much of this blog over the years has been dedicated to helping exhibitors identify ways to attract their desired attendees. Additionally it is why we emphasize the attendee’s buying experience and behavior. For the exhibiting company, so much goes into properly organizing all of the details of the trade show that focusing on the attendee can get overlooked. Consider your inbox over the last couple of weeks, it is overwhelming. Way too much going on to take the time to work through each one, so you get selective and likely stick to the brands you know well or the one’s that break through by generating the most buzz. Apply that behavior to the attendee that enters into a room with hundreds of booths and limited time. Develop a strategy to gain booth traffic acknowledging this. Ask yourself and your team, “What will make an attendee stop at our booth?”. Make sure that is answered well.
Browse dozens of our “booth traffic” specific posts here to aide with the strategy: https://www.frontline-exhibits.com/category/trade-shows/booth-traffic/
A number of factors work together to draw that attendee. Prior relationship, booth location, booth size, booth design, pre-show promotion, show sponsorship, in booth demos, show-site sales/discounts, etc. all play a part. Just like the factors that make you seek out a specific company during the holiday sales drive happening currently in your inbox. A booth traffic strategy built around the entirety of attendee’s experience prior to stepping foot in a booth space will serve an exhibitor well.
PS. Those of you who got here by clicking through our email, thank you so very much for selecting us out of your crowded inbox to pay attention to today!