For every industry, there is a trade show somewhere in the US. Over 205 million people attend the 1.8 million conventions, conferences trade shows and exhibitions. Today, we’re giving you 10 tips that will help you stand out amongst the crowded show floor:
1. Create one clear message, or theme, that will draw people into your booth. Make sure that the message or theme is reflective of your brand. Your message should be short, targeted and relevant. Long messages, with a lot of details and non-relevant information, just get filtered out in the competing cacophony of the showroom floor. We simply can’t take it all in unless you are brief, bold and straight to the point.
2. Use creativity. Be unique and clear. Less is more (no one likes a cluttered booth!), but make what is there original and on brand.
3.Work with a graphic design agency (Elements!) to help you create the best design possible within your given budget and timeframe. We can also coordinate the entire production process and show services saving you and your staff both time and money.
4. Use professional photography. Please.
5. Cover tables! Rent or purchase decent furniture! It is a shame when we see a well-designed, attractive booth only to be put-off by the representative sitting on a milk crate (or equivalent). Or perhaps it’s sloppy presentation of materials or sample. Or maybe a poor choice of attire. The point being, don’t drop the ball when it comes to the little details. It all makes an impression and is representative of your company or organization. We want it to be “WOW!”, not “WTH?” (what-the-heck?).
{image credit: Expand International of America | Facebook Page}
6. Think about your booth space three-dimensionally and how people will respond and roam around the space. (This is something a designer can help you with and provide 3D renderings of our designs). Pay attention to traffic flow and give us things to look at and explore. People are much more likely to spend time at your booth if they don’t feel as though you are hovering over them. Design some easy points-of-entry away from your sales staff. For example, hanging some brochures on a wall far away from a sales podium.
7. Plan for all your needs, including – but not limited to – places to do business, displaying products, product and storage space for your printed materials, products and even coats, bags, etc. You always need more storage than you think, so build it into the design.
8. What’s the hook? What would make me start a conversation with you or stop to try your product, or ask about your service? This can be tied to your message or theme, but don’t forget to have a “hook”. It’s that reason we should stop and the reason we remember you.
9. Giveaways! Swag is a must for any show. But don’t rush to simple print up some pens. Really think about your brand, your product and your market. If you are contract lawyer, for example, a really nice ‘signature’ branded pen would make perfect sense. But a chocolate company? Not so much.Another item to note is that when you produce your promotional products (another area Elements is happy to help you with), make them quality and useful so that people will actually want to keep and use them. The best giveaways are ones that will be noticed by other attendees. For example, we once created branded, bright orange freezer grocery bags emblazoned with our clients’ product logo, as seen above. This is a frozen food product found in national grocery chains, so the freezer bag made sense. It was fun for us to witness attendees walking around the show floor with their trademarked bright orange bags while others walked up asking them where they scored the cool keepsake. Our idea was a win-win because it furthered brand recognition, was useful (and therefore kept and used long after the show) and created a desire by others who drove more traffic to their booth. Score!
10. Lights, camera, action: Lighting is important. Light up your booth to look warm, bright and inviting. On that same note, it is shocking how many trade show booths hide their name. It should be up high (check the height restrictions with show services first), large and lit up. Height, coupled with great lighting, can be a real show stopper.
Elements has much experience – and many more ideas to add to the above ten – with both designing and producing trade show booths. We’d be happy to partner with you for your first or next trade show.
Both of the trade show booth images in todays blog post were designed by Elements. I hope enoyed these tips and that you add some of your own to share with us in the comments below!
~Amy
