If you’ve ever attended a trade show, you know that many exhibitors try to attract traffic to their trade show booth using gimmicks. This may be a great way to increase foot traffic to your booth, but it may also serve as a major distraction that prevents your booth staffers from educating visitors about your company. Using gimmicky promotions such as a money blowing machine, prize wheel, or other odd promotions may actually detract from the overall success of your trade show marketing system.

The first rule of thumb when using gimmicks in your exhibition is to leave plenty of space for crowd control. If you plan on attracting a lot of foot traffic, you need to have a lot of space so that people don’t feel overcrowded. When exhibitors use gimmicks to attract traffic, they often find that their booth becomes so clogged with people who are not interested in their products and/or services that valuable potential clients are prevented from stopping by. Be careful not to overcrowd your display and there will always be plenty of room for your potential clients.

If you’re going to use gimmicky promotions, the rest of your trade show exhibit should match the feel of your booth. Sleek, modern displays such as an Exhibit One display or XRline display would probably look out of place next to a money machine. The last thing you want to do is to send your potential clients mixed messages about what type of company you are. If you’re going to use gimmicks, I would highly recommend purchasing a more playful style of display, such as an Xpressions display or Burst display.

If you decide to use gimmicks within your trade show booth, make sure that your sales staff are educated on how to make a quick pitch to your potential clients. Attracting large quantities of attendees to your booth is great, but it doesn’t mean a thing unless you can turn that traffic into leads and turn those leads into sales.