The Exhibit Source Blog

You should have high expectations for your trade show exhibit. Companies spend thousands of dollars in the production of an exhibit, but very little in tracking the success of it.

Here is insight into why trade shows are not routinely evaluated and what must change in the industry to make evaluation a more acceptable and legitimate part of the process.

If you ask the typical exhibitor at a trade show “what percent of the entire cost of the exhibiting process is allocated to measurement and evaluation? The answer would most likely be rounded to zero.

Why is trade show measurement and evaluation stuck at zero?

For many exhibitors, measurement and evaluation is considered to be add-on, extra work, and not as enjoyable as other tasks, so it is often not planned or executed well. The follow-up to evaluate success is rarely achieved.

The cost of measurement and evaluation for the trade show process should be compared to the trade show budget. Consider the total annual budget – not only the trade show exhibit fees, travel, and the time of those involved, but all expenses tied to the exhibit. When all of these costs are considered, 3-5% should be spent on measurement and evaluation. This is necessary to plan for measurement, collect the data, use the data in meaningful ways to drive improvements, and ultimately, show the success of the exhibiting process.

In today's economic climate, exhibitors must collect data, analyze the data in meaningful ways, and then make decisions about the process. Measurement and evaluation should always be a part of the trade show exhibit, just like planning and designing the exhibit, developing the material for distribution, and preparing the team members to work there.

Dentistry IQ

Trade show exhibits provide many benefits that other marketing techniques don’t. Trade shows give you face-to-face engagement, networking and product displays that are perfect for overall marketing. When designing your trade show exhibit, remember that your competition is there too vying for your customer base as well.  To bring customers to your trade show booth, it is imperative that your display effectively stands out from the crowd.

Effective ways to get your trade show exhibits to stand out:

Height: Because most displays are around 8’, creating a trade show booth that is 10’ or more sets you apart and makes you easy to find.

Color: The color of your trade show booth should provide a contrast and be visually appealing. Remember it is a backdrop for your images and message.

Signs: Prominently display your brand logo throughout the booth display. Use additional customized banners and remember you can never have too much signage.

Graphics: Invest in your brand with the right graphics. Other than your logo, trade show exhibits should also have the latest product graphics and images so everyone who visits your booth knows who you are and what you do.

Flooring: Use customized carpeting to have your trade show booth visually stand out.

Customized lighting: Many venues don’t have enough or the right lighting. Be prepared with your own lighting. Make your trade show booth the brightest and easiest to find.

For more information on trade show display design in Newton, MA, contact The Exhibit Source.

B2B marketers continue to rate trade show events as their most effective marketing tactic (71%). However, to make the most of an event, and see real return on your investment, you need to create a solid strategy and execute.

If you’ve been to a trade show, half of the exhibits seem to be effective, attracting large crowds, and the other half seem to generate no interest and are filled with employees who look bored and envious of the booths around them.

Some companies benefit from trade shows, and others wonder whether their time and money was worth it. With some proper strategizing and planning, your trade show efforts can get the results that you need it to.

Here are important steps to an effective trade show marketing strategy.

Plan far in advance

Many times companies register far in advance for the trade show, and then forget about it; or they’re last-minute and reactionary when picking the trade shows they participate in. To do trade shows right, you need to begin your planning long in advance. Planning should be a very strategic process, where pre-show, during-show, and post-show are all meticulously tied back to a strategy and aligned with your business goals and objectives.

Determine trade show goals beforehand

What are you looking to accomplish at the trade show? What’s your purpose for being there? Determine in advance, long before the event, what it is you actually are looking to accomplish. Everything you do related to the trade show should be connected back to accomplishing your objectives. Be sure to set specific, quantifiable metrics for measuring the success of your trade show.

Design your trade show booth and messaging to make an impact

With all those trade show booths, you have seconds to attract a passerby to your booth. So, creating a powerful visual impact with simple and clear messaging is very important to lure people in. Your booth is intended to be a backdrop, not a brochure. This can’t be overstated: people walking by should be able to instantly recognize who you are and what you do. It’s your trade show booth staff’s job to take it from there. Also, be sure your brand is prominent and consistent with your other marketing materials.

