When you opt to participate in a trade show in Orlando, you need to ensure that your booth is always on trend. Exhibition attendees in the city are veterans and they’re always on the lookout for new and interesting ways in which brands allow them to experience their offerings, rather than simply hear or read about them.
So, if you’re heading to a number of trade shows this year and don’t want your exhibit rental in Orlando blend into the background
Here’s a look at the hottest trade show trends 2021 that you need to get behind.
Augmented Reality
While this has worked incredibly well for companies in the tech space previously, a number of other brands have also embraced this up and coming trend. Experts have said that augmented reality or AR will be one of the biggest trade show trends in 2021.
By using this tech, you can create a truly immersive and interactive experience for visitors to your booth. Glasses or VR headsets can be used to provide trade show attendees with a better look at your products and offerings and how it can help them.
You might even be able to take visitors on a complete tour of your factory, warehouse or office, without them having to leave your booth or the show floor.
Non-wearable tech in the augmented reality space is also making waves across the industry. You can install smart mirrors at strategic locations around your booth for guests to interact with.
Experiential Design
Your booth’s design is of utmost importance since it will dictate how many visitors will walk in and engage with you. Experiential design refers to the art of converting your booth into a unique space that offers attendees a wholesome experience.
Depending on the kind of industry you function in, you may want to transform your booth into a brewery, a playground, a hotel room, or a cockpit. The idea behind such designs is to give visitors a chance to experience what you’re offering, first hand.
Multi-Sensory Experiences
Traditionally, trade show participants have relied heavily on the attendees’ sense of sight. Come 2021, this is all going to change. This year, brands are looking for ways to stimulate the other senses as well.
Apart from bold designs that captivate the eyes, companies will also invest in using essential oils and delicious foods to draw crowds to their display. A carefully curated playlist will help improve the vibe at your booth – as long as it doesn’t disrupt your staff or other booths.
Brands are also looking for ways to add a tactile element to their booths. This can be done by using different fabrics and materials to build your display. Materials like silk or wood typically invite people to run their fingers over the surface – ensuring that visitors to your booth enjoy a completely multi-sensory experience.
Customer-Centric Booths
Instead of focusing on the kind of kiosks and displays that brands can create, this year the trend will be to focus on the customer. While working on your booth’s design, you should always think about who your ideal customer is. Try and understand what they are hoping to achieve at the end of the event.
Once you have a clear idea of their goals, you can create a booth design that will enable your customer to easily meet their trade show targets. If your ideal customer is a direct consumer of your products, ensure that your booth’s design highlights your offerings in a big way.
You can create a repeating product wall to do this. To ensure you get this part of the planning process right, create buyer personas and think from their point of view for a while. Understand what their potential pain points could be and find ways to resolve these issues. This information will allow you to create a booth that will draw in the right crowd.
Novel Experiences
Millennials are always on the lookout for the next best thing, and they are willing to sacrifice a lot of time and money to be able to say that they’ve done something new and exclusive. When cronuts were first launched, people stood in lines for hours just for a taste of the exclusive pastry.
You can use this principle to enhance the appeal of your Orlando exhibit rental. If you offer customers a chance to try out your latest products, especially those which haven’t been launched yet, you’re sure to have them queuing up in no time. As long as you have something new and exciting to offer, visitors will be interested in listening to what you have to say.
Insta-Worthy Photo Opportunities
In today’s digital world, people are always looking to capture perfect images that they can post on their social media pages. You could turn one of your display walls into a captivating image and encourage people to take pictures with it. If you have the funds, you could make things even more interesting by getting a professional photographer to click these pictures with a Polaroid camera.
This will also provide your customers with a souvenir to remember you by even after the event is over. Once visitors post the images of your booth or the Polaroid you’ve given them on social media, interest in your brand is likely to grow.
Green Marketing
Over the last few years, we have seen a number of companies focus on adopting green policies to reduce their carbon footprint. This is something that will be reflected in trade shows this year. Brands that can build sustainable booths, or bring their eco-friendly practices to the event will definitely pull larger crowds than other displays.
You can also use your booth to focus on how your business is being socially responsible and doing what it can to uplift the society in which it functions. These small but important touches will definitely make your booth a big hit on the show floor.
Personalized Visitor Experiences
This trend may require a fairly large investment, but it will definitely be worth it. Visitors want completely personalized experiences. One way of doing this is by ensuring you provide each visitor with a dedicated staff member who will tend to their needs.
This will allow your staff a chance to get to know the client before providing them with a personalized presentation that answers the specific questions they have about your brand and offerings. You could also consider personalizing your giveaways with the visitor’s name, but this may not always be feasible.
Vintage Touches
While using the latest technology and creating a multi-sensory immersive experience is important, some people are also looking for vintage appeal. There are a number of ways in which you can add a vintage element to your booth. If you’re playing music, perhaps use a vinyl player or gramophone for the purpose.
If you have a gaming booth, you could create it to look like the original Game Boy instead of the PS4. To drive up engagement, you could even consider installing a prize wheel in your booth – encouraging people to walk up and interact with your brand. After all, everybody loves to win, and a prize wheel at a trade show is pretty vintage.
Comfortable Spaces
While creating a booth experience that focuses on your customer’s needs, it’s crucial to think about their comfort too. If you have ever attended a trade show before, we’re sure you’ve found yourself absolutely winded after an hour or so of walking around the venue and interacting with various brands.
You can create a comfortable space for exhausted trade show attendees to relax in your exhibit rental in Orlando. A lounge area with charging stations and bean bags or armchairs will really boost your popularity on the show floor.
Once people start to enjoy the comfortable space that you have provided for them, you and your staff can engage with them and wow them with your amazing sales pitch.
The Right Light
While trade show participants have often tripped over themselves to utilize the latest tech in their booths, they seem to have forgotten about the most basic yet important element – light. The lighting elements you use in your booth could help you transform your space entirely, and we’re going to see a lot of innovative lighting in the coming months.
The use of colored lights and shadows will help you highlight certain aspects of your booth and draw attention to your products. From 3D images to projections on your booth wall – everything is possible with a little innovative lighting.
These trends will help you step up your game at trade shows this year, but it’s important that you remember the fundamentals of trade show marketing.
Ensure that your booth staff is properly trained and capable of providing visitors with all the information they require about your offerings. Have a good lead-gathering process in place and make sure that you follow up with quality leads right after the event.
For a successful run at a show, you don’t need to have the biggest booth – you just need to have the trendiest one.
Read Also: Top Tips That Guarantee Trade Show Marketing Success in 2019.