Creating Brand Awareness in the Modern World

These days, old forms of advertising don’t work.

Instead of watching the same five channels on TV every night or listening to the radio on the ride to work or school, modern parents have access to a massive selection of entertainment options: hundreds of streaming services, video-sharing platforms, podcasts, and audiobooks. The list goes on.

Amid all that noise, it’s hard to cut through to your local market and find customers who will love your product.

What hasn’t changed is real, human connection.

Meeting someone face-to-face has been tried and true for millennia, and that hasn’t changed with the rise of the internet, social media, and AI.

The trick is finding people where they’re at so you can make that connection.

The answer? Local trade shows.

What is a Trade Show?

Trade shows are where businesses and organizations showcase what they have to offer. They put their best foot forward for their prospective customers. It’s a bit like a convention, but instead of selling a product now, it’s all about building buyer awareness for the future.

Trade shows are ideal for businesses that require a larger upfront investment. At a convention, people might part with their money for a $5 sticker set or a $50 figurine. But they aren’t there to hand over $5,000 for a teambuilding event.

People come to trade shows to see what options are available on the market. They are planning ahead. They are preparing to spend a lot of money and want to get their money's worth.

As an operator, trade shows can help you cut through to a market primed for purchase and convince them to step over the line and make a booking.

Tricks of the Trade

Not all trade shows are made equally. Consider who your ideal customer is and find a show that attracts them. 

For example, our local brand “Laser Tag in a Box” primarily targets schools, vacation camps, and parents. Recently, a local show has come to town. It’s called “Education Fair”.

It’s a hub for all things education: schools, sports programs, swimming classes, vacation cares, etc. 

Plenty of parents are also involved in local community organizations such as youth groups or their kids’ sports teams. And, of course, once a year, their kid has a birthday to celebrate.

But they aren’t the only people a savvy operator will talk to. One trick of the trade (show) is to go around to each booth and have a chat with the exhibitors. Bring along a stack of business cards and offer one to anyone interested.

It’s networking, but it’s also selling. As mentioned before, Laser Tag in a Box targets not just parents, but schools. Just the people who are exhibiting at the “Education Fair”!

Pick a Key Position and Grab Their Attention

“Location, location, location,” it’s an age-old saying, and it applies to trade shows as well. When picking your booth’s location, consider the flow of the crowd.

As much as possible, you want to be front and center!

Next, you need to draw their gaze. For the Education Fair, we set up a Battle Box with strip LEDs as a Domination Box. Then we make sure to shoot it with either a red or blue tagger. Now the box is flashing. It’s guaranteed to draw the eye of anyone walking past.

Speaking to Your Market

Not everyone will be drawn to your booth, but there are other ways to attract their attention. Find out if your trade show has a speaker’s platform.

Offer a speech that speaks to your market. For example, at the Education Fair, we offered “The Key to Attention Grabbing Green Time.” Parents and educators care about getting their kids off devices and into the sunshine! They are actively searching for a solution.

And you, as the speaker, can offer them just that!

All that comes next is delivering an engaging speech. It doesn’t need to be that long; in fact, the punchier the better.

Step 1: Draw your audience in with an engaging and relatable hook. For the example above, you could provide an anecdote about a teacher who was struggling to reach her students… until she tried out laser tag! 

 Step 2: Give your audience a meaningful solution that doesn’t sound too sales-y.

Step 3: Finish with a bang! For example, we let our audience know about our show-only offer: a raffle for a chance to win a free laser tag hire.

Step 4: Finally, invite your audience to visit your booth later and let them know where to find it. 

Have a Listen to Nicole's Speech @ EduFair

Bring Along a Demo

It’s great to talk about your product, but even better to give your customers a real taste of what can be done with your product.

If you have a permanent facility, set up an iPad with a video featuring your facility. Show off pictures of kids having fun, whether that’s on the campgrounds, playing laser tag, or enjoying the scenic location.

Bring along two or three display taggers.

• One set to the Red Team.
• One set to Blue Team.

Then encourage curious attendees to try out the taggers. Let them blast each other, or if they are alone, blast you! Give them a short, interactive demonstration of the laser tag experience.

If you have the available budget and the trade show allows it, you can book an activity space. That gives you a chance to set up obstacles and run sample games. Set games can be difficult to run at a trade show, so instead, you can set an individual timer on your taggers.

Each person who tries laser tag gets 1 minute to play.

This means you have a continuous game, adding and losing new players as needed. Rather than expecting guests to commit to a 5-minute game.

It can be helpful to have a short 1-minute pre-recorded briefing to play for new gamers before they jump into the game. That way, you can cover the basics of playing + safety.

You can set up fun games like “Hotspots”, where they have to tag different boxes when they light up, as well as tag anyone on the other team. That gives them something to do even when there are no other players!

You can even offer a contest. The player who scores the most points during their 1-minute trial game wins a prize. You will need to capture their contact information. The best way to do this is to set up a QR code sign that adults can scan to fill out your form. 

To make sure the scores are accurate, have the contestants take a photo of the scores on their tagger as part of the form completion.

At the end of the day, you are sure to have plenty of entries… and their contact details! After having a taste of the laser tag experience, you now have a primed customer. Be sure to follow up on each entry to see if they are interested in booking laser tag.

Even if they don’t win the prize, offer them an incentive to book in, such as “camo outfit hire”.

Bite-Sized Promo

Sometimes people are interested in your product but don’t want to talk long. Or even at all. They might, however, take a freebie.

You should bring along plenty of brochures, of course. Once people have seen what you have to offer, they typically take a brochure to remember what you discussed. 

But what about the customers on the fence?

We offered two freebies at the Education Fair: a fridge magnet & a bag of sweets. Both had our brand info! Whether they took a magnet or just wanted to eat the sweets, they walked about with our brand info.

If your local trade show is offering a delegate satchel, be sure to include some of your own promo inside. This might be a brochure or a freebie like those above. Try to brand an item people are likely to keep, that speaks to your company ethos.

For example, one school at the EduFair offered a fidget toy. Several other exhibitors included pens in the satchel.

Get their Contact Details!!

Last but not least, getting contact details is key. Now that people are aware of your brand, they are primed for booking in your laser tag.

Giving attendees a call after the event can help push them over the line.

But people don’t give out their details willy-nilly! You have to offer them something in return. We have had the most success with a raffle for a chance to win a free package. People love a raffle!

After trying out the demo, they are highly likely to sign up for the raffle. Just be sure to let them know you are running this promotion.

Make the raffle easy to enter! A QR code link + a quick form is enough. As long as you capture their name, email, and phone number, you can gather the rest of their details later.

Then, at the end of the event, you can either draw from a hat… or pick your ideal customer. The group you think will get the most out of the experience (and is likely to spread word of mouth).

Now you’re ready to exhibit at a trade show in your town!

Take these tips & build brand awareness through face-to-face conversations.