Trade shows are a great place to meet motivated new customers and expand the reach of your brand. But if you’re going to represent your company at a trade show, you should seek to maximize the connections you make. One of the most powerful ways to do that is through the use of video content. Consider this, on average the human brain retains about 10% of what it hears, 20% of what it reads, but a whopping 90% of what it sees. And according to Linked In analytics, viewers are 1,200% more likely to engage with video content than with other presentation formats.
Video content then is a great way to catch viewer’s attention in a venue where the average time it takes an attendee to pass a booth is roughly 5 seconds; it’s a powerful way to create brand recognition; it’s a means of drawing viewers into your booth to have meaningful discussions and make partnerships, and it’s a potent reinforcement tool for the messages you deliver. Moreover, video content need not be a bank breaker. Certainly, professional video production is a worthwhile investment, but on a shoestring budget, you can use even high-quality phone cameras to create short videos that link to online content.
If you are considering creating video content for your next trade show presentation (and you should), then here are some things to consider:
- Content doesn’t have to be limited to the show: Sending out a pre-video via email that advertises your attendance, the location of your booth, and any presentations you may be giving is a great way of creating hype. After the event, you can follow up with short videos as well, such as comments you received from attendees.
- Find the sweet spot: Videos should be no longer than 5 minutes with the shortest videos presented on a loop outside the booth. In the booth, you can use longer videos not only to reinforce content and further educate your viewer but also as a distraction for those waiting to speak to you while you’re with another customer.
- Keep it simple: Minimize text and only use graphs, charts, or data to emphasize your most important points. You want your video presentation to be uncluttered.
- Better to avoid sound: In large crowded venues, the sound is likely to be swallowed by ambient noise and looped sound may only become an annoyance when played over and over. Furthermore, the sound inside the booth may distract from the important conversations you’re trying to have with potential clients.
- Consider using interactive video content: A key aim of video content is to catch your viewer’s attention and one easy way to do this is to make content interactive. Touch screens, motion sensor monitors, and even QR codes are easy ways to engage your viewer with your content.
- Present well: Knowing your audience and the type of content they seek is an important first step to drawing them in, but there are other important considerations that may seem simple but that can be easily overlooked. Use large monitors that can be easily seen, particularly for video displays outside the booth. And be sure to position them high so they can be seen above crowds. You can even include a large QR code as part of your content so that the attendee in a hurry can scan and watch your video on their smartphone as they go.
- Reuse content: While you may want to create several shorter videos that can be looped at a single trade show so as to avoid a sense of repetition, you can reuse your content later on social media, your website, and in emails.
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Ivan Young is a writer in partnership with Marv Golden Pilot Supplies.
