'Tis the season . . . for bridal shows in Nashville! And as every savvy vendor knows, having a well-designed trade show exhibit booth can make all the difference at any bridal expo. These shows are going to bring you an opportunity to meet with an extremely high concentration of your potential clients face-to-face. That means you need to make it count! Here are some tips for making your booth work for you.

1. Don't leave space for booth workers to sit behind a table. This discourages interaction between yourself and the people looking at your booth. Having an open layout to your exhibit space also helps people feel more comfortable coming into the booth, looking at your display, and talking to your representatives. If you must have a table, put food samples on it to attract visitors. Because, let's get real, everyone loves free snacks.

This exhibit for Sweet Paper invitations is open and inviting. The sample invitations hung on a line encourage passersby to come into the booth and look at their products.

2. Have something to give away to people (that they'll actually want), and make sure your branding is on it. The most obvious thing to give away would be a business card, which is totally fine, but we know you can get more creative than that! You are in the business of making memories, after all. Getting your logo digitally printed on the wrappers of chocolate you hand out, putting a tag with your contact info on a flower, or printing your logo on a canvas tote bag for brides to carry their other swag in, are all way more memorable than a simple business card. Of course, these are only going to help you if you include something identifying your company on it. The bride may love the cookies you passed out, but if they didn't come in a branded baggy, she may not be able to remember if it came from you or a competitor.

Totes cute, right? This tote designed by Lazur Graphics and Mint Advertising for Laura Billingham Photography is a freebie brides will actually want to use again after the bridal show. Plus, she's got a heavy-duty tag with her name on it attached to the bag to remind brides where it came from. 

3. Don't be afraid to use electrical elements. Are you a catering company? Plug in a griddle and whip up some crepes for brides to sample! Lighting specialist? Bring in some chandeliers! Just make sure to find out beforehand if the venue you are using has electrical outlets or if they charge more for use of the building's power. Make sure your booth will still look great if your electrical elements fail! The more you can keep within your control when it comes to your display, the better.

This really cool display for Morgan Trinker Photography uses lighting to highlight some of her sample photographs. Her booth plan is also really bright, open, and inviting.

4. Try to nab a corner space, if you can. A booth in the corner will get all of the cross traffic with brides and grooms filtering by from both directions. This will help you get the most exposure you possibly can, which is really important when you have a limited time frame to meet such a large group of your target clientèle. However, be careful to not spend too much time trying to get each person you talk to to sign up with you right away. Weed out qualified leads by asking them directly (but nicely), "are you looking for [fill in with your service]?" If they are not, congratulate them on their upcoming wedding and move on to the next visitor. If they are, then try to set up a follow up meeting instead of pushing for an immediate sale. 

5. If you don't have a lot of space to work with, build up! A booth that's taller than its neighbors will stand out and be visible from even across the room. It's extremely important to stand out because you are guaranteed to be surrounded by your competitors. Sometimes all it takes is a cake tower or tall floral display to give you the height you need to stand out.

6. Use digital printing to your advantage. Banners, table cloths, fliers, business cards, brochures, backdrops, and more can all be made with a digital printer. This a great way to make large format images of your services or product, splash your logo across your booth in a creative way, and generally create attention-grabbing displays that draw people to your booth. You want your display to be highly visual, and this is an easily transportable, relatively inexpensive way to do that.

These retractable roll-up banners for Aanchal Behl Wedding Make Up Artistry certainly grab attention! They are also easy to roll up, store, and transfer from show to show. 

7. Throw a contest where people have to sign up through email. Bam. You just got yourself an email list and a ton of leads. Get even more people to sign up by offering something that doesn't require them to book your services. People may be on the fence about whether or not they would like to use you, so offering your services might not be something they want to enter a contest for. So, even though you may be tempted to have the prize be a 50% off coupon for your photography services, you're going to get more people to sign up by offering a free dinner at a nice restaurant or a mani-pedi at a local salon. Getting emails is a great way to follow-up with people after the show and remind them who you are and of the conversations you had.

8. Stay until the show actually ends. Packing up before it's over or leaving early can cause you to miss out on future clients and can look unprofessional. We know it's hard to not start packing up your backpack right before the bell rings, but we believe you can do it! It's smart to have a couple of people working the booth so you can rotate taking food and potty breaks (hey, everyone needs them) while keeping the booth manned at all times. Some couples wait until the end of the show to arrive, so sticking around can give you a leg up on your competitors and allow you to talk to brides in a more relaxed atmosphere.

9. Be friendly! This may seem obvious, but body language has a huge impact on whether or not people feel like they can approach you. Smile, make eye-contact, stand up straight, and avoid crossing your arms. 

10. Lastly, go big or go home. If there is ever a time to pull out all the stops, it's where you are showing off face-to-face to hundreds, or even thousands, of your potential customers.

This florist's table at the WedLuxe Wedding Show is hard to miss!

Looking for more booth and exhibit ideas? Contact us today to talk to a graphic designer and to get a free quote on your project.