Putting up a booth at a trade show is a great way to introduce your brand and what you have to offer to thousands of attendees. It’s your chance to make a great first impression, dive into a meaningful conversation with the trade showgoers, and hopefully, convert them into customers.
But with hundreds of booths exhibiting alongside yours, this is easier said than done. You need to find a way to stand out in a sea of your competitors. That’s where a digital sign comes in. With its dynamic and eye-catching displays, you can utilize digital signage to make your booth more attractive and worth visiting.
Benefits of Using Digital Signage in Trade Shows
Digital signage can level up your trade show exhibit and showcase your brand in the most appealing and engaging light. Among the benefits of a trade show digital sign include:
Attracts and Engages Attendees
Naturally, people are attracted to modern and advanced tech. And when they see a digital sign in an exhibitor’s booth, they’re likely to approach it. The dynamic display can catch a passer-byer’s eye in seconds, helping you turn attention to your booth.
Trade shows are settings where a lot of communication and interactions happen between the exhibitors and the attendees. But not all of the latter are comfortable with talking to a live person to ask questions or learn more about a product or service. There are people who would like to explore what a business has to offer independently, and a digital sign can do just that.
Digital signs can also be beneficial in case you see an influx of people waiting to hear from you. While they wait for their turn to engage in a conversation, they can pass the time by getting the essential information they need from your display.
Sustainable
Not only are consumers more inclined to interact with a digital display than to flip through a leaflet or brochure. But in this day and age where global warming is more pressing than ever, people are becoming intentionally supportive of brands with sustainable practices.
Traditional signs and collaterals are seen as wasteful and harmful to the environment. Trade show attendees will appreciate your paperless initiative and the decision to go with a more sustainable digital sign.
Increases Brand Awareness
In line with a digital sign being able to catch the eye of your audience, it makes them likely to interact with it and in the process, learn more about your brand.
As long as you leverage attention-grabbing designs, use different content formats, and deliver your message in the most attractive way possible, a digital sign helps you raise brand awareness and retention.
Trade Show Digital Signage Ideas
If reading about the benefits of digital signage in a trade show has you convinced to incorporate it into your booth, then that’s great news! Now, you’re probably asking how you can get started. To help you out, here are some content ideas that you can integrate into your display.
Virtual Tours
A virtual tour is a great way to introduce your brand and offerings with a more intimate and personal approach. Think outside the box and ask yourself what type of tour your audience would like to see.
If you’re a school, for example, you might want to give a tour of your campus and its amenities. For libraries, on the other hand, it would be a great idea to walk viewers through the book collection, seating area, and even coffee shops and establishments outside the building.
Product or Service Demonstration
Remember those product demonstrations in malls where a staff member shows shoppers exactly how a product is used? You can do that with a digital sign as well.
Perhaps live stream a video of the product or its application or use an interactive display to allow your customers to try your service for themselves.
Games
Digital signs can be informative and educational. But above all, they should be entertaining. If you want to add more fun to your booth, you can use your digital sign to host games and reward players with product freebies or service gift cards.
Think of industry-related games like trivia, puzzles, or anything else that ties well with your brand.
Tips to Maximize Your Trade Show Digital Signage
To make sure that you’re maximizing the benefits that digital signage can reap for your exhibit, here are some tips that you can consider.
Plan and Prepare Content
Well before the trade show, you need to come up with a content plan that outlines what sorts of things you’re going to display in your digital sign. Make sure your content is relevant to the audience and aligns with your brand.
Ask yourself what the purpose of your digital sign is. Is it to engage? To inform? To educate? Depending on your goals, you may want to include advertisements, live streams, social media feeds, reviews, etc. in your content plan.
Above all, remember to keep your content short and impactful. Trade showgoers have a lot of booths to visit and new things to see. You can’t expect them to stick around watching a 5-minute video from your display!
Add a Call to Action
After a viewer interacts with your digital sign, you can lead them further down the sales funnel by explicitly telling them what to do next. Make sure your content states a call to action (CTA).
Whether you want them to initiate a conversation with you or leave their business card, make your CTA persuasive and engaging.
Prioritize Visuals Over Audio
While audio can go a long way in enhancing the viewer experience, you can’t really rely on it in a noisy trade show. You can opt to add music or narrations to your content, but make sure that your message can still be understood without it.
Leverage Targeted Content
Showing one or two videos on your digital sign throughout the whole duration of the trade show is going to make it stale at some point. Instead, you want to create targeted content that shows up to the right audience at the perfect time.
For example, you can kickstart the tradeshow with fun and engaging content that will feed your audience’s excitement. And then towards the end of the night, display something more mellow that will appeal to people who’ve had a long day exploring around.
Bring All Digital Signage Components
Make sure that you have everything you need to set up your digital sign and ensure it works optimally. From a Wi-Fi router to a power splitter or extension cord, pack up the sign’s components – and bring extra!
Convert Screen Contact to Eye Contact
Letting people interact with your digital sign may motivate them to take action. But we recommend that you further support that digital experience with physical interaction.
After someone watches your display, take the conversation further and ask them what they thought of it, if they have any questions, or if they want to learn more about your brand and offers.
If you are still looking for a digital signage solution, make your trade show booth stand out with Rise Vision's free signage software.