Make your exhibit space open and inviting

Know your trade show exhibit setup in advance: the dimensions of your space, where it is in the room, ceiling height, access to lighting or electricity, etc. This will determine how you set up your presence. Having a table across the front of the booth space can make it appear closed off and uninviting. Instead, create a space where people can enter without feeling trapped. You can create different stations in the space for people to learn about your company and products or services.

Make sure your staff is engaging

Your booth should be staffed with energetic and enthusiastic employees who enjoy connecting with trade show attendees and are implementing the strategy you defined long before they arrive. There should be no working on computers, no smartphones and no sitting. Your staff is there to work the booth, so that should be the primary focus.

In addition to having engaging conversations, consider something else to lure in an audience and create some hype like contests, promotions, and giveaways. But it’s more than just giveaways, you need to have a plan of action for generating conversations, identifying legitimate leads and capturing their contact information through a scanner or landing page. This will be helpful when beginning the lead nurturing process after the event.

For more information on effective trade show marketing booths and strategies, contact The Exhibit Source.

B2C

There are many marketing techniques used today by various businesses and some are more effective than others. Are you looking to step up the existing marketing plan of your business?  Businesses in every niche have been successfully leveraging their goods and services through trade show marketing. Trade shows provide invaluable face-to-face engagement and limitless opportunity for networking. Trade show marketing can be a successful route in any company's marketing plan.

Trade shows are one of the best ways of marketing today. Trade show exhibiting brings targeted customers directly to a place where you can focus on promoting your products and service. Attendees are interested in what you have to offer, so only trade shows can give you the opportunity to showcase and promote your company to those who are interested.

Through your trade show exhibit and your booth employees, you have the opportunity to show attendees interested in your product/service what sets you apart from the competition. Display your company, its products and its service as the best in the industry. A customized trade show exhibit design gives you a leg up from the competition. A customized trade show booth is an element to exhibiting success that cannot be overlooked.

Trade shows exhibits are the best opportunity to introduce a new product or service, sell existing products, meet new customers, evaluate competition and build business relationships. When done correctly, this is a marketing approach that is cost-effective where you can approach targeted customers face to face. Never assume that any type of trade show exhibit will give you the results they are looking for. A custom, effective and well done display is imperative.

For more information on effective trade show displays, contact The Exhibit Source.

There is quite a value for many businesses in trade show marketing. However, some business are new, small, just experiencing an economic recovery, or attend only a few, specific trade shows in a year. For this reason, many companies opt to rent a trade show display rather than purchase one. But there are other reasons to rent over buy as well. Here are just a few:

1. Cost
Renting trade show displays costs less.

2. Invest Wisely
Renting trade show displays allows you to spend more of your budget on your trade show graphics and messaging.

3. Flexibility
Different trade shows appeal to different attendees. Renting trade show exhibits offers the flexibility of changing your display and graphics from show to show.

4. Overlapping Trade Shows
No need to choose between attending two important trade shows. Renting trade show exhibits means you can effectively attend both shows.

5. Upgrading
Flexibility is important to every business or organization. When you rent your exhibit, you can change or upgrade your display quickly because your resources aren't tied up. This gives you the freedom to target your marketing messaging and graphics for specific trade shows.

6. Installation and Dismantle Included
When you rent a display, install and dismantle can be included.

7. No Storage Expense
Storing a display can be expensive, getting it ready can be time consuming, and shipping it can be challenging. When you rent, there is no storage expense and there are no delivery or prep hassles.

8. Testing
Renting a trade show booth lets you test it before you invest in it. When you make the decision to purchase, you will know you have made the right choice.

For information on renting a trade show booth, contact The Exhibit Source in Newton.

Trade shows aren't the most modern marketing platform but they can give your business a real boost in customers if you know how to present yourself.

