Working It: Perspectives of a Booth Babe

I’m just coming off one of the largest events of the year for digital marketing/demand generation professionals: the Oracle Modern Marketing Experience. My primary role at the event was to staff our booth in the exhibit hall. I missed a lot of the fantastic content that was presented, but I did get to do one of the things I love the most, which is talk to people about what challenges they’re encountering and see if we can help.

Working in the booth was the perfect way to get face-to-face time with our current and potential customers. I learned where their pain points were, heard about exciting initiatives they’re working on, and showed them things that piqued their interest enough to remember us over all the companies they talked to. It was like an instant focus group that came to me!

In the few moments of downtime I had, I noted a few things that seemed to separate successful booths (i.e. had lots of traffic) from the ones that were not so successful.

1) Swag matters
Just about every booth I saw had some sort of give-away, but certain booths did it better than others. The ones that seemed to generate the most interest were the booths that tailored their give-aways to the vibe of the event. Those who brought their standard, we’ve-used-this-a-million-times-before type swag were less successful in catching people’s eye. Giving away something interesting is key (Note: interesting does not mean it has to be expensive).

For example, we had temporary tattoos that featured dice and cards and movies set in Las Vegas, where the conference was hosted. They weren’t expensive, but everyone loved them, including the other partners and the hosts of the conference. On the night before the award ceremony, we hosted an impromptu “Tat-Party” where people were mobbing our booth to put on fun tattoos to compliment their formal wear. It created a great atmosphere for very little money.

2) Show off something compelling
Several of the vendors took advantage of the conference to show off new products. There were at least five booths that had 70-inch monitors highlighting something brand new. When someone is walking around trying to figure out if they want to go chat with someone in a booth, a huge TV can act as an engaging billboard to grab attention. It’s interactive. It can show vivid, bold imagery. It stands out. Pop-up banners and glossy pamphlets are the norm and can make it hard to stand out. You only have a second to grab someone’s eye. Put your best foot forward by clearly showing something new in a big way.

3) Start with them
When working at a booth, sometimes we feel like we have 15 seconds to “sell” someone on what we do. We think it will make them stick around and ask questions or remember us once they get home. You must fight this feeling because, from my experience, it’s the wrong approach to take. Don’t be like the guy at the party who won’t shut up about how great he is. People don’t like that approach at an event either.

I make it a point to always start a conversation with a few questions to get a sense of who they are. A) Tell me a little bit about what your company does. B) What’s your role there? C) Tell me about an issue that gives you a headache just thinking about it. I take the time to go through those questions and listen to what they say. Sometimes they get done and ask me the same questions. That’s great. If they don’t, you can follow up those three questions with a fourth: 4) Is it okay if I take a minute to tell you about what we do and how I think we could make your work life better? I’ve never had anyone say no. By starting with them, you can tailor your response to what they actually care about.

4) Create buzz
It can be hard to create buzz for your booth amongst the competition. A lot of times, before a show, sponsors will send out emails to their entire database with the message, “If you’re going to be at the XYZ Conference, stop by our booth and grab your free keychain.” I don’t care for that approach. You’ve just blasted the entire world with a message that isn’t relevant for those not attending and isn’t interesting for those who are. We chose a different path.

We hosted a nice dinner and sent actual paper invitations to people we knew were going to be at the event. It became the hot ticket to get, and people Tweeted out photos all evening long. Additionally, we created some cool Twitter visualizations that tracked who was tweeting what and how they ranked against others. We then sent direct Tweets out to the people on the list to let them see it or challenge them to up their game. It created a fun way for people to brag; aka re-Tweet our stuff. This also got people interested in coming to our booth to see how we did it. Taking a different approach helped us have a very successful booth presence.

5) Be fun, not cheesy (or sleazy)
A trade show booth is the perfect time to have some fun, or even be a little bit cheeky. We gave away shirts that said “Marketers Got Swag” as play on words with the stuff you pick up at booths and having a lot of swagger as you strut about town.

Our friends at LookBook set up a wedding chapel theme (we were in Vegas, after-all) and gave out shirts that said “Let’s Get Engaged,” playing off the theme of creating engagement. These sassy ideas are fun, and people really enjoy them. In our industry, consumers appreciate being a little provocative. However, it’s important to make sure you don’t cross the line.

Too often, I’ve seen companies resort to the lowest common denominator…namely the false notion that sex sells. For example, I was at a trade show a few years back where a company hired models to walk around in revealing flight attendant outfits and ask people if they wanted to sign up for a demo. When I asked them what the product did, they couldn’t tell me. This might be a good strategy for getting a bunch of names on a list, but at what cost? You’ve just created a list of people who couldn’t care less about your product and changed the discussion from “This product will solve your business pain points” to “This product is sexy, but has no substance.” Is that really how you want to start a sales cycle? Not for me.

I know a lot of people decry the death of exhibiting at trade shows. They are an expensive way to get your name out there. But, if you do things right, they can actually pay dividends. The examples I mentioned about us are the things that have worked for us. My point is not to brag, but to share a success story. Make sure to reinvent your efforts. Just because something worked last year doesn’t mean it will work this year. Keep things fresh, grab attention for the right reasons and make sure you are prepared. If you nail it, the business will come.