Brand your Business: You know, for kids!

I went to a trade show recently.  It was a kid-oriented event held at a school with both a massive cafeteria and gymnasium packed with vendors.  Lots of the tables were set up with crafting stations and snacks, and many of the vendors had little promotional items to giveaway to the kids and their parents.  It was a very successful, fun day but I couldn't help but notice the somewhat less-successful vendor and their tables.  Truly when you're at a show with lots of competition, it's not so much what you have to say as much as it is how much fun you put into your booth.  Do you have attractive, colorful displays?  Is it staffed by engaging people?  Are you offering something fun for the customers to do or to take away with them?  Even with all the crafts and games and fun activities, two of the busiest booths at this show were the Tobacco-free booth (which gave away imprinted balloons) and the Insurance booth (which gave complimentary fingerprinting/ identification documentation of the kids -for the parents- as well as punch-balls - for the kids).   These vendors were just swarmed with people and activity and each of them got to engage in conversations and get their message to lots and lots of people, and the people were thrilled to hear it because they got a little something out of it too.