If you are looking for a new way to grow your business, maybe it is time to revisit traditional marketing like exhibiting at trade shows. To maximize your trade show experience, here are some tips.

1. Relevance and location
Do your research and ensure that the show is targeting the right audience for your business. Visit the event a year ahead if possible, and certainly quiz the organizer on visitor demographics; quality over quantity is what you’re after. Also check how many of your competitors will be there and decide if you are comfortable to go head-to-head.

Picking the right trade show display location is important. The best positions are where people congregate and linger. Also go for the middle spots over the perimeter.

2. Marketing ahead of time
Check how the organizers will promote the show. Are there any PR opportunities for you?

3. Be a speaker
If at all possible, get a speaker slot - but don’t use it as a sales pitch. You’ll get a bigger audience if you give out objective advice and aim to educate.

4. Set targets
Trade show exhibiting is expensive so you need to be able to measure your return. Aim to generate 10 -15% of attendees into "hot leads". If you achieve over 25% it is time to celebrate.

5. Staffing
Everybody working your booth at the trade show needs to know your show objectives, what their targets are, and to be giving out the same messages.

6. Attracting attention
You need to stand out. Consider your trade show exhibit design. Get creative, have some action going on. Give a demo or talk every hour and display a schedule of what’s on.

Review your literature – is it interesting, concise and easy to identify what you do and why you are different? Does the design stand out from a distance? Use upright stands to display it.

6. Capture visitor data
The badge barcode readers supplied by organizers make this part very easy. You get all the data in a spreadsheet that can be imported into your database and acted upon.

7. Measure and follow up
This is the most critical part of the whole process. You won’t know if the show was financially beneficial until a few months afterwards. Try to convert at least 50% of the "hot leads" into customers within a six month period, of course this depends on your buying cycle. Best to contact people while the exhibition is fresh in their heads, so don’t leave it longer than a couple of days.

For more information, contact the Exhibit Source.

Real Business

According to Marketing Sherpa, trade shows are in the top spot as the most effective B2B marketing platform. They have surpassed paid search, email marketing and websites. It is time for B2C businesses to take trade show marketing more seriously and use them to market more efficiently and effectively.

These three trade show marketing tips can help you build an effective event marketing strategy.

• Invite the attendees to join your email list so they can receive you communications. Most people at trade shows know that getting their badges scanned means they will be receiving emails from a number of vendors. After you have scanned their badges, let them know that you’ve added them to an email list which gives them a chance to unsubscribe. Attendees get bombarded with email after a trade show, you don’t want them to consider you as spammy.

• Use content that’s related to the event. When you connect with someone after the show, you have the show in common. Think about any time you meet a friend of a friend someplace: most people are inclined to say, “so how do you know so and so?” Talking about what you have in common progresses conversation naturally. An email sparks a conversation with a prospect, so make them feel comfortable by talking about what you have in common. Create live content at the event, such as videos, tweets, or session overviews, to use in emails, or use content that’s related to the topics featured at the event.

• Develop a lead-nurturing campaign, and create as much of it before the trade show as possible. Unless you attend a much targeted event, your event lead pool will be very diverse. Don’t mistake the attendees for warm leads and try to sell immediately. Nurture the leads until your sales team can effectively determine which ones are worth their time. When you build out a nurture program before an event, you’re ready to send it right after an event. In the aftermath of an event, you need to sell to your leads while the event is still hot on their minds. If you have to scramble to build emails and get approval after an event, your emails won’t be created as effectively, and you’ll lose interest from leads.

For more information or for assistance with your trade show exhibit, contact The Exhibit Source.

B2C

Before creating your custom trade show exhibit you need to first think about what you want to achieve. What is the message you want to communicate new and potential customers. Your trade show booth should have one clear message that is incorporated into the design, and in all of your marketing materials, giveaways, and handouts.

Your businesses trade show display makes an impression. That impressions is the key to attracting traffic to your space at the trade show. To have maximum impact and appeal, you can include additional features like an LCD display or an interactive workstations. The Exhibit Source has plenty of recommendations and unique display solutions. You trade show display and message needs to be effective and strong. An eye-catching and unique booth is an instant hit at a trade show.

