On the seventh day of marketing, my agency gave to me, a booth with an activation strategy

Tradeshows can be a great way to get in front of your customers – 67% of all tradeshow attendees represent new prospects for exhibiting companies.

However, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of booths without ever really connecting with the people you came to see.

That’s why you need what we marketers like to call an activation strategy. Activation is a fancy word for driving traffic to your booth, and what buys you the valuable face time with your potential customers. You need attendees to engage with you, not just read your headlines.

Sleighs R Us planned ahead. They became an exhibit sponsor, at a level that included email contacts for attendees, a print ad in the show guide and collateral in the show bag. In all those avenues, we communicated the big draw: a Christmas wish giveaway.

Attendees just needed to stop by the booth and write their Christmas wish on a post-it, which went up on the booth for all to see (further driving traffic). While they wait for their turn at the Sharpie, attendees chatted with Sleigh R Us sales and marketing team, got an overview of the sleighs’ features, a price sheet, drank some hot chocolate and exchanged business cards.

The giveaway winner, clearly a mother, took home her wish of peace and quiet. But the real winner was Sleighs R Us, which took home a healthy prospect list.