The Exhibit Source Blog

In designing your trade show exhibit the use of graphics is always important and necessary. But it is the type of graphic that catches the eye first that is most important. In creating graphics be sure to do this first and foremost: Quickly and easily show who you are, and what you do.

This seems like common sense. It is so basic and it is so important in your trade show display, but you would be so surprised at how many people don’t do this.

Remember that you have no more than 5 seconds to catch that potential client’s attention with your trade show exhibit.  Potential customers need to see immediately who you are and what your company does. If they don’t then you have a slim chance at attracting their interest.

You have been to a trade show; you know that there are just too many other marketing messages competing for the attention of attendees. No one has the time to try and figure out what you can provide.

Be sure to concisely state what you do.  Show what problems you solve, solutions you offer and what sets you apart.  Show potential clients that your company can meet their needs.  This also saves your staff time and energy. It helps you qualify the visitors that stop at your trade show booth.

Adding visual graphics help too. Use bullet points, color images or testimonials to encourage people to stop at your booth. Ensure too that your staff knows your product, service and business in order to help increase your trade show ROI.

For help designing your trade show display, contact The Exhibit Source in Newton.

Trade shows are your company’s chance to debut a new product, find better vendors and suppliers, reach out to potential clients and find new talent to bring in to your company. But if you want to grab people’s attention at a trade show, then you will need to make and follow a plan and use some good trade show techniques. The company that is prepared to maximize the opportunities at a trade show is the company that will walk away feeling like the investment in the event was worth it.

Marketing Materials

One of the biggest mistakes companies make when they prepare for a trade show is a mediocre trade show display and deciding to use the existing marketing materials they have on hand. In order to make a big impact at a trade show, you need to give people something that will make your products stand out. You need to have new marketing materials and pop up trade show displays made up for the products and services you will be featuring at the show.

Make and Follow a Plan

Your company is investing a lot of money into being on a trade show floor. Do not go into the show without having a plan. Your trade show booth may look impressive, but if you do not have a message for attendees that they can understand, then you will not draw traffic.

If you want to release new products at this trade show, then develop your approach around those products. If you are going to use this trade show to try and attract new distributors for your products, then you will need a presentation more geared towards the benefits of doing business with your company as opposed to just product benefits.

Have the Right Team

If you are focusing on product sales at the show, then you will need sales people and you will need product engineers to answer detailed questions. If your presence at the show is designed to attract vendors or distributors, then you will want members of the logistics team, marketing department and executive team on hand to make a good impression.

The Giveaway

Too many companies underestimate the power of the free giveaway at trade shows. Giving away toys or notepads with your company logo on them is nice, but if you give people something they can use word will travel fast among the crowds.

When you have a good plan for a trade show, then you can maximize your investment in show resources. Take the time to plan your presence in advance so that you can attract more visitors and collect more useful information.

LuxeLounge

It’s time to change the conversation about trade shows. Stop thinking about monetary ROI from trade shows and move on to more urgent and practical matters.

What do you want to get from trade show spend?

There is a simple answer: Leads and sales.

Exhibit marketing isn’t like the other popular B2B marketing tactics. B2B marketing needs personal selling.

Websites, Webinars, SEO, paid search, e-mail, PR, print advertising, direct mail and social media are all one or more steps removed from personal selling.

Executives demand need evidence of ROI in the above, because they can readily suck up time and money without clearly driving sales.

But exhibit marketing is different.

It’s so closely tied to personal selling that you shouldn’t demand elaborate proof of ROI in it. You can’t demand that sales people prove their ROI with charts and graphs of phone calls, travel, hospitality and gifts.

Judge a trade show, like a salesperson is judged.

In assessing trade show performance, this is what executives want to know:

• Does the show help our company communicate effectively?
• Does it help us establish industry leadership?
• Does it let us identify promising accounts?
• Does it help us educate and develop buyers?
• Does it create valuable relationships?
• And does it, when all’s said and done, produce sales?

