Trade Show Exhibit Advice

By: Karin Roberts

Background. This client came to us because they had decided to exhibit at a new trade show event and therefore requested a new custom exhibit design and event strategy that would help drive increased brand awareness and capture the attention of the architectural community. The goal of participating in this event was to clearly articulate the company’s message as the number one supplier of all glass.

The Solution. After conducting some research on the target market and some of the competitors in this space – “Where glass becomes architecture. We turn ordinary glass into extraordinary buildings” became the new high powered message used in both the custom exhibit strategy and the event strategy. For the custom exhibit, we decided to use a more artistic display featuring bright eye-catching visuals and imagery which would appeal to this audiences taste and would entice them to see what this client had to offer. A light show was added to the booth that highlighted glass used in commercial building contracts. A dynamic exhibit that clearly articulates messages and captivates interest certainly was effective at increasing overall brand awareness. However, the client needed to take additional steps to secure quality leads. As an incentive to draw attendees to the booth, an event strategy was implemented and it was recommended that the client offer a drawing to win a new Tablet PC. To enter the drawing the attendee needed to complete a survey card which asked a few key questions designed to qualify the prospect. The client obtained 255 leads from the top 1000 architectural firms, which was far above their pre-show objective of 50 firms.

The Results. The results of this integrated program were phenomenal. The booth traffic was enormous and was predominantly due to the exhibit itself, graphics, and the draw or a giveaway. The client obtained 255 leads which was a 325% improvement from their last show. These leads were entered into a database and contacted by sales representatives and literature was sent out as a follow-up measure. The client stated that based on the survey card results, the exhibit itself attracted 21% of the target audience.

What was learned. It is extremely important to conduct an analysis of your target market at each show you attend. Every market has different pain points and issues that will attract them to your exhibit – you just need to determine what they are – and create them within your booth space. They say if you build it they will come, I do not agree. But if you build it with market intelligence your chances of a qualified lead coming into your exhibit space is greatly enhanced. Try it. You will like it.

By: Barry Siskind

I have been walking trade shows for nearly a quarter of a century and I still get excited each time I do. It’s the energy and the glitz and glamour of show biz that keeps me coming back for more. It’s especially interesting to watch a show during set up, sometimes from the vantage point of a balcony of mezzanine. Beneath me I see the organized chaos of hundreds of people scurrying around, forklift trucks lifting wooden boxes and empty spaces being converted into showpieces – each piece of the jigsaw puzzle magically coming together.

Try watching the show you are exhibiting at take form. See if you aren’t as impressed as I am. But, we don’t have to keep this excitement our little secret, my guess is that lots of your customers might really enjoy seeing the sights and sounds of a trade show even if they can’t attend. You can share the experience through the technology of social media.

I read an article in Exhibitor Magazine which reported that the Freedman Decorating Company of Dallas, Texas used Twitter to bring visitors to their booth. That sounds easy enough. They had a significant following on Twitter so by offering a $5.00 Starbucks coupon and an opportunity to hear about their latest offerings, their pre-show promotion took on a whole new look.

But, you have the power to take your show promotion even further. For example the technology giant Intel Corporation posted images and videos on YouTube and Flicker for people around the globe who could not attend one of their major international conferences. These absentee customers could see new products, hear speeches and share in the experience of a show.

It’s pretty easy to explore the world of You Tube. Visit www.youTube.com and enter trade shows. When I did it I was quite impressed. I found one video that received 1,940,425 views and another with 1,276,956. While this may be beyond most company’s realistic expectations you can still achieve a viewership. With a bit more searching I found a video posted by Auto Page, an automotive solutions retailer, who shot a video at their show in Las Vegas and received 5, 019 views and Freeline Skates who manufactures skate, surf and snow boards, exhibiting at in San Diego received 981 views.

Think about it. Freeline Skates was able to attract 981 people who spent 2:38 minutes watching a video about their products. That’s not bad.

So, if you are looking to beef up your show promotion efforts with a minimum of costs keep social media in mind.

Here are a couple of things to consider:

• Take serious steps to developing a social media site on Twitter, LinkedIn, Flicker or Facebook to encourage the people you want to follow you with interesting and timely information. You can also use social media to invite guests to your display.

• Videos don’t have to be broadcast quality. You can take it on your  iphone. An interview with a customer at your booth, a tour of your trade show exhibit booth or a walk around the show may do the trick.

• Video don’t have to be lengthy. The most popular videos on YouTube were those in the 2 – 4 minute range.

• Focus on the experience. Keep away from the tendency to reiterate information your customers can already see on your web-site and focus more on the experience they are missing at the show.

