I know some readers will click through to this post just to see the pictures… and you’re expecting to see barely dressed, sexy women. Well, I don’t want to disappoint, so here is one…

tradeshow booth babe

And I don’t want to descriminate against my female readers, so here’s a male “booth babe”…

alternate tradeshow booth babe

OK, now that the obligatory eye-candy “tradeshow booth babe” pictures are out of the way, let me get to the point.

Tradeshow booth babes are a bad idea.

I’m familiar with the saying “sex sells” and maybe if you’re selling Miami-Vice-style cigarette jet boats to middle aged men or cheap beer to college kids, then having a skimpily clad blonde bimbo isn’t an entirely bad idea. But for most tradeshow exhibitors, booth babes are a bad idea. There are much better ways to attract qualified prospects to your tradeshow booth (even handing out trade show giveaways pens is a better idea than having a booth babe).

Having booth babes at your tradeshow booth will probably draw a crowd… but it will be a crowd of people clogging up your tradeshow booth wanting to see the pretty girl and probably having absolutely no interest in your product, service, or company. And for those people who are interested in your company, they will probably wonder if your product is any good at all if you have to resort to booth babes to try to sell it.

So let your competitors employ the booth babes at their tradeshow booths. Trust me and make your tradeshow booth a “booth-babe-free-zone”. If you are thinking about hiring a booth babe, look at this picture…

This is what a tradeshow booth babe will most likely do for your tradeshow marketing efforts, and is the mental image you should get if you seriously a booth babe for your own trade show booth… To repeat, tradeshow booth babes are a bad idea!

But just in case you didn’t get my point, let me show you another mental image to store away in the back of your head in the event you are ever, ever tempted to go the route of hiring a tradeshow booth babe to hawk your tradeshow wares…

Don’t do it. While “tradeshow booth babes” may be ok for a blog post, they are not ok for your tradeshow booth.

Care to disagree?

WHAT’S YOUR POINT! First you have to figure out why you’re exhibiting in the first place. Why are you at the trade show? What are you selling? What makes you different? What makes you better than the other guys with other trade show booths? What is your USP (unique selling proposition). What is your trade show marketing message? If you don’t know these answers, how will your prospects know, and why should they come to your booth? You need to figure out your “point” and make sure it’s clear, compelling, and communicated.

KEYWORDS! You’ve got to figure out your keywords, and make sure they are big and prominent on your trade show display design, just like you would want them to be prominent on your webpage or blog post. What are people searching for or looking for that you provide? Figure out your keywords, and put them in your display design and all your other trade show marketing materials.

LINKS! just like people on the internet will never know about your blog or website if you don’t create links to it; similarly, people that will be attending the trade show won’t know about your trade show exhibit booth if you don’t send out pre-show mailers to people that will be attending the show. Don’t rely on random foot traffic (or that they’ll notice you on the list of 1,001 trade show exhibit booths. Let people know in advance about your exhibit booth. And of course, your pre-show mailer must have your clear marketing message and keywords on it.

REWARD! Why should people visit your website or blog, and why should they stop by your booth? Of course, your mailer should explain what benefit you can provide to your prospects, but how about offering a reward as well? Consider having and handing out trade show giveaways, such as trade show giveaway pens. Put your company name and contact info on the trade show giveaways so people remember you.

TRAFFIC! Remember, the key to a successful trade show exhibit booth is traffic. Don’t cross your fingers and hope for traffic. Plan ahead and optimize. Figure out your unique selling proposition. Figure out your keywords. What are people searching for, and what do you offer of value? Get those “links” with pre-show mailers. Publicize and advertise! Build hype in advance. Get the word out! And reward people that click through (or in the case of trade show exhibit booths, that stop by your booth space).

So remember for your next show to practice SEO for trade show exhibit booths. Here’s to your “optimized” trade show exhibit booth being a huge success, and may you have more exhibit booth traffic than you can handle!

“Secret #1″: Your booth has catch people’s attention when they are passing by your booth space. Understand that your trade show booth is just one of many. Your design must distinguish your booth from all the other trade show booths. If you don’t get their attention, people will just keep going to see the next “interesting” booth. One time-tested way of “getting noticed” is to have a catchy tagline with a captivating background image.

“Secret #2″: You must clearly say who your are, and you must explain what you do. Use big letters for your company name and put it at the top. Then explain what your company does in one or two easy to understand sentences. If people can’t look at your display and immediately know who you are and what you do, you need to start your design over.

