The Industry Trends Taking Root at Trade Shows

Trade shows may have a long tradition that goes back centuries back in the past, but that does not mean they remain static and unmovable. No, on the contrary, trade shows are constantly evolving to reflect the day and age they’re taking place and if you still keep doing things the way you have always done, then you’re not using the opportunities as an exhibitor to the fullest potential. That’s the truth! In the spirit of innovation, we have decided to look towards the defining trends that are talk of the town in 2019 and give you some inspiration for your own design booth.

Trend 1: It’s All about the Customer

One thing unites every single exhibitor to ever showcase at a trade show – win over customers and leave home with direct orders and sales leads. It’s the reason trade shows exist first and foremost, so before you even consider what booth you’re going to design and book, you have to think about what THE customer will respond to best. You want to hit the bull’s eye on your first attempt and to achieve that you need to tailor everything to your ideal customer. Buyer personas have been the hot new thing in marketing and you should spend some time and money figuring out who exactly you’re selling to!

Trend 2: The Customer is VIP

This second trend can be seen as an extension of the first – once you have your concept tailored to your customer, you need to engage and convert. The best way to do this is to make your booth the one place they don’t want to leave. Elevate comfort and hospitality. Turn your booth into an oasis where they can rest and have a refreshing drink while you bring out your products to demonstrate live for a one-person audience. How you do anything is how you do everything. Show that you can treat a prospect buyer like a VIP during a trade show or an exhibition and that’s how they can trust you’re going to treat them once they choose your brand.

Trend 3: Engage All the Senses

In the past, the booths that were most successful needed only to play a dynamic video and bring their own soundtrack to create a moment and generate foot traffic. Those days are gone and now it’s all about engaging every sense. Multi-sensory approaches place your brand squarely into the future and also helps you stand out from your competitors. It’s the little things that help companies stick out at international trade fairs and business owners should get creative. Scent marketing is a highly underused technique to engage interest, and although a heady scent might be a bit too much the right amount of sweet and refreshing scents in a space where the air is stale guarantees a warm reception. Other ideas to try out range from just adding an interactive element to your displays to going fully space age with touch-panel interfaces and a lighting design that’s out of this world.

Trend 4: Go Beyond This Reality

Virtual reality is not just a tool to play video games in an immersive atmosphere. Rather, it’s smart as a strategy to not limit yourself to the space and resources you have at your booth. A booth only allows you so much space and flexibility to demonstrate what your brand is all about. In a virtual setting, all restrictions are thrown to the wind and you become fully in control of your world. The costs of renting out VR headsets is negligible and the impact is incredible. This is another way to embrace multi-sensory marketing by fully teleporting visitors into your own world, whether you’ll have them play a game or offer a tour through your virtual show room. There’s good feedback on this technique as it certainly places you as an early adopter of the latest tech – a trustworthy trait to develop for your brand.

There you have it – a simple guide to the latest trends that will add prestige to your company during a trade show and propel your booth to fame. Embrace all four trends and you’re likely to be the talk of the event!