If you are exhibiting at a trade show then it is highly likely you are doing so to generate leads and close deals. It would be silly of you not to with access to such a large and highly targeted audience. But simply showing up isn’t going to make hundreds of leads fall on your lap. Even the best exhibition stand designers in the world can’t achieve that for you.
There is one way to ensure that you have a successful exhibition and generate a lot of leads. Trade Show competitions. In this article, you’ll discover five trade show competitions that will increase footfall on your booth and generate hot leads.
1. Social Media Photo Contest
A social media photo contest is simple and can attract a lot of attention to your booth. This is a particularly good idea if you are launching a new product or specialise in design or manufacturing.
The idea behind this type of contest is that visitors take a photo on your booth, offering a prize to a random participant who uploads it to their social media channels. You can ask them to share selfies with your products and use a specific hashtag. By monitoring the use of the hashtag and accounts which upload them, you’ve got your leads.
As well as generating leads, social media photo contests produce highly sought-after user-generated content. This can raise awareness of your presence at the show and increase footfall on your stand.
By using this strategy, you have accidentally created a herd of micro-influencers. This is one of the hottest B2B content marketing trends, only a fool would pass up this opportunity at their next trade show.
2. Trivia
Get your pub quiz hats on! Hosting a trivia on your exhibition stand is a sure-fire way to encourage interaction and get visitors to engage with your brand. All you need is an exhibition stand with an integrated LCD screen to run your quiz on and a leader board to encourage competitive behaviour. To encourage participation, offer a prize to the team that has the number one spot on the leader board at the end of the exhibition.
Make it as simple as possible so that people want to interact with you. Nobody wants to hang around for a twenty question quiz. Each team member will need to leave their contact information to be notified of any prizes they’ve won. Just like that you’ve got your leads.
3. Prize Wheels
A prize wheel is an effective exhibition stand game because the reward is often much higher than the effort required to participate. Ask participants to fill out their contact information for a chance to spin the wheel. Getting the chance to spin the prize wheel will give them the chance to win a selection of different prizes.
Of course, you will decide what goes on the prize wheel. Bulk it out with low-cost branded goods such as pens, desk calendars and USB sticks. Be sure to include a prize that will make everyone want to participate. The better your star prize, the more leads you’ll generate!
4. Virtual Reality
Exhibition stands that include a virtual reality (VR) element always succeed in drawing in large crowds. It is the latest trend to reach the trade show floor and many attendees won’t have had a chance to try it out yet. At this early stage in the game, you will gain footfall by utilising VR – even if it doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with your business.
The key to turning this footfall into leads is to have fantastic staff working on your booth. They must take full responsibility when it comes to engaging, interacting and scanning delegates badges.
You can hire VR headsets for as little as £20 per headset and encourage people to share their funny moment on social media. All in all, virtual reality requires more work from your team but it offers a low-cost alternative to handing out prizes.
5. Counting Contest
We’ve all been sucked into these easy (and often delicious) looking games. Can you guess how many jelly beans are in the jar? Whoever guesses the closest stands the chance of winning the star prize. These games are great because there is very little anyone can do to work out exactly how many jelly beans are in the jar. And every minute they spend trying to make a logical guess is another minute that they are exposed to your brand message.
To participate and have a shot at winning the prize, all they have to do is (you’ve guessed it) fill out their contact information. More email addresses means more hot leads for you to target after the show, so it’s a win win.
And that’s a wrap. Of course, there are hundreds of games you can play on your exhibition stand – the more innovative the better! But these five tried and testing trade show booth games and competitions are guaranteed to bring in leads and help you have a more successful show!
About the Author
Natalka is an exhibition blogger for Quadrant2Design who uses her industry expertise to teach business owners the benefits of the trade show floor. She has developed a unique insight into the world of sustainable exhibiting, having spent time working alongside exhibitors, event organisers and exhibition stand contractors.