At trade shows, attracting customers to your booth is the name of the game. Using tactics that appeal to all 5 of the senses sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch is a great way to appeal to customers, keep them in your booth, and make them remember your booth over the competition.
Sight: Appealing to the sense of sight is the first thing that usually will attract attendees to your booth. Once the visual appeal of your booth does the job by getting potential customers into the booth, appealing to all the other senses will keep them entertained and make your company memorable.
Sound: Sound in the form of music can affect mood and add ambience to your booth. Depending on the type of booth you have, music or sounds may not work well if it interferes with talking and sales.
Smell: Scent is something you may not think about when it comes to setting up a trade show booth, but scent is a very powerful sense and can definitely influence mood and help recall memory. You can have oils, candles, or plug ins to help achieve different smells in your booth. Here are some details on different scents and the resulting emotional effects from the Scent Marketing Institute.
Photo Credit: nytimes.com
SCENTS AND RESULTING MOODS:
- Talcum Powder = Safety, security and nostalgia
- Peppermint or Citrus = Alert
- Lavender, Vanilla, and Chamomile = Relaxation
- Barbecue Some = Perceiving a room as smaller
- Apple or Cucumber = Perceiving a room as larger
- Leather or Cedar = Tendency to buy more expensive products
- Fresh Baked Goods = Open to Buying a Home, Comfort
- Floral or Citrus Scents = Browse longer, spend more
Taste: Taste can be a magical lure at trade shows. Attendees can be weary, hungry and thirsty so using food, snacks, and drinks can make your booth more appealing. Of course once you lure them into the booth, it is your job to do the selling and not just giving away food. The food in your booth can also help take care of the smell factor. If you opt to have food that might also cover the sense of smell too; just be sure that you don’t have different scents fighting with each other.
Touch: If you are selling products, then the sense of touch can be very important. Touching the products can show buyers the quality of a product. If you are dealing with materials, feeling how soft, smooth, or luxurious something smells can be a big selling point.
In summary, don’t forget about the senses; make sure to appeal to all 5 senses of buyers. Do not let one sense overwhelm the others. Use what works for you and test out different scents, sights, sounds, tastes, and touches so that you can find the winning combination for your trade show booth.