To accomplish the above, send the right people and have the right trade show display. For a captivating trade show exhibit, contact The Exhibit Source.
 
Business2Community

Pop up displays and enhancements for your trade show exhibits are easy and versatile. The Exhibit Source in Newton, MA now offers pop-up displays and trade show booth enhancements that are affordable and easy to set up. If you are creating a new exhibit or if you are trying to jazz up your existing trade show displays, these pop up enhancements and accessories make a big hit with booth visitors. Trade show pop-ups and enhancements are available for 10' x 10' and 20' x 20' displays.

Portable Pop Up Display Systems add a new dimension in flexibility to portable displays:

• Create a dynamic custom look
• Easily reconfigure for 10ft, linear, or island booth spaces
• Endless configuration possibilities
• Wide variety of frame sizes, fabric colors and accessories

These pop-up displays are available for rent or for purchase. Contact The Exhibit Source for availability.

A 10x10 trade show booth is not the biggest booth, but there’s no need for small businesses to go overboard. This size booth gets your name in front of clients and helps build brand.

With delegate appointments set in advance for the booth location, it’s a much more effective way to meet people.

That’s a solid trade show exhibit strategy, especially for a smaller company. Nothing replaces the “face-to-face” contact opportunity that a trade show offers.

In fact, an increase in trade show participation is expected this year by small businesses, an expectation based in part on the amount of planning and preparation work done during the fall.

Trade show participation needn’t be a budget breaker. No one is going overboard and spending $1 million on a booth. It’s possible to outfit a 10x10 trade show booth for under $2000.

That doesn’t include the space rental fee a trade show charges, but it is low enough to make exhibiting a real possibility. For example, roll-up banners — single-sided, lightweight retractable units that can fit into overhead carry-on bins — can cost less than you think.

Further, the same banner that helps your booth stand out as delegates roam the trade show floor can be used to add appeal to the podium when you give a speech at the general session — or back home at the Rotary Club — or as part of a welcoming display when important clients or prospects visit the office.

A power point or some other type of video will be useful when you talk to prospects at your booth — and will cost additional dollars. But you likely can do a decent power point in-house.

Renting a display booth is another generally low-cost option. So is sharing a booth with sister companies or noncompeting like-minded businesses.

Original article – The Daily Herald

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.

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.

The whole objective of a trade show display is to attract the right prospective clients to your trade show booth.
 
But what about your other marketing efforts? Perhaps part of your companies mission statement and marketing effort is bringing your company green. Recycled office stationary and recycling initiatives in your office are not where you need to stop with your efforts.

Is your company going green with its marketing efforts?

The Exhibit Source is proud to be New England's exclusive distributor of the full line of environmentally-friendly trade show display products, including modular exhibits, graphics, and accessories. Our recycled displays have the visual impact and durability you need, made from high quality products.

Theses trade show exhibits exclusively use materials that are renewable, recycled, and recyclable from bamboo plywood to fabric made of recycled soda bottles.  Green exhibits demonstrate your company's commitment to a sustainable environment.

Contact The Exhibit Source for stunning and “green” trade show exhibits.

There are numerous trade shows this year in the Boston Area. If you want to stand out in the crowd you need a trade show exhibit that sets you apart, shows off your brand, and draws potential clients to your booth; but it also needs to function flawlessly.

You need large-scale graphics that utilize color saturation and seamless designs, and if you want it, you should have an exhibit up to 10' dimensions.

The Exhibit Source provides a complete selection of event and trade show exhibits for clients ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Our concept-to-completion suite of services includes exhibit design, construction, shipping, install and dismantle, graphic design, and signage. With an extensive product line and custom modular trade show displays, we deliver the look of a custom exhibit with all the practical benefits of a modular product.

The Exhibit Source's turnkey approach factors in all aspects associated with cost and efficiency including graphics, show services, shipping, ease of installation, dismantle, and more for each marketing solution.

Contact the Exhibit Source for your trade show and event booth displays.