In the U.S., the B2B trade show market value is a staggering $10.17 billion. It’s estimated that exhibitors and marketers expect to spend around $1.4 million on trade shows each year, and it’s a lot of money to compete with. When you’re trying to make your brand stand out during an industry event, your brand activation plan has to support your desire to shine.

Trade show floors are busy and competitive. You have limited space to stand out, so how do you make your brand stand out and stay in people’s thoughts? What are the best ways to activate your brand?

What Is Brand Activation?

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) defines brand activation as, “marketing that both builds a brand’s image and drives a specific consumer action.” It incorporates a half dozen marketing disciplines:

• Commerce Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Experiential Marketing
• Influencer Marketing
• Promotion Marketing
• Relationship Marketing

Experiential marketing is one to pay close attention to during a trade show. When you create a memorable experience, you draw people to your booth or display, and you get them talking. The more photos they share, and the more they talk about your brand, the easier it is to stand out.

People want to be engaged and interact with your brand. They’re not looking for business cards, brochures, and pamphlets. You need to connect with them on an emotional level, and brand activation ensures that’s what happens.

What’s the Best Way to Stand Out During an Industry Event?

How do you stand out and build a successful trade show activation? Factory 360 has a few tips to offer.

Define Your Objectives

Sit down with your team and any key shareholders and consider what you hope to achieve. Define your objectives for the trade show. Are you revealing a new product to the public, or are you looking for feedback on your current line-up? Do you want to drive sales or get newsletter sign-ups?

Once you have outlined your objectives, you can determine how you will measure the success of your trade show event. Key performance indicators (KPIs) may be total sales during the event or how many people signed up to win the contest. You might want to track how many people like your social media sites, share your posts, or take and share selfies at your booth.

Consider what touchpoints could be included to boost engagement. You could have ordering kiosks for those who want to order then and there for shipping or home delivery. A claw machine where people grab eggs to get free items or discount offers is going to generate buzz.

Consider Your Budget

After planning what your objectives are, you need to consider the budget. The ultimate goal is to make it possible to pull off all of your goals without exceeding your budget. Be realistic, and don’t forget anything like staffing, printing materials, and samples.

You need to also consider travel costs, shipping expenses, meals, and accommodations. All of this will impact how much you can spend on each area of your marketing plan.

Determine Who Your Target Audience Is and What They’d Find Valuable

Who is your target audience? If you’re new, you might not be certain of this yet. Look at the statistics for your competitors. Do they cater to Gen Z more than Millennials or Gen X? Are they marketing to all ages? Your goal is to offer something the competition doesn’t.

Suppose you offer flavored waters, but yours don’t add any sweeteners or sugar. It’s simply natural fruit juices and filtered water. You notice people on a competitor’s social media complaining that they add stevia. Your target audience is going to find it valuable that you don’t use stevia. Once you have that, you can work backward and determine where they are, how old they are, and what they connect to emotionally.

From there, you can figure out how to draw them to your booth or event space. Free samples might appeal to them, but they might prefer a 25% discount on their first order. They might be young enough that interactive games or displays are most appealing. You could even set up a create your own fruit flavor drink dispenser.

Build Interest

Once you have the plans set, start building buzz. You want to get people excited before the show using social media posts, postcards, radio/streaming channel ads, etc. You could even consider an influencer partnership to extend your brand’s reach.

If you’re giving away a prize during the event, you could offer the first 10 people to share your post an extra entry. Or, the first 25 people to your booth get a full-sized item instead of a sample.

Train, Tweak, and Train Some More

Before the trade show occurs, train any staff who will be working at the trade show. They need to know the answers to questions and how to address people if they don’t know the answer. They need to be able to use the item properly in demonstrations.

As your brand completes staff training sessions, note anything that doesn’t go smoothly, address those issues, and do another test run. Mistakes are still always a risk, but a well-trained team is less likely to make mistakes.

Analyze Your Results

When the event is over, analyze the trade show. Take your list of KPIs and see if you hit your goals or fell short. If you did fall short, where did things go wrong? Use that to adjust your next brand activation.

What Types of Experiential Marketing Techniques Work Best?

What are the best techniques for getting people engaged and excited to share more about your brand’s products or services?

• Gamified Challenges – A claw machine, carnival-style games, and video games that fit into your brand’s offerings will draw a lot of attention.
• Giveaways – Have prizes to give away to random guests. You could also give away bags with some branded swag. A reusable water bottle with your branding, lanyards, notepads, and pens are all products that people will put to good use.
• Interactive Demos – Bring samples for attendees to try your product. If you can’t let people touch them, live demonstrations are also helpful.
• Social Media Activations – Create an event hashtag that attendees can use when they’re sharing pictures of themselves at your booth or trying a sample.

Your Marketing Strategy Should End Here

Have you considered the people who cannot attend the trade show? Not everyone can attend, and they may want to but schedules and finances prove challenging. Brand activation should consider all angles. Involve everyone that you can through live-streaming events. They can’t come to you, but you can share the day’s events with them.

You also want to build up excitement with pre-show teasers. Keep sharing information on the events you plan to hold during the trade show. You’re giving away gift bags or have door prizes, so share a couple of items that people will find in those bags. Don’t overshare. Make sure there’s still a lot of intrigue about the bigger gifts you’re giving away.

Once the marketing event is over, thank those who attended by emailing out exclusive discounts or offering more information. Stay active on social media and answer questions as they appear. If people have feedback, good or bad, address it. Even if something goes wrong, people appreciate honesty. It humanizes your brand.

Carefully think out your brand activation. When you plan all of the before, during, and after strategies and plans, you’ll have a successful trade show appearance that does everything you want.