How to drive trade show booth traffic: pre-show outreach that books visits and meetings

Get on their plan before they land. Trade show attendees don't wander the hall at random. They arrive with a list.

So the people walking past your booth are worth meeting, and most of them have already decided where they'll stop. Your job is to be on that list, with a time slot, before they get on the plane. Booth design, demos and giveaways help with the people who walk by. Pre-show outreach decides who walks in.

That means outreach to named people, one at a time, not an email blast to the show's mailing list. The rest of this guide is how.

Most shows won't hand you the attendee list. You don't need it. The people you want are telling the world they're going, and the rest you can find by role and company.

Build the list around your buyer, not around the show. A plant manager at a mid-size food manufacturer is worth inviting whether or not you've confirmed they're going. Ask: "Are you heading to ProMat this year?" Either answer starts a conversation. If you exhibit in manufacturing, our guide to manufacturing trade show marketing covers open houses and plant tours as well.

About 6 weeks out, and it shouldn't stop until the show closes. You'll see blogs claim that starting outreach 8 to 12 weeks out brings 33% more booth traffic. We couldn't trace that number to an original study, so we don't use it. What is well documented is how late attendees decide:

Nearly half the hall decides in the last month. So start early enough to get on calendars, and keep inviting right up to the show.

One that gives a reason to stop by that's about them. Here's what attendees think of generic exhibitor email:

Read that the right way round. Attendees want to know what you're showing so they can plan. They don't want promotional email. So tell one person what you're showing that matters to them, and offer a time.

When they answer, the real conversation starts. The most common reply is about time:

Short, specific, an early slot that doesn't fight their other meetings, and an easy way out. More email wording is in our event invitation email examples, and LinkedIn wording in LinkedIn event invitation messages.

As many as your booth can actually host, plus a buffer for no-shows. Work it out from your staff, not from a target someone picked in a meeting. Here's an illustrative 3-day show, with assumptions you should swap for your own:

1. 14 people staff the booth, and 3 of them can take meetings at any time.
2. 2The hall is open 7 hours a day, and you keep half of each person's time for walk-ins.
3. 3Meetings are 20 minutes including handover, so 1.5 per person per hour.
4. 43 people x 3.5 meeting hours x 1.5 meetings x 3 days = about 47 meeting slots.
5. 5If you assume 1 in 4 booked meetings doesn't happen, book about 60.

Then work backwards to outreach. If 1 in 8 invited prospects books a meeting (an assumption, measure your own), 60 meetings need about 480 well-researched invitations. That's why the timeline starts 6 weeks out: 480 personal conversations don't happen in the last week.

Yes. It's where most B2B buyers will check who you are anyway, and a connection request that mentions the same show is one of the most natural first touches there is. A few rules keep it working:

• Connection notes are limited. LinkedIn Help says a free account can add a personalized message to up to 3 connection requests a month, each up to 200 characters. Premium members can personalize every request.
• LinkedIn Event invites only reach your 1st-degree connections, up to 1,000 a week across all your events, per LinkedIn Help. For someone else's show, connect first and message.
• LinkedIn prohibits third-party software that automates activity on the site, and accounts can be restricted. Pace outreach like a person and keep it one to one.
• Comment on their "heading to the show" post before you message. A thoughtful reply in public makes the private message feel expected.

Run X, Instagram or Facebook alongside if your buyers live there: plenty of trade and contractor audiences are on Facebook more than LinkedIn. The order matters less than the rule: one person, one reason, one easy question.

Keep messaging during the show. Day 1 morning, send a short note to everyone you've talked to who hasn't booked: "We're set up at 1142, rack is running. Got 15 minutes free at 2 today if you're near hall B." Day-of messages pull in the people who decided late.

When a booked meeting doesn't turn up, message within the hour, not after the show. They're still in the building. "Missed you at 10, no stress. I have 3:30 or tomorrow at 9, either work?" rescues a surprising number of slots.

Follow up with every booked meeting, every walk-in you scanned and every person who said "maybe" before the show. Reference something they said, and offer one next step. Then track meetings per channel and per message, so the next show starts from what worked. For the bigger picture on filling any event, see how to get more event attendees.