The Exhibit Source Blog

Each year, companies have to decide what to do with their marketing dollars. Are you going to market your business and products at trade shows, and if so, which ones? Trade shows represent a huge opportunity to enhance brand and product visibility, promote products, generate leads and increase sales. But to capitalize, your trade show exhibit needs the “wow” factor.

While the main point of trade shows and expos is to meet new clients, there are many other benefits to trade shows that businesses need to consider, such as discovering industry trends and growing relationships.

If you choose to spend your marketing dollars on trade shows, you need to ensure that you get people to your trade show booth. New and existing clients need to be exposed to your goods and services and educated as to why it would benefit them to use your company.

This is done through effective and captivating trade show displays - the “wow” factor. You want to be the company that is memorable. Do not just put up a sign and give out a pen. Your booth needs to WOW potential customers.
 
Contact The Exhibit Source in Massachusetts, we can help you create and develop ideas that will bring customers to your trade show booth with “wow”.

If you are heading to a trade show, you need to get the biggest bang for your buck. When you are taking the time and spending the money on a trade show or expo, it is important to do it right with memorable and captivating trade show exhibits.

With everything from 20 x 10 foot trade show displays to table top and multi-quad exhibits, you have your choice for your next trade show exhibit.

Your company needs to maximize trade show ROI with innovative exhibit design, high quality displays and graphics.  Perhaps you need lecterns or brochure racks, those are also available as well as green exhibits.

The Exhibit Source specializes in creating large-scale graphics that utilize color saturation and seamless designs, up to 10' dimensions.

Since The Exhibit Source specializes in creating unique looking exhibits for their clients, that means they pull from different vendors, mixing and matching display options to create just the right exhibit to fulfill a client's needs.  Contact Us.

On December 14, 2011, the U.S. Commerce Association (“USCA” and based in New York City) awarded the “2011 Best of Newton Center Award”  in the “Display Designers & Producers” category to your humble friends at The Exhibit Source.  You can read the details about the details about the U.S. Commerce Association and this particular award by visiting our new web page that is dedicated to the subject.
 
Here is the bottom line.  The award is based on information gathered internally by the USCA and by data provided by “third parties”.  “Third Parties” include all of you who we’ve partnered with for your display marketing efforts.  Your positive feedback to the USCA regarding how our products and services helped drive your business sales and revenue was foundationally important to us being selected as the winner.

We can’t thank you enough for your direct contribution in our earning the U.S. Commerce Association’s recognition as America’s best Display Designer.  To those of you who we met and served for the first time in 2011, it has been our sincere pleasure to work with each and every one of you.  To those of you who we’ve been serving over the long term (some for over 23 years now), we want you to know our appreciation for you and respect for what you do grows steadily over time.

The recognition as the U.S. Commerce Association’s Best Display Designer for 2011 is directly attributable to our satisfied customers, so congratulations to you too.  We close our 2011 blog with this sincere message of thanks and warmest regards for you business and friendship. 

We’ve recently referred a number of your to our website’s “Exhibit Design Search” , a tool which helps your target exhibits to your exact specifications from our vast selection of sizes and  price ranges.  We appreciate your feedback that this feature is an excellent way to quickly view hundreds of exhibits across any number of different price ranges.  

A very common question called into us is “What are the most popular choices for exhibit construction today”?  A great question, so we’ll refer you to our “top 5” of recent weeks:

• Sacagawea Hybrid Displays
• Magellan Hybrid Displays
• Eco-Smart Displays
• Table Top Displays
• Intro Fabric Panel Displays

We encourage both new and returning customers to browse our product offerings on the web as we add new products and features on a regular basis.  Then please call us and as always, we are glad to assist in targeting the perfect exhibit display to promote your products and business.

Happy Holidays from all of us at the Exhibit Source.  

Here are some steps on measuring your trade show ROI:

Get Your Leads:  Gather up your list of trade show leads from each show. At least do the shows you really want to track first, like the expensive or largest shows. Find out who came to your trade show booth and put the list in Excel. You’ll need the spreadsheet for extra columns and calculations.

Get Your Customer List: Somewhere in your company is a list of all your customers and what they bought. It may not be neat and tidy and available, but it is there somewhere. It may be in a database, it may be invoices…you may need to look and compile.

Compare Leads to Customers: Look up every company listed as a lead that visited your trade show booth to see if they are also in your customer database. Are they there? If yes, add in your leads Excel file a column that says “bought” and mark them as Yes. Then add a column and type in how much they spent.
 
Calculate ROI: When you total up the sales you can attribute to the trade show, compare that to the cost to exhibit at the show. So, if your sales were $100,000 and your costs were $10,000, then you've got an ROI of $100,000/$10,000 = 10 to 1. Now you have a yardstick to compare which trade shows to exhibit at and which ones to drop. And you have a metric to compare trade shows to other marketing media.

Bonus No. 1: Tracking New/Repeat Business: Keep track of the date of all sales from leads from the trade show. Were they already a client before the show? So, you helped influence a repeat client. Did they buy repeatedly after the show? Then total up all those sales, not just the first one. Did they buy for the first time after the show? Then your trade show lead became a new client.

