Think back to the last time you walked a trade show exhibit floor. What made you want to venture into an exhibit and learn more? What made you want to just keep walking? Whether or not you think of your trade show exhibit as a customer experience, it is. Your display design is the first impression that your company makes, so it needs to offer your prospects the promise of a positive experience. It also needs to reflect well on your brand to everyone who passes by, especially to your target market.When designing your display with customer experience in mind, consider these questions.

1.  Who are our customers and what do they want?

The question may seem obvious, but designing your display with your customer in mind is fundamental. A business-to-business exhibit at a manufacturing show will look very different than a retail display at a videogame show geared to teenagers. Design to appeal to your customer demographics. Does your customer want to be treated as a professional, an adventurer, or a fashionista? Your booth needs to create an atmosphere that makes your customer feel that your company recognizes who they are, understands their needs, and treats them well.

2. How can we interact with our customers at the show?

How do you engage attendees and provide a positive experience? Make them feel welcome. For a chain of pharmacies looking to recruit pharmacists at an industry event, The Tradeshow Network Marketing Group created a booth with a coffee house atmosphere, where exhibit-goers could feel comfortable and learn more in a low-pressure environment. For a company that markets sports nutrition products to body-builders, our display design made it easy for large crowds of attendees to sample their products. The design also incorporated a “muscular” framework that immediately conveyed an image of strength.

3. What messages do our customers want to hear?

Notice that the emphasis is not on what you want to tell your customers but on what they want to hear. Of course, you have a message that you want to convey, but you need to translate your message into customer needs. For a medical device company, we conducted research into their target market of surgeons and learned that they wanted clinical proof of product safety, in order to avoid unnecessary complications in surgery. The new branding that we created tied together their marketing communications, website, and exhibit to convey their “proven performance” message. As a result, the company achieved unprecedented exposure in their marketplace, culminating in an attractive buy-out offer for the company’s founders.

How may we help you?

The Tradeshow Network Marketing Group strives to make every customer experience a positive one. We would be happy to discuss your trade show marketing strategy and craft a solution that addresses both your business objectives and your customers’ needs.