Effective Trade Show Hospitality
Cookies, coffee, and other tasty treats can play a powerful role in drawing trade show attendees into your booth.
While you want attendees to step over the threshold into your exhibit, are you simply feeding the masses when you could be strategically using hospitality to connect with your target audience?
To meet your goals and objectives while implementing hospitality, here are three best practices for your next trade show:
1. Selective Location
Are you hoping to attract everyone’s attention? Position your hospitality near the main aisle of the exhibit floor. By keeping it close to attendees who may not be familiar with your brand, you can draw them in for a treat, and use their time to strike up a conversation.
If your goal is to offer hospitality for a specific audience, place your hospitality near the center of the booth, or in an area that is only visible upon their entry. With this method, you can create an exclusive experience for your target audience, who already plan to spend time in your booth whether they are scheduled for a meeting with your staff or interested in a product demo.
2. Staff Preparation and Training
Your staff can make or break the effectiveness of your hospitality. If attendees are waiting in line for coffee and none of your staff members use that time to connect with them, you’re missing out on the opportunity to have valuable face-to-face time with your audience. Ensure your visitors learn about your company by encouraging your staff to approach them while in line or shortly after receiving their coffee or snack.
3. Integrated Lead Capture
Hospitality is great, but the long line to order and wait for coffee might not be worth it for attendees. To improve the experience, there’s an opportunity to allow attendees to place their order on a staff member’s smart device, and while they are waiting, they can connect with your staff on their needs and pain points, sign up for additional information about your products and services, and indicate interest they may have in your company.
By taking a strategic approach to hospitality, you can turn cookies and coffee into a meaningful component of your program. We love an excuse to talk about food, so let’s get a conversation cookin’ about making hospitality unique, memorable, and purposeful.
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