Outdoor Event Challenges: Tips and Tricks for Attracting Strollers to Your Booth

If you have invested time and money in getting a booth at an event it is only natural that you will want to maximize the opportunity and try to generate the most amount of revenue available from your captive audience.

Fighting the competition and standing out from the crowd can be a challenge, which is why you need to try and find an edge that proves to be a magnetic force for drawing customers in.

Here is a look at some of the tricks and tips that could help you to attract passing customers to your booth. There is an idea for borrowing a fairground trick, how to personalize your space, plus some simple but effective solutions that draw customers in.

All the fun of the fair

If you are walking around a fairground there are plenty of stand owners competing for your attention and trying to get you to engage with them by offering a competitive game and challenge.

You could use that approach and apply it to your outdoor or trade event, by engaging attendees with a game that is going to spike their interest and draw them in closer to your booth.

This is a trick that works well at trade shows as it is a bit different to the usual promotional efforts of giving out freebies like free mugs and pens. Consider running a contest like a raffle or a quiz game that offers a small prize, and see how many more people come to your stand than if they are being offered yet another free pen to add to their collection.

Tents and marquees help you to stand out

If you book a booth at an event it will come with a basic floor space and probably a heading that displays your business name, just like everyone else around you.

There is a great chance to create something unique and interesting with your space when you use printed tents and marquees, that proudly carry your logo along with other useful information that can draw visitors in.

You can see more at Dynamic Gift Canada for some ideas on the various tent and marquee options available, but if you want something to give you an aesthetic edge over your rivals this is an option that is definitely worth considering.

Connection option

Sometimes the most simple ideas tend to be the most effective and offering attendees the chance to use a free Wi-Fi facility is a very basic but powerful tool to get people swarming around your booth.

With so many people wanting to use their social media accounts to post updates on the show and talk about what they have seen, or simply to connect to the internet while they are there, your booth will be very popular if you are offering a reliable connection for free.

There are two ways to turn this option into a useful sales tool. The first being the fact that you have people standing around the booth you can engage with and secondly, you can get them to create an account with their email address in return for free Wi-Fi access, which is information you can then use for sales leads afterward.

Know your niche

It stands to reason that some potential competitors will have big marketing budgets and they might try and produce a booth that is very hi-tech and looks very professional.

There is no need to be upset about that in particular as customers today are much more in tune with and accepting of small niche businesses and what they have to offer.

This is great news as you don’t have to spend megabucks to stand out from the crowd and attract people to your booth. Focus on what your competitors are not doing and if you are up against a rival that is flashily imposing with their display, offer a niche alternative that is way smaller and modest, but imminently approachable in the eyes of passing customers.

A niche approach can often trump big-budget rivals, so don’t be afraid to find your own USP and focus on that to drive people to come and see you in preference to your flashier rivals.

A place to relax

Another winning idea that is so often overlooked is the concept of giving attendees the chance to take the weight off their feet and relax for a while.

Trade shows and conference event are very tiring and attendees can spend a lot of time on their feet. If they see a booth where they are being offered a comfy armchair and a free coffee in return for a bit of a chat, you will probably be amazed at just how many will take up this simple option.

Giving you the chance to talk to a potential customer in a much more relaxed setting, which can often be good for business and future relations.

Andy Watson is the owner at Dynamic Gift Canada. A ten-year promotional item veteran he has helped organizations promote themselves from local football academies to huge multinational companies engaging in global promotional campaigns. On the rare occasion Andy isn’t in the office he enjoys hiking, coaching volleyball of an evening and skiing.