Nicole and I recently visited our local Bridal Expo. To say the least, it wasn't the greatest experience and we left feeling uninspired. From point of entry till we left the building, I felt like we were walking bags of money rather than future brides planning their "best day ever". Here are some simple tips using the five senses to attract clients to your booth:
The first of the five senses that brides won't be using will probably be their sense of hearing. You know that scene when a pretty girl walks by a construction site and all the workers start hollering at her? Yeah, that's not gonna get attract a bride-to-be to your booth. With all the different conversations and background music going on, it's a little difficult to call someone over from across the room, or even across the aisle. In fact, I just tuned out the noise and let my eyes guide me to the booths I wanted to check out. So as a vendor, if you're gonna cough up over a grand to have a booth at your local wedding/bridal expo, be sure to invest a few hundred dollars into making your booth pop! Create visual interest that can be seen from across the way, that'll attract brides-to-be that are a few booths down or just passing by. Spend the money to create a portfolio or look book that showcases some of your work. Have a few copies handy so when you've got a crowd at your booth, more than one look book can be viewed at a time.
Once you're able to attract visitors to your booth through the sense of sight, you're next challenge will be to get them to stay a while to go over what you have to offer. At this point a simple smile or hello is a good way to acknowledge your visitors' presence. The next senses to come into play are sense of touch and taste. Cater or cook up some finger foods. Hungry or not people are always drawn to food. Having something to nibble on will allow visitors to momentarily pause in your space at which point their sense of sight will kick back in and hopefully will be drawn to either your portfolios or your next point of interest, samples. Have on display three or four samples that visitors can pick up, probe, examine. It's nice to be able to look at pretty pictures, but to be able to feel textures and view different angles of an object offers a more holistic experience.
And lastly, sense of hearing. Do engage in conversations with visitors, but keep it simple. Visitors will be bombarded with information after visiting even just five booths, so have something that visitors can take home with them like a business card or a watered down version of your look book.
So I only covered four senses, as the fifth is a little tricky. Have a bowl of potpourri, hidden or on display. Make sure the scent is subtle but distinct. While vacationing in Albuquerque, the hotel that I stayed at had a lavender plant right outside the entrance doors. Whenever I walked past those doors, there it was to greet me, a subtle scent of lavender. That was nearly five years ago and to this day, whenever I smell lavender, it brings me back to that hotel.
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