Having designed and created stands at multiple events spanning numerous sectors ranging from tech and telecoms to medical conferences, we know that just being present at an event isn’t enough.
In short, you need a stand that stands out. It should be both visual (to encourage visitors to your stand) and functional (to provide value and entertainment whilst they’re there).
So, if you’ve got an event on the horizon here’s the onebite guide to ensuring your stand does what you want it to – generate leads.
Pick the right events
It might sound obvious but there’s no point in hosting a stand at a DIY expo if you work in the cybercrime sector. So, take the time to research both the key events for your industry and the expos and conferences that your target audience visit most.
Choose the right messaging
Once you’ve picked the event at which you’ll be hosting a stand, it’s time to consider the best messaging for your audience. As well as appearing on marketing collateral to distribute at the event, key straplines or USPs are often also incorporated into the stand design. The perfect messaging should align with your business goals and illustrate the reasons why your brand is the solution to your target audience’s pain points.
Focus on the stand design
As we said in the intro, your stand should be visually appealing and functional. That’s why, when working with clients on stand designs, we ensure that the design is eye-catching (and in keeping with their brand guidelines) to attract visitors, and has things for the visitors to do while they’re at the stand, so they feel encouraged to stay. This leads us on to…
Keep visitors engaged
The stand design should include ways to keep your visitors engaged, entertained, and informed about what you do and what makes you different from your competitors. In our experience, we’ve seen first-hand that adding interactive elements (such as touch screen displays or seating areas that encourage people to sit down) and games (particularly if they involve prize giveaways) are effective ways to keep visitors enthused.
Drive people to your stand
As well as ensuring your stand is designed to attract visitors, don’t forget to create marketing collateral (customer invites, emails, social posts) ahead of the event to let people know that you’re going to be there. Also, in our experience taking the event virtual and posting on your social channels ‘live’ from the event is a great way to persuade visitors (who may be following the event hashtag) to stop by your stand.
Follow up on your leads
And finally, there’s no better way to add value to your conference spend by optimising the return on investment for your stand by following up on every lead collected during the event.
Want a stand-out stand at your next event? We’d love to help turn your business goals into a visually appealing reality. Discover more about our creative and design capabilities here.
