4
TRADE SHOW TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2019
TRADE SHOW TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2019
2019 will be a year like no other in biotech and pharmaceuticals; consumer demand is on the rise due to increases in insurance coverage access, an aging population and improved healthcare in emerging markets. So it’s likely the trade shows you attend will be flush with trendy new ways for companies to market their products and services. Staying ahead of trends can help you better reach an evolving audience while keeping you on-track to achieve your sales and marketing goals.
This list of Trade Show Trends to Watch in 2019 will help you prepare for a successful year ahead.
Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality
VR/AR are adept at engaging audiences and immersing their senses so they are given a complete view of your product offerings. 2019 is all about VR/AR, due in large part to the fact these multi-sen-sory gems are now more accessible than ever before. It’s no longer a niche bit of tech—now any-one can use VR/AR. Technological improvements have helped more companies adopt VR/AR, es-pecially in biotech and pharma industries. VR/AR offers exhibitors a unique and cost-effective way to truly showcase their company’s services and take the viewer away from distractions at the show. They provide your visitors a chance to interact with your brand far beyond just a casual conversa-tion with a sales rep at a tradeshow.
53% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that uses VR than one that doesn’t. To the prospective customer, you’re showing that your brand is at the forefront of technology in a rapidly changing world.
Trade Show Tips
1. Provide your audience with a closer look into how your products impact the human anatomy by displaying true-to-life 3D medical illustrations. This will give them a much clearer under-standing of how your product works, and will give you a competitive edge over other com-panies that are still telling their stories using tri-fold print brochures.
2. Leverage Facebook’s 360 photos. Take a 360-degree image and view the photo in virtual re-ality using a VR device. Photos of your products, manufacturing facilities, office space or staff can instantly transport viewers into the heart of your brand, product and organization.
Artificial Intelligence
What can Siri, Alexa and Google do for you and your staff at a trade show or event? You’d be sur-prised at the answer. Artificial intelligence devices are becoming commonplace in the lives of consumers and offer exhibitors a way to increase efficiency while maximizing their wow-factor on the show floor.
AI tools can process, analyze and present data far faster than humans, making them a potential gold mine for exhibitors. Imagine being able to pull detailed company, products or client statistics instantly on the show floor. You can instantly tailor your conversation to match booth visitors’ com-pany size, industry or product interest.
AI also helps you better qualify your lead potential of a visitor by querying the visitor’s profile with your database of buyer personas and sales history.
While artificial intelligence won’t replace booth staff in 2019, there is potential for AI to help your staff become more efficient on the show floor.
AI-powered analytics is perfect for biotech and pharmaceutical companies looking to increase their branding and marketing power at trade shows. AI can undertake large volumes of interconnected and complex judgmental decisions by sifting through many seemingly unrelated datasets with a high degree of accuracy.
Trade Show Tips
1. Use AI to ask attendees questions related to your products, services, and their personal experi-ences with issues that your products address. AI programs can track and quantify the respons-es so you can turn those insights into smart business decisions.
2. AI can perform exit surveys, a great way to gain honest feedback from attendees on their experience at your booth. AI questionnaires may be the closest you get to receiving honest answers, and is certainly less painful and disruptive than you or your staff asking these ques-tions.
Visitor Engagement
While VR/AR and AI are the latest buzz-word trends, the need to engage your customers with real interactions won’t slow down in 2019. Visitor engagement will continue to play an important role on the trade show floor. Contests and games have traditionally been appealing ways to draw in and engage a crowd, but technology is making engagement easier and more memorable.
An interactive exhibit can take people out of their waking trances and lead their attention to what no one else offers. However, being interactive doesn’t always mean using the latest and most ex-pensive technology. Savvy trade show visitors will like to touch your products, handle prototypes and product samples, do trials on products and services, play games and watch demonstrations. The more engaging and entertaining your booth is, the more likely they will remember your brand, and continue the conversation after the show.
Trade Show Tips
1. Engage your visitors with games or tasks that showcase your products or services. Even better, make it digital so you can collect vital lead information while entertaining your customer and creating a positive brand experience.
2. Stand out by driving engagement with games that lie outside your industry. For instance, install a golf putting green or a prize wheel and people will come to your booth when they want to give their brains a rest.
3. Attract people from far away with large booth signage and displays that elicit emotional connections. With many biotech and pharmaceutical brands providing life-changing prod-ucts and services, the opportunity exists to create large, billboard-size displays that stand out among the crowd.
Focus on ComfortIt can be exhausting spending all day at a trade-show, and most people will want to take a break from all the walking and talking. Exhibitors who implement comfortable lounge areas are finding success at getting people into their booth, and keeping them there. It’s the perfect opportunity for your floor staff to start a casual conversation with attendees, and subtly work in their sales pitch.
Trade Show Tips
1. Add interactive elements like charging stations and personal tablets. Charging stations will cater to that someone whose phone is always running out of battery, and the tablets can pro-vide some entertainment for those who aren’t interested in talking to your floor staff.
2. Designate a meeting room within your booth for customers who want to escalate the con-versation to a private area. Typically, sales reps follow up with leads days, even weeks, after a trade show. But all to often, those leads disappear, and the potential business is lost. By set-ting up a private, designated meeting space right in your booth, prospects will feel safe asking questions in a quiet setting, and as the client gets to know your staff member, the chances of gaining new business increases.
Themed Trade Show BoothsIn the age of integrated and experiential marketing, more and more marketers are creating theme-based trade show booths. Advances in fabric applications and extrusion frames allow for more creative, brand-embodying exhibit designs that can better translate an overlying campaign theme. The use of color and imagery can immerse your audience into your brand and provide them with a unique experience that VR and AR can’t provide.
Trade Show Tips
1. A pharmaceutical company developing a sleep-aid drug could create a sleep-themed exhibit featuring a fleet of beds and soft music with creative imagery that showcases the benefits of the product and how it promotes healthy sleeping patterns.
2. A biotechnology company that creates eco-friendly laundry detergent could design an ex-hibit that replicates a laundromat, and immerses attendees in the beautiful scents and clean clothes that their products emit.
What’s Next for Your Company?When looking to apply some of these trends to your own trade show program, it’s important that you evaluate your trade show objectives, buyer personas and industry. It may make sense to only incorporate a few of these ideas into your next trade show exhibit, so choose the ones that will have the greatest impact on your audience while helping you achieve your goals.
To learn how Apogee Exhibits can design your next trade show exhibit, contact us today.
315.986.4600 | [email protected] | apogeeexhibits.com
