Showing up at a tradeshow is a tremendous commitment that shoulders expense, time, effort, and risk. Your team needs to be prepared to put on the show of their lives to make the trip worthwhile. The challenging thing is that your team is among possibly hundreds of others, all with the same mission. How do you distinguish your brand to stand out and attract your target audience? This article will walk you through some strategies to use storytelling to boost engagement and achieve your objectives.
Create A Narrative To Grab Attention With Your Trade Show Booth Ideas
Storytelling is truly an art. It’s vital to plan out your presentation and story to be effective in your mission. Utilizing age-old techniques can help you to achieve an effective presentation and craft your storyline.
Have A Purpose and Theme: Clearly outline your goals when crafting your storyline. A great story can inspire and teach a valuable lesson. Of course, you want to be entertaining, but also be intellectually stimulating. Have an underlying theme or idea that drives the messaging home and inspires an emotional response from your audience.
- Introduce Likable Characters In Your Story: Every story has characters. To build a connection and an emotional response, portray those characters in a human light so that they are likable and your audience can feel empathy towards them and their struggle. Your team needs to decide who the characters are. Is it the founders, board members, staff, or the audience themselves?
- Have A Beginning, Middle, and End: When planning out your presentation, having structure can provide a lot of clarity. Keep your milestones on track by identifying key points along the audience’s journey. You’ll need to know where you are in the story to generate the desired emotional response from tension and resolution.
- Build Tension, Have A Problem Needing To Be Solved, and Have An Emotional Arc: In designing key points in your story, be sure to create a strong sense of urgency, tension, or a problem that needs to be solved. This will keep your audience on the edge of their seat and emotionally invested. Crafting an emotional arc in a story is an art form, and your team needs to plan steps to get there. Testing out your story before the big day is a great way to be more confident that your presentation will be a hit.
- Be Culturally Appropriate And Embrace DEI: Always be sure to be up to date with the latest in cultural appropriateness. Check yourself for unconscious biases in your messaging. Everything from photographs, imagery, video, or character names can be powerful. Be inclusive in your story and appeal to a diverse audience.
Generate An Emotional Response And Connection With Branded Merchandise
Once you have your story laid out, utilize promotional items with your logo to bring your story to life. These can be used as props in your story, imagery, costumes, fun imagery, and more! Be creative in how you can utilize swag ideas to bring your story into your audience’s hands.
Don’t Get Caught Up In The Technical – Your Messaging Should Be Easy To Understand
The language you use must be accessible. Avoid getting stuck in super technical jargon that will confuse your audience. In general, gear your language to about an 8th-grade level. Present things clearly and simply. Your audience has had a very busy day; they are tired, overwhelmed, and need to be handed a good time through your story. Don’t know it by confusing them with esoteric language.
Solve A Problem That Your Audience Has With Branded Giveaways
Your story should have a problem needing to be resolved, and so does your audience! Make sure your narrative relates to your audience directly. Connect with them and their everyday lives. You want your brand to appear as the hero of the story. Be likable and make their lives easier.
Your Story And Custom Swag Boxes Should Have A Human Touch
Every component of your presentation should have a human touch. This includes any custom swag boxes or trade show giveaways. Let experts like Social Imprints help you integrate a human touch. Integrate things like handwritten notes, custom packaging, and thoughtful items to bring your branded giveaways to the next level.
Be Unique And Memorable To Distinguish Your Brand And Company Swag Store
Your audience will be seeing more brands than they can keep track of in a day. Your company needs to stand out and be memorable. Be creative and unique in your imagery and branded merchandise to beat out the competitor.
Your Booth Should Be Visually Stimulating And Tell Your Story With The Best Trade Show Swag
Be eye-catching. You want people to see your booth at a distance and be drawn in. Branded giveaways can captivate an entire tradeshow. Having the right stage for your story can make or break your audience’s experience.
Use Multimedia To Provide A Vibrant Impression And Build Drama And Brand Awareness
In today’s tech-savvy world, you need to bring out all the bells and whistles to be impressive. That means video footage, awesome posters, 3d displays, audio samples, and more! You want to appeal to every sense that your audience has. Be exciting and interesting.
Have Interactive Activities For Your Audience To Experience Your Story Through Promotional Items With Logo
One key component of a successful booth is to have interactive activities. The last thing you want is for people to walk up and be confused or bored. Have fun games going on, puzzles that are on display, quizzes, and computer consoles presenting a video game of some kind. You want there to be a line of people trying to access your arcade-like booth experience.
Be Suspenseful And Exciting With A Trade Show Giveaway
As a key component of your story, you should have some suspense. You can utilize your company swag store to boost brand awareness with giveaways. Try having a raffle or bingo as a way of handing out prizes. Whatever your team can come up with to generate suspense can do wonders for your mission.
Be Entertaining And Put On A Show With Branded Merchandise
Don’t forget that your booth is a show. Be ready to be entertaining and put on a presentation that will draw in your audience and keep them on the edge of their seats.
Train Your Staff To Be Performers And Present Your Swag Ideas
It is your management’s responsibility to properly train your team and staff to put on the show. If game time starts and people are confused, it could make a disappointing impression on your audience. Practice, rehearse, brainstorm all the issues that could happen, and then plan ahead to solve them. Your booth is a live performance, so be prepared for every obstacle.
Track Your Success With Metrics To Quantify Your Trade Show Booth Ideas
After you have done all the research and hard work to curate a vibrant experience, don’t forget to test it. Make sure to grab some audience feedback through surveys or conversations. Track how many people you were able to engage at the show. Log emails, business cards, or LinkedIn accounts. Every connection that you make is gold, so keep your successes organized in your records.
Boost Brand Awareness With A Vibrant Booth Story And Display!
If you are looking to brainstorm some trade show booth ideas, contact the experts like Social Imprints. We can help you curate your message and story tailored to your needs. Having a successful trade show giveaway can be the secret sauce to beat your competitor. For help with trade show booth ideas, reach out to bizdev@socialimprints.com, and one of our product specialists will be in touch!