If increasing attendee dwell time in your tradeshow booth has become your responsibility, here’s a powerful solution: an electric dog fence.
You know the kind …a dog collar that delivers a mild shock when they attempt to leave the yard. In this case, as each attendee enters your exhibit, you slip an electric collar around their neck, and when they try to leave …. bazinga.
A less “stingy” (and less litigious) approach is to create and deploy a clearly defined engagement, education, and connection process. For many, this means greeting an attendee, asking an open-ended question, and being a good listener. This is 100% valid … but … what then? What is keeping them from leaving your exhibit?
Answer: Process. This means more than “next steps” … it means a series of activities that build in relevance and cause attendees to feel they are moving toward a specific, well-defined, relevant objective.
Think of your booth engagement as an “If-Then” flow chart. Initial engagements tell you about the attendee. Now you can guide them to a relevant next step, like a targeted case study or specific demo, etc. After that, you can choose from a selection of relevant steps. The point is, at each level, you have choices. This is pull vs. push marketing. When the attendee feels they’re experiencing information that makes increasing sense to them, they will become their own electric dog collar.
Of course, every well-defined “process” must include escape hatches to release prospects who are not qualified. This is the hallmark of a successful engagement program; it separates the wheat from the chaff, and maximizes a rep’s engagement time in the exhibit.
Interactive apps on attendees’ personal mobile devices are emerging as a popular tool to accomplish this. The mobile app:
- Enhances interactions within the booth.
- Appeals to a Millennial, always-connected mentality.
- Delivers relevant information in a familiar, easy-to-digest format
- Increases dwell time with “live” interactions that enhances the mobile app experience.
Mobile apps also live long past the booth engagement and create avenues for future engagement and education.
Of course, it would be great if the app also delivered a mild shock when the attendee tried to leave your booth.
Ah … a marketer can dream …