How to attract visitors to your exhibition stand

Increasing footfall to your exhibition display stand is essential for getting those much needed sales or networking opportunities. The team at GH Display have come up with 5 ways to attract visitors to your exhibition stand.

1. Free Wi-Fi

Decent Wi-Fi is still hard to come by at events and being able to gift free Wi-Fi to your visitors is a powerful way to attract footfall and keep them around long enough to sample your brand. Make sure you get something back in return though, “free access once you have signed-up for our newsletter” for example.

Different organisers will have different rules when it comes to internet access. Some simply allow you to buy internet access, plug-in your wireless router and away you go. Other organisers may restrict the number of users or charge you an extortionate amount for multiple users, so make sure you check out the details before committing to this marketing approach.

2. Provide a workstation

Similarly to providing free Wi-Fi, you can also attract visitors by creating a quiet work area with a laptop for them to log-on to the internet, re-organise their schedule and catch their breath. Make sure your sales team don’t approach them during this time and limit the resource to a short period to ensure a steady flow of guests. Again, make sure you get something in return such as; newsletter subscription, email contact information etc.

3. Refreshments

It’s perhaps one of the oldest tricks in the book, but the smell and taste of a fresh cup of coffee will entice most people. It’s relatively cheap and easy to achieve by purchasing a couple of disc coffee machines that don’t require a water connection (prices start from £45) and hiring an electrical connection from the organiser. Ensure you have a storage area built into your stand to hide away unsightly supplies and a large container of water.

4. Organise a scheduled event on your stand

As part of your stand design think about how to incorporate a presentation / mini conference space. Use this area to showcase a guest-speaker who will host a short presentation and Q&A session at scheduled times. Market these knowledge based information sessions weeks and months in advance of the show (through social media, marketing emails and to existing customers via email signatures, word of mouth etc) and then throughout the show, maybe booking places to manage visitor flow. This will not only guarantee a surge of visitors at set times, it will also provide a good networking space and generally create a busy and vibrant exhibition stand atmosphere, which in turn can be contagious for visitors passing by.

5. Competitions

A competition to win a; mini-iPad, race day, spa day, is always popular and will only set you back a few hundred pounds. This could be a simple product-focused competition, such as ‘how many branded balloons/balls/rubber ducks in the newly launched car, shower cubicle, conservatory etc”. Basically, whatever you are promoting, make it the focus of the competition so that visitors can’t help but notice your prize product. Have a scheduled time when the winner will be announced, which again provides another opportunity for visitors to revisit your exhibition stand.

Providing retro computer games (space invaders, PAC-MAN etc) for guests to compete for the highest score is a more interactive way of running a competition on your stand and again will create a buzz around your exhibition.

To talk to us about how our exhibition design and build team can help you with your next project call us on +44 (0)1733 570222 or complete our design brief form below.