• There is no limit to the number of videos you can post. You can do a comparison of your display this year to the one you had last year to let your customers know that you really listened to their feedback. Perhaps you can do a mini version of an in-booth presentation or take a time-lapse video of your booth under construction.

Promoting your attendance at a trade show is crucial, but the methods have changed largely because of the demographic shift in your customer base. Years ago sending out a thousand e-mails might have done the trick, but not today.  The Generation X’s and Millennials who are technology savvy, demand information in bit size chunks. Keep these tips in mind when you promote your next show.

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There are a number of unique options that you can choose from to customize your trade show booth display and make it stand out while coinciding with your spatial requirements. During a trade show, you have a limited amount of space to maximize your exposure and brand imaging. Make every inch count with a custom trade show exhibit booth display.

First of all, it is important to think vertically as well as horizontally. Once you find out your special restrictions you can start customizing your trade show booth display to take full advantage of every square inch of space that you have to work with.

The height of your display space can be used effectively to guarantee that your prospects can easily locate your booth at the show.

By using a display that maximizes the vertical space that you are allotted you will be able to clearly illustrate your brand imaging and ensure that interested prospects will be able to find your booth.

If you are having a custom booth created you will want to find out your vertical limitations early on in the planning stages so that the custom booth designer will be able to use them to your full advantage.

In a trade show exhibit, every inch of space is important which is why you must carefully consider how you plan on delivering your message and marketing objectives. If you have several products that you’d like to feature then you should consider using plasma television screens to inform potential clients about each respective product.

This tactic will save you valuable space and add a sophisticated touch of design to your custom display. You can devote a screen to each product that you would like to have featured and customize each demo to contain all of the pertinent information concerning the product that you want featured on each screen.

Instead of creating boards and having to condense the amount of information on them in order to make them aesthetically pleasing, you can have all of this important information conveyed through your video demo. The incorporation of plasma screens is your booth design will enhance the functional and visual effects of your booth.

Effectively maximizing the space of your display will ensure that you draw prospects to your booth and are able to get your marketing message across to them. By having a custom booth display made to fit your specific spatial requirements you can optimize the success of your booth at the event.

The success of your product launch may rely heavily upon your trade show booth display, which is why it is imperative for you to make sure that your booth display is innovative, informative, and exciting. These characteristics are certain to draw attention to your booth and win over the interest of prospective clients.

When your business is coming out with a new product there is typically a lot of excitement and buzz going around your company in eager anticipation of the new finished product or service. This very same exhilaration needs to be translated into your trade show booth display and conveyed in a manner that will attract the attention of potential customers.

By capturing this enthusiasm for your product or service into your trade show booth display you will be certain to find a number of customers that are interested in finding out more about the products and services that you offer. This is why your company should enlist the services of a high quality custom trade show display designer to guarantee that your new product launch is a tremendous success.

Taking advantage of custom displays will significantly increase your odds of a successful trade show event. The custom display professionals will design a display that is appropriate for your specific product and innovative in its appeal.

This means that you will have a custom display that was designed around your specific product only using the freshest ideas and marketing strategies available for trade shows. You will not only be able to wow booth visitors with the impressive features of your product or service but you will also impress them with the professional booth display set up that you have.

The most extraordinary trade show displays are always the talk of the event, even if the products they represent are less than interesting. A good booth display will draw attention and it’s your responsibility to have produced a product or a service that will attract business.

You can also incorporate accents and banners into your display and use professional stands to showcase these additional advertising embellishments. They can be strategically placed in lobbies to make sure that potential customers don’t accidentally miss your booth.

With a professionally designed trade show display you’re sure to draw attention to plenty of interested prospects and introduce them to your new product or service.

One of the most important things for any business at a trade show is the booth display. Trade show booth displays are one of the first things that a potential client will see, so it will either attract them to your booth or deter them from visiting your booth.

Of course, you would like to see them stop by your booth, so it is extremely important to prepare the trade show booth displays in a way that makes it unique to your competitors.

At a trade show, everyone is trying to get the most potential leads or to sign new clients, so you need to find new ways to attract customers.

There are businesses that offer services to improve your marketing strategy at trade shows, and it is recommended that you seek advice from them. They specialize in optimizing your business success, so it would be foolish to ignore their services.

When I was going about the process to organize my booth and set it up for the trade show, I made sure to contact one of these companies. I could be considered an expert in my field, but I had no experience with trade shows, so I needed to educate myself.

The company I used offered great advice that helped me along the process for the trade show. I did not know what I should do to be effective, so they gave me advice on what I should have my staff do on the day of the event.

Much of the strategy was similar to the traditional marketing strategies that we see in the business world, and some of the strategies they offered seemed too easy.

I did not think that something as simple as a live performance could have an effect on attracting customers, but when we implemented that strategy, I was shocked to see the large crowd our booth drew.

