Digital displays are now commonplace at trade shows, and for good reason: They’re easily customizable and appeal to our digital nature, plus they offer you the potential to create a dynamic display with high visual interest. But while lots of companies slap their names on digital components, very few use these elements to their fullest potential.

Rather than sticking to your company name and logo—like all your competitors do—enhance your exhibit and increase your ROI with one of these ideas:

1. Showcase brand-focused content about your company.

Tell people who you are and what you do. Keep it succinct, like a mission statement, but meaningful. A slogan is catchy, but it’s likely meaningless to a visitor who’s just wandering by your booth. Attendees should be drawn in by a promise of what you can give them.

Once they’re in your booth, make it easy for them to navigate to more detailed content or to booth staff for a demonstration.

2. Provide specific information about your products and services.

Product and service information should be easy for people to read, so use well-written, scannable text. This will draw in the people who are truly interested in your products and services, and those people are much more likely to convert to leads. Brand information, stats, and company FAQs are good options.

3. Add product demonstrations.

Short demo clips help people visualize how they would use your product. This catches their eye and helps generate interest. Since the trade show floor is noisy, display a demo that’s just as eye-catching and informative without audio.

4. Display testimonials and reviews.

In marketing, there’s nothing more compelling than social proof. If people see that their peers are already using your products, they have a powerful incentive to learn more. Look for video clips with intriguing soundbites, or feature rotating reviews.

5. Use digital displays for navigation.

Place it outside your booth to direct attendees inside. Or place it inside your booth to help them find exactly what they’re looking for. Using your brand’s colors is a great tool. So are commonly recognized symbols, like arrows, Facebook’s “like” symbol, etc.

6. Show real-time social media updates.

Social media is a great tool for building brand awareness, generating leads, and getting to know your audience. At trade shows, it can help you both collect and provide information, as well as publicize your booth.

A digital display that provides real-time trade show updates or follows what people are saying about your brand both generates interest and keep people focused on your booth. Many will begin interacting with your brand on social media just for the chance to see themselves featured!

There are a number of potential applications and benefits:

• Social media provides an incentive for visitors to like your social profiles, giving you a chance to collect demographic and contact information.
• Understanding your visibility at a trade show is made easy with a hashtag. Add it to your digital display to encourage people to use it when they post about you.
• When visitors follow you on social media, you have the chance to develop new, long-term customer relationships via what is now a primary means of communication.
• You get to leverage the power of social proof. If people are visibly saying good things about your brand and exhibit on social media, others will be more likely to come by to see what you have to offer.

For best results, coordinate with your social accounts to make sure you’ve got plenty of follower interaction taking place during the show. If you display your social media presence for all to see, there must be something worthwhile for them to look at.

Have a member of your company or staff—on-site or off—monitors social media interaction. They should know how to navigate any negative feedback, but, more importantly, should be a good brand spokesperson who can interact with posters in real-time.

Outside Versus Inside Digital Content

The content you display on digital signage outside your booth will differ from what you display inside. Outside the booth, your content should focus on drawing in traffic. Once they’re inside, your digital displays can inform, educate, and direct them.

For instance, an exterior digital display might focus on social media and other forms of social proof. When you want to attract visitors, your best bet is to prove you have something valuable to offer. Testimonials and an active social media account are great ways to do this.

Inside the booth, your digital displays should be primed to deliver information that’s focused on what you can do for your visitors. An interactive screen that offers product or service information, demonstrations, and other targeted information is your best bet.

Digital Displays Help You Tell Your Story

Used correctly, digital displays tell the story of your brand—what you do, and how customers can benefit. Custom video production, like the creative projects done for the Vexata and MacPherson’s® displays shown here, is one of the best ways to take advantage of an expanse of screen. With so much potential, don’t let those displays go to waste! By carefully selecting the you content you provide—and where you display it—you can use digital displays to give people the right information at the right time, like in the midst of the decision-making process. Once you’ve grabbed their attention, your booth staff can pick up the narrative and start a conversation.