How To Stand Out At A Tradeshow

Almost every business sends employees to tradeshows both in their industries and in industries such as SEO and marketing. There are constantly new tools, products, and services coming out every single day, each with a promise to do something better or different than the competition.

It’s estimated that around 13,000 tradeshows take place every year in the USA. http://nimloktradeshowmarketing.com/top-100-trade-shows-list/ That’s 35 shows every day.

A few more facts:

By the end of 2021, estimates show that the tradeshow industry will be worth $16.8 billion.

Tradeshows have been a way to market for over 160 years.

The first tradeshow was held on May 1, 1851.

Many industries constantly have employees flying all over the world attending shows, so how can a business stand out in such an oversaturated market today? Here are 5 great ways to cut through the noise and get eyes on your business.

Get Weird

Use some bizarre promotional products (promo piercing anyone?) Everyone’s done the bags, the stress balls, and the koozies so think outside the box. You don’t have to “get weird” really though, just creative, but still think useful. Pens are common but branded highlighters might not be. Disc drives are common but those little screens that hide your laptop camera aren’t.

Think About Your Location

Depending on where your tradeshow is, some items that may seem like they’ve been overdone in one area may be new there. Pop sockets have been all over the US for ages but that’s not the case in the UK, for example. Use Google Trends https://trends.google.com to do a few searches ahead of time. It’s also critical to do some research about the seasons and holidays for your tradeshow. No one wants a toboggan in July in New York. Australians might love that though.

The End Of Booth Babes?

Once a stalwart of tradeshows, booth babes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promotional_model might not be the best fit for many businesses these days. As sexism becomes increasingly visible, it’s probably a good idea to market with real employees. It’s also said that booth babes don’t actually convert. They can certainly attract people to your table, but that can end up with time wasted on people who don’t want what you’re offering.

Everyone Loves Hoodies

Seriously. Everyone loves them. If they don’t, they know someone who does. It might be best to go for thinner hoodies than the giant thick ones though in case packing space https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zauLekMGtvw is an issue. We all have enough t-shirts. We can never have enough hoodies. Interesting fact: the first hoodies came about as something for workers in cold factories to wear at work to keep themselves warm!

Something For The Kids

With many tradeshow attendees having children AND limited travel time, having something on hand to give them https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/business/04gifts.html to bring back to their children is always awesome. Not everyone has time to run to buy souvenirs for the kids when they’re just in town for 24 hours. People really appreciate having something cool to bring back to the young ones.

It’s clear that the modern tradeshow isn’t going anywhere. With such a rich history full of successes, why would it?