One of the best ideas they had was on making our booth unique. They let us rent the newest models from them in order to be different from our competitors.

We put together a great display that included our logo, slogan, and services offered. I also had t-shirts, pens, and umbrellas made to pass out to the potential clients.

The advice I received from this trade show specialist company helped me make my display superior to the other trade show booth displays. I had one of the most popular booths, and it is all thanks to their expertise.

Almost every business is in a competitive market. There are hundreds if not thousands of competitors, so you have to find ways to make your business unique and stand out among everyone else.

Marketing is one of the key facets of any business, so it is important to make sure that your small business has the right marketing strategy to be competitive. Many small businesses have found that a trade show booth display has the best chance to improve their sales and target multiple markets.

A trade show brings numerous potential customers to the company, and the costs of signing this customer are minimal compared to other avenues of marketing.

One key aspect of your marketing at a trade show is the professionalism of your trade show booth display. This is extremely important because your booth is what your potential customers will see first. The first impression is most important, so you need to make sure your display has all the right material.

One of the first steps now is the pre-show planning for your booth. What type of space would best suit your business’ needs? In most locations, there are four main configurations.

These are the aisle, cross-aisle, peninsula, and island. If you contact the company running the event, they can provide a floor plan of the show’s location in order to determine the ideal location for your exhibit.

It might be difficult to determine where the main traffic areas will be, but this is a key component of being successful at a trade show. You need to decide what the ideal distances are from the entrances and exits, restrooms, and your main competition. Be sure to avoid any poorly lit areas, dead-end aisles, or any other obstructions.

Sound like a lot of work? Well, this is important to the planning prior to the event. If you do not put in an adequate amount of time with your planning, then you could possibly lose potential customers and clients.

Of course, with a properly located trade show booth display and detailed booth, then you prepare yourself for a successful event.

There are numerous businesses that off their services to companies like yours, so if you are looking for assistance in preparing your display prior to the event, then this might be a service worth looking into.

By using an experienced business to assist you in maximizing your potential at a trade show, then you can set you business up to succeed.

You must be extra creative and original when it comes to trade show booth displays. You compete in a sea of other presenters for the time and attention of people who are probably already overwhelmed by what they’ve already seen.

To attract their attention in a crowded room, you need to stand out with a professional display, one that reaches outside of the box to say something truly original. The difference between you and the drones of display must be clear from across the room.

Be the most interesting booth on the floor and make the most of your trade show connections.

When it comes to trade show booth displays, there really are no limits on options. Islands can be used to feature special offers and give more dimension to the display. Charts and graphs can provide concrete examples to convince the sale.

Banners can proudly display slogans, emphasizing the points that most tell your story. Computers and interactive exhibits can freshen the dull and ordinary in exciting way that make participants part of your story.

To really stand out in a crowd, you need a display that causes a sensation, one glorious enough to travel word of mouth so that everyone comes and sees it. You attend a trade show with the right booth, and you end up creating more connections and networks than you ever thought possible.

Whether it’s sales, donations or professional connections, a professional display puts you at the head of the world, standing out above the ordinary so that everyone takes notice.

Whether you need the display to fit in the back of a SUV or one that rides into town on a semi, a professional display improves your image as well as your reputation. It’s about building a brand quality that you are proud to use to represent your message.

A display should be part of an ongoing campaign for the hearts and minds of your audience.

Make the most connections with powerful trade show booth displays that stand out above the ordinary. Never waste your time at a trade show that doesn’t produce.

Sow the seeds that grow into powerful professional relationships with professional displays and get the utmost benefits from your next trade show experience.

By: Barry Siskind

One of my favorite places to buy books is Amazon.com. If you are one of millions of book buyers like me, you are familiar with the typical Amazon.com listing. Their history is noteworthy. Amazon started selling books on the internet in 1995. Over the past decade they have grown to the point that they sell more books, DVD’s, CD’s M3P’s software, videogames, electronics, apparel, furniture and toys on-line than anyone – anywhere in the world. Why? Because they have a formula that works.

Picture an Amazon.com listings and think of it as above and below the line.

Above the line you find the title, price, shipping dates, inventory levels, number of pages, publisher, language, ISBN number, and the details about what’s inside the book. There’s no fault here. Everything you need to know is clearly spelled out. But that’s not why people buy books particularly if it is an author they hadn’t heard about before. They need more than details which bring the discussion to those things that are below the line. These include information about the author, citations, customer rated reviews and a section called, “What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this page?” Above the line points the purchaser to the details and below the line reveals the experience. Which do you think is more important?

