Couples-to-be who are in attendance at bridal shows are happy to be there, but the experience can also be a stressful one. This is in part because of the sheer sensory overload. As these brides discuss on WeddingWire, the feeling of sensory overload is worth it if you go in with a game plan. The game plan according to these brides? Take advantage of all the deals the vendors are offering, tough it out, and then get out!
So what should the game plan be for your wedding business? Well, you could of course, offer these great deals, but be wary! These brides also talk about this other potentially overwhelming factor: the overly-engaging vendor. Those are the vendors that are so busy trying to acquire potential clients by extolling deals that they end up talking too much, or just plain getting too aggressive. Vendors who in essence “try too hard” will not appeal to the “window-shopping” mentality these couples-to-be also adopt. They want to pick up your information, and review it later in the quiet of their own homes, where their senses are at peace.
The key to appealing to the senses and conquering sensory overload at bridal shows is to be memorable. Think about how your business will impact potential customers once they leave. The senses serve the wonderful purpose of acquainting us with our atmosphere, and can also allow us to recall positive or negative experiences. We love to associate memories with the senses. That is why, when we travel or go outside of our zone of familiarity, we most often remember what we saw, or we ate, or we heard, even what we touched, rather than specific memories.
When you consider how you impact people on a sensual level, you also build a non-verbal bridge of rapport. For this reason, while at your booth, you always want to engage people’s senses. 80% of all communication is non-verbal, so this is significant in considering how your booth impacts people on a non-verbal level, at the level of the senses, especially when it comes to generating business gains.
So, how do you make your booth and your business memorable? Begin by appealing to the senses and be aware of how you may overwhelm them. Cake designers have it made because they can offer something to be tasted, but every vendor could stand to evaluate and spruce up how the engage potential customers on a visceral level.
Texture stands out and makes your business memorable. If you hand out flyers about your business are they textured, or are they like any other paper someone might feel? If someone holds your business flyer in their hand, that fleeting comparison between your textured flyer and the non-textured flyer of another company can mean a world of difference. You may think that this subtlety won’t matter, but as this study from Yale University indicates, the subtlety is precisely how it works. Moreover, as the study also indicates, people are inclined to associate coarse texture with coarse people, but take more seriously something that feels firm.
What else can you do to appeal to the senses? Offer sense-oriented gifts with your brand or company logo on it. Anyone can give away small bottles of hand lotion, scented candles, or tasty treats to be enjoyed afterwards.
AlphaMarketing/HelpMyGifts, one of the vendors on our wedding industry resource directory under Exhibitor and Display Resources, makes this effort simple on your end. Offering anything from house-wares to healthcare, they offer a milieu of sense-appealing products for you to brand and hand out at bridal shows.