“Secret #3″: Your design must tell people WWIFT (what’s in it for them). This is the most important part of an effective design. People are interested in how you can help them – that is why they will stop and talk. For instance, if you are a financial services company, tell them how much money you can make them. No matter what, you must tell people how you will help them.

To conclude, designing effective trade show booth displays involves creating a design that covers the three “secrets” above. Your design must stand out from the crowd and get noticed. Your design must say who you are and what you do. And lastly, your design must say how you can help people. To be a successful trade show marketer, make sure your trade show booth display design accomplishes these three “secrets”. May your next trade show be a huge success, and may you end up with more trade show booth traffic than you know what to do with!

1. TAKE CARE. Take care of yourself! Get plenty of sleep the night before, eat a good breakfast, stay hydrated, and wear comfortable shoes (as I already said, this is really just common sense!). If you don’t take care of yourself, you may end up looking like one of the many trade show zombies mindlessly wandering the aisles.

2. STAND. Stand up, and keep standing up. Don’t sit down. Staffers that are standing are much more approachable than those that are sitting with their arms folded, staring off into space. You should stay standing the entire time, which is why you want to wear those comfortable shoes.

3. IDENTIFY YOURSELF. Wear your name tag, and make it easily visible. And I would add, if you have a tough name for the locals to pronounce, consider going with a nickname plus your real name.

4. MAKE IT PERSONAL. Find out and use your prospect’s name. People like a personal touch. Find out who you are talking to and use their name, repeatedly. When your conversation is over, be sure to thank them by name.

5. AVOID THE YES-NO. Ask open-ended questions. If you ask yes-or-no or one-word-answer questions, you are likely to get a simple yes or no answer thrown over the shoulder as your potential prospect keeps on walking.

6. ASK. Find out the prospect or customer’s problem before you solve it. Don’t just launch into what you think you can do for the prospect. Ask questions, listen, and find out what they need… then tell them how you can help them with their needs.

7. LISTEN. Remember the 80-20 rule. 80% of your conversation should be listening, and only 20% should be talking. You can learn a lot about your customer just by keeping your mouth shut.

8. GIVE. Have cool trade show giveaways and hand them out. A simple but useful trade show giveaway (with your company name and contact info printed on it) is a great way to thank prospects for spending time talking to you and to remind them of your company later. When trade show attendees spend their time talking to you, show your appreciation with a trade show giveaway. Just make sure the trade show zombies don’t take all of them!

9. IGNORE. Don’t spend time chatting with other staffers. Trade show booth business hours are not the time to talk about where you’re going to eat dinner later or about the ball game on TV last night. Don’t talk to other staffers in the booth. Reserve all your time and focus for potential prospects.

10. FOCUS. Focus on your booth, not the trade show booth next to you or the trade show booth across the aisle. Resist the temptation to slip away and “study the competition”. Do that after hours. During trade show business hours, you should be in your booth, standing, and ready to do business.

Follow these top ten trade show booth staffing secrets, and make your next trade show a huge success.

PS. If you have a trade show booth staffing secret or tip, or a personal success story, feel to leave a comment and share your experience.

What trade show booths and duct tape have in common is that an effective trade show booth should be able to pass the duct tape test. And no, the duct tape test do NOT mean that you can fix or repair the trade show booth with duct tape. What the duct tape test means is that you need an effective trade show display design that is clear and speaks for itself. Your design needs to say who you are, what you do, and how you can help your potential prospect. In a nutshell, the trade show booth duct tape test is to image yourself at your trade show, standing in your trade show booth, with a piece of duct tape over your mouth…

Now that you’re standing there in your trade show booth with duct tape over your mouth, when people walk by (and you can’t ask them questions or invite them into your booth, or explain what your company does), will your booth design do this for you? Will your trade show display design stop people, and let them know who you are, what you do, and how you can help them? I know you’re probably thinking that people will stop to ask you why you’ve got duct tape on your mouth, but I think you get the point.

The duct tape test actually applies to a lot of marketing material in addition to trade show booths, and includes brochures, mailers, and yes, even and especially blogs. Your trade show booth design (and other marketing materials) should speak for themselves and communicate what you need them to communicate. You shouldn’t need to or rely on “explaining” what the design means. It cracks me up when somebody asks me to review a postal mailer design and then when I don’t “get it” proceeds to tell me what the design is supposed to mean. Unfortunately, they won’t be at my mailbox to “explain” the mailer when I get it. The duct tape test means plain and simple that your design needs to speak for itself, and effective trade show booths need to pass it.

So now that you know what trade show booths and duct tape have in common, and what the duct tape test is, my question to you is…

Does your blog pass the duct tape test?