This same analogy applies to an exhibit program. What do your signs and graphics say? Are they filled with information about products and services? What about your literature? Is it teeming with enough information to sink a supertanker? And what about your trade show booth staff? Do they fill hours at the show telling people all about the features and benefits of your products and services?

If you answered yes to any of these then it’s time to stand back and re-think your approach.

It all comes down to understanding the difference between remembering and knowing. Remembering, which is prone to error, requires a deep mental level of processing information that is often referred to as the “episodic memory.”  Knowing on the other hand triggers a familiarity which interestingly enough is often without the details of a specific product or service. This is referred to as the “semantic memory.”

The lesson to learn is that knowing lasts longer and has a more powerful impact on decision making than remembering.  When I decide what to buy on Amazon.com, I often refer to the items below the line. This is because to have an  experience on-line, the best I can do is find out what other people feel.

But in a show environment we have the advantage of face-to-face contact. Our customers have an opportunity to touch, hold, smell, taste and hear our products and services through one or more of their senses. It’s when we harness the power of presenting below the line that we create a lasting impact.

Here are few quick pointers:

1. Your front line booth staff should be passionate about the product and services they represent.
2. They should leave the customer with a positive feeling about doing business with your company.
3. Signs and graphics should focus on experience rather than details.
4. Literature should utilize lifestyle photos.
5. It’s little stuff that makes the greatest impact.

This last point focuses attention on an important quirk of human nature. People who expect a certain level of service become very critical when it slips even one iota. When dealing with the public you and your staff should constantly try to provide extras that go above the standard. It’s these little things that often solidify the knowing part of memory.

Whether you are in your showroom or at a trade show, leave your customers  with a positive experience and you will remain top of mind when it comes time to place an order.

You’ve got a full schedule, but somehow you’re expected to pull of a trade show on top of the piling demands. You don’t know how you’ll find an exhibit.

You don’t have time to design it yourself, yet you know it will hardly be worth you’re time to make all that distance just to show up with an exhibit that’s second rate. You know this trade show is important, but you honestly don’t have time to design a booth from scratch. What in the world are you ever going to do?

Hire the professionals. When you consider how much a quality trade show exhibit booth display plays into a great trade show experience, it makes sense to invest in a professional design, especially if you’re strapped for time.

It takes the burden off your schedule, but makes sure the job gets done right. Working with a good display development team can put your message on track, which will help you with your other commitments knowing the job is taken care of.

Keep in mind that working with a company is crucial to the success of the design. Grade them on their homework. Ask to see examples from other companies in similar markets.

Get referrals, read online reviews. Make sure you are working with the right network from the beginning. A quality trade show exhibit booth display will only come from a qualified company. Make them prove they can do the job before signing on.

It’s best to sit down with the team to discuss your own unique needs and visions. Every company has different trade show needs, as well as size restrictions, shipping needs and budget capacities.

Choose the exact level that’s right for you. This is your display. Let it reflect the very heart and soul of your company.

A good trade show exhibit booth display attracts creative attention. On the trade show room floor, you have endless competition. Get their attention with a captivating display.

Think outside the box and stand out in crowd. Professional design takes your exhibit up a notch, providing a professional appeal. Let the professionals do the job right so you can get back to work. You’ve got a show to plan for and deadlines are approaching.

When you are creating a custom trade show exhibit, it’s best to work with a network that’s well connected in the industry.

This means working with professional exhibit designers that have limitless options when it comes to the visual presentation of your message. Work with a company that thinks outside the box with all the latest options available.

Whether you need portability or complexity, a custom approach should be uniquely designed to meet the needs of your market as well as personal transportation considerations.

First you need to consider any transportation limits. How will you be traveling? Will you transport the custom trade show exhibit yourself, or mail it to the exhibitors ahead of time? Will you be setting it up alone, or will you have a trade show team on hand to pull off the job? How much space do you have to work with?

You also need to consider if there are any particular marketing campaigns or sales drives you’d like to focus on. Special products can include their own displays. Special sales should get special priority placement.

When you work with professional designers, you don’t just hand over the keys and be done with the conversation. This is your design in the making.

You play an integral role in its construction. You’ll meet with design teams and go over your marketing goals and strategies. You’ll choose what you want to say, and the way you want to say it. You’ll select the components and display booth options.

You are the author of your story, with the design company as the illustrator, developing an attractive combination of solutions for your trade show needs.

Work with a company that’s invested in your project and keeps you at the design table. Only you know what you really want, so it’s important that every part of the process receives your approval and go-ahead.

By hiring a professional company, you improve the telling of the message, through the actual message will still be left up to you.

Get a custom trade show exhibit that thinks outside the box with a creative use of components. Attract attention to make the connections you need. Network with a bigger net when you have a custom display professionally designed to your own specifications.