Before you start the custom design process of your trade show booth, be sure you know if there are any limitations or specific requirements for the convention center where the trade show will be held. You can find this out by contacting event organizers.

For more information, contact The Exhibit Source.

Over the past year, more and more business executives are switching half of their marketing budgets to digital marketing; however, they are still spending 20% of their marketing budgets on trade shows.

Often at trade shows you hear some exhibitors grumbling about the poor results of the trade show. More often than not, they blame everyone but themselves.

These exhibitors have experienced poor results because they've neglected the basics, the major one being an integrated exhibit marketing plan! There is absolutely pre-show, during-show and post-show marketing that needs to be done of you decide to choose trade show marketing.

However, no exhibit marketing plan would be complete without discussing the actual trade show display structure. For many years, trade show participants believed "build it and they will come".

The belief was that if a company wanted to attract a large audience at a trade show, spend a lot of cash, build a large booth, and visitors would be automatically drawn to it! Not true.

If you're one of the fortunate ones and are about to move ahead and build a new exhibit, remember some of the basics:

• Review the measurable goals and objectives for your trade show program, and make sure that when you begin discussions with your exhibit builder that your overall goals are considered.
• Make sure that you're not building a one-size only exhibit. Take into consideration your show schedule, and build in a lot of flexibility. For example, think about having an exhibit design that is modular and allows you to exhibit in a 30' x 30' island configuration, but also in a 20' inline configuration.

Think about those life cycle costs, and remember that exhibiting is an expensive undertaking.

• Consider lightweight materials to cut down on shipping, storage, and drayage costs.
• Consider simple but eye-catching designs that don't take a work crew of eight two to three days to install and dismantle.

Back to your goals and objectives

• When developing a design, think about how your booth staff will be deployed and how your team will carry out its mission.
• When developing a design, think about eliminating physical and mental barriers that might stop visitors from stepping into your exhibit space.

Graphics and signage should not be an afterthought, or the star of your show

• There needs to be a balance between easy reading and easy consumption of your messages the watchwords,
• Consider the use of digital signage. LED technology has come so far that it's used on roadside billboards. Good design and graphics transitions can really make your booth stand out.
• Take control of your airspace. A well-designed banner suspended from the rafters is still probably the best way to help dental meeting attendees find your booth. Whether or not you can do this will depend on your booth configuration and exhibitor rules.
• When well produced, large screen video presentations and videos can be very effective in pulling people into your trade show exhibit. Make sure the video is compelling even without audio, as you may be restricted regarding how loud you can crank the volume.

The Exhibit Source truly understands our role and the role of the exhibit structures we design, build, and retrofit in the integrated exhibit marketing scheme. When you partner with a reputable exhibit firm, you should expect no less! Contact us.

DentistryIQ.com

Many companies are concerned about how to represent their company when they are heading to their first trade show. Most importantly it is imperative that you are prepared. What do you want to accomplish? What supplies do you need in order to do this? Your main goal is to make a good and lasting impression on potential as well as repeat customers.

Trade show marketing is highly effective when done right. This is the perfect time to connect with potential clients, competitors and other businesses. It  is also the perfect time to impress and pamper existing clients. Promote and display your brand. Your brand is what your business is all about.

Trade shows are the perfect place to promote your brand, your mission and what separates you from your competition. When you have the right trade show display, you can promote your brand and your business to client who have not heard of you or to those who have not yet chosen to do business with you. So, your main consideration should be having an impressive trade show exhibit that clearly gets your message and your brand across. Therefore, it needs to be professional and appealing.

High quality trade show exhibits make the right first impression along with professional marketing hand-outs. Be sure that your logo is clear and consistent with your marketing materials. If you have recently changed or updated your logo, it needs to be consistent on all of your marketing materials: brochures, display and business cards.

For more information on professional, eye catching displays that make a lasting impression, contact The Exhibit Source.