Bonus No. 2: Tracking Product/Segments: If your client database has the info readily available, you can also check out and record on your spreadsheet what products and services they bought. Did they buy the new product you introduced at the show, or your popular existing products? Do the products and clients fall into more than one market segment for you? If so, see if the biggest segments were the ones you targeted at the show. You may be surprised, and you may want to change your trade show exhibit messaging and promotions.

It takes some work initially, but it is worth the effort to finally determine your Trade Show ROI.

TSNN.com

The New Year is almost upon us, and it is time to think of some resolutions for your business. Resolve to spend your marketing dollars wisely. When you choose to go to a trade show, you need to do it right. Or, if you are spending your dollars on a smaller scale training meeting, your money still needs to be well spent.

The Exhibit Source provides a complete selection of event marketing and trade show exhibits, from national trade show promotions and key product launches to small-scale training meetings.

We can help you calculate your budget, create the displays and trade show exhibits as well as take care of the shipping, installation and dismantling logistics. Let us help you resolve to make the most of your marketing budget, contact The Exhibit Source for trade show booths and displays.

Many small to medium sized businesses participate in trade shows. For most trade shows the cost is tens of thousands. And that is before you pay your sales people.

According to the trade show bureau, it takes 3.6 touches to make an average B2B sale from a trade show lead rather than 6.7 touches from other leads.

So, are trade shows worth it?

For companies whose primary marketing strategy is direct sales, the general consensus is “Yes” trade shows are worth it. They must be properly executed, and when they are, there is no bigger marketing investment.
 
It is very important to pick the right show and have a customer focused strategy. But unfortunately, many companies execute a trade show poorly.

Your trade show displays should be a visual bill board. Your trade show exhibits must be part of the strategy of drawing potential customers and clients to your booth. But you must also have other effective strategies in place as well.
 
If your goal is branding and attracting customers, trade shows can be worth your while. But an attractive trade show booth displays are integral. One that can be assembled, transported and reassembled in the next location, can be highly effective and economical as well.

For information on trade show booths and displays, contact The Exhibit Source.

The Exhibit Source, for a limited time, is offering a Free iPad Kiosk with the purchase of an Exhibit Source trade show display, booth, or exhibit. This extraordinary offer is being met with resounding success at a wide range of Boston tradeshows and conventions.  Some conditions apply, contact us or visit our iPad Kiosk webpage for details.

While visiting our website, be sure to take a look at our portfolio page and just imagine what that type of professional presentation can do for you. Exhibitors, we provide you with a full range of services that include storage services, exhibit installation and dismantling services, shipping support and more!

There is a reason why The Exhibit Source remains a consistent award-winning exhibit booth provider.   We offer singularly the best products on the market and back them with exceptional service support both before AND after the sale.

Trade shows take a lot of hard work, logistical planning and budgeting. From securing the space, figuring out what to display and outfitting the booth, there are many details that have to be managed.

But trade shows can generously pay off in quality leads, credibility, awareness and insight if they are well planned and executed.

Make your trade show investment a wise investment. Start by setting objectives. Identify what you want to accomplish by being there. Do you want to generate sales leads, increase brand awareness, promote a new product or service?

When exhibiting at a trade show, you'll need to consider the costs of registration, travel, lodging, meals and transportation, and the cost of your booth space, which will vary by size and location. Research what booths will be around you and identify whether the site is a high-traffic or low-traffic area. The budget also will need to include booth fixtures such as signage, additional lighting, extra-thick carpeting, giveaways for booth visitors, etc.

Your trade show display should represent your company's overall image, so keep it tidy and organized, display products in a way that will draw customers into your booth, and place marketing materials in easy-to-find areas. And if your booth space allows, have seating available.

Hold a short training session for booth staffers to explain the objectives and what is expected of them at the show. Be sure supplies are on hand to conduct business: product literature, pens, paper, business cards, media kits and order forms. Check to make sure any slideshow presentation or internet connections are working properly.

Attracting attendees should be one of your key objectives. In addition to friendly customer service and an appealing trade show exhibit, branded giveaways should be something attendees can take away from the show and use.

Once you get show participants into your booth, staffers should provide friendly and timely greetings, and be prepared to answer questions, offer demonstrations, and be able to create interest in your products or services.

Post-show follow-up is crucial. Send an email, letter or make a phone call shortly after the show wraps up to thank those you met with, answer any further questions and provide additional information.

With adequate preparation, the right trade show exhibit, the right booth staff and timely follow-up, trade shows give businesses the opportunity to build strong relationships and ultimately turn those relationships into valued customers.

Original article – Post Crescent

When planning your trade show displays, you need to think about how you are going to transport your booth once it is created. The Exhibit Source will help you design portable trade show exhibits keeping transportation costs in mind.

If you are considering a tall trade show display, consider having it designed so it can be broken down easily.

If using a transportation company to move your trade show display, be sure to incorporate the transportation expenses into your trade show budget.

The Exhibit Source can build high quality, trade show booths that are transportable. But here are some tips if you are using a transportation company to move your display.

Contact the trade show organizers and find out what the earliest available delivery and set-up times are. If you know this you can provide a bigger delivery window to the transportation company and get off-peak rates.

Instead of printing your trade show materials beforehand if the trade show is located in another town or state, have your marketing material made into digital files. You can have them printed near the trade show location to save on transportation space and fuel.

Contact The Exhibit Source for portable and impressionable trade show displays.