What is interactive trade show guidance?
Interactive trade show guidance is a customized interactive video-experience in which you welcome the visitor and digitally guide them through your booth, offerings and story. Think of it as an interactive video tour of your booth. The viewer decides what information to watch by clicking the buttons in the video. This way visitors walk through your story at their own pace and then only the parts they find interesting.
Visitors get to the video by scanning a QR code. For example, on the ground in your booth, via flyers or posters you distribute at the trade show. Because they can watch the video quietly before engaging with your booth crew, they can get to know your organization at their leisure. And you, as the creator of the interactive trade show exhibit, are in control of the story. You decide what story to tell your visitors and how to tell it. So 100% control your brand story and image! And in the pocket of every visitor.
Still not clear what this looks like? See how Vertimart and Infomedics surprised their trade show visitors with a interactive trade show booth video.
Tip: create a nice seating area for visitors to watch the video
Business events are often busy. With many visitors and many vendors with all kinds of things to say, visitors quickly become overwhelmed with information and stimuli. Create a quiet place where people can retreat and watch the video. Also make sure ‘your’ people don't start the conversation here. Make it explicitly a corner where visitors are not bothered by salespeople but are in charge themselves.
What are the benefits of interactive trade show coaching?
There are a host of benefits to using interactive trade show guidance:
- direction of your brand story
- trigger visitors even before they visit your booth
- show visitors exactly those topics that appeal
- Lower threshold for visitors to visit the booth
- higher quality sales calls
- insight into what your target audience finds interesting (everything is measurable)
- deployable at any event
- deployable as a sales tool after a trade show
And so interactive trade show support is much more than a ‘trade show video. It's a way to engage with your target audience. During and especially after the event.
How do you arrive at the perfect story?
The success of the interactive trade show support depends on the story. The story must seamlessly connect to your brand story and contribute to the strategic objective of your exhibition. You create this story in close cooperation with the strategic marketing team on the one hand and sales on the other. Thus, creating this interactive trade show guidance forces you to answer together questions such as:
→ What do we really stand for?
→ What is the essence of our story?
→ What topics really matter to our target audience?
→ How do we convey this?
Although this process always causes friction, it is worth its weight in gold. It ensures that you get all your noses in the same direction. Which is essential to tell a unified story during the trade show. Because after these conversations, everyone knows what they need to tell and why. In this way, the interactive trade show guidance reinforces the story your account managers tell in the booth. The result? A clear story that trade show visitors really remember.
How do you create the interactive trade show guidance?
Once the purpose and story of the interactive trade show exhibit is in place, start thinking out the actual interactive video. In outline, follow the following approach:
- Strategy and script: determine what chapters are needed and what choices the viewer can make.
- Video Production: design, film and edit all required videos.
- Design: design all visual elements completely in corporate identity for optimal brand experience.
- Setting up interactive video: you add interactivity in an interactive video platform where you deploy all your video material. Buttons, links to in-depth information and, for example, a contact form.
- Implementation: make the video part of your trade show booth. Ensure visibility of the opportunity to use the interactive trade show tutorial.
- Measure: after the exhibition, you can see exactly how many visitors followed the interactive exhibition guidance, what they watched, for how long and what they clicked on. In addition, of course, you track the completed contact forms.
Give visitors control; first look then engage in conversation
Events are all about personal contact. But visitors also know that every organization present with a trade show booth has a story to tell. Often by well-spoken account managers. Not every visitor likes to be directly ‘besieged’ by salespeople. The interactive trade show video is a great way to give these visitors a (digital) glimpse of your booth, without having to talk directly to that account manager. With the video they can already feel ‘this party suits me’ (or not at all). Visitors decide for themselves what is relevant, and therefore what they watch. Then they can engage in a targeted conversation if they wish. This takes the pressure off and makes visiting your booth a lot more accessible. You inform people without directly ‘selling’ if the visitor is not yet ready.
Tip: offer the digital tour even before visitors visit your booth
Imagine visitors viewing your interactive trade show guidance before they even get to your booth? That they already know what story you have to tell and where the common ground is with their issues? Then the personal conversation really adds value.
By taking advantage of the trade show organization's sponsorship packages, you increase your visibility beyond your own booth. Consider:
- visibility in the organization's digital newsletter: place a link to a video version suitable leading up to the fair
- place a QR code on posters scattered around the show floor
- Have your url placed on the keycords that the badges hang from
- Have stickers placed on walkways
Be creative whenever possible and make sure that your brand, with link to the interactive trade show guidance, is visible in as many places outside your booth as possible. That way, you're making contact before people have even seen the booth and they already know what you stand for.
The interactive trade show guidance as a long-term investment in your brand strategy
Where your trade show booth ‘disappears’ after 3 days, easily turn the interactive trade show video into an interactive video that supports your brand story. Use the video to continuously inform your target audience about your services and feed them with a unified, clear brand story.
Did you know that the interactive video can also be a great sales and acquisition tool? You can get people excited to contact you and have them contact you directly from the video. For example, with an account manager or contact person in the region.
Thus, with the interactive trade show guidance, you are making a long-term investment in your brand. And the next trade show? There you can easily use the trade show guidance you have already created. This way you immediately have a long-term event strategy in place where you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time.
