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1. What do you most want people to know when they walk by your trade show booth

You don’t have a lot of time to catch a person’s attention at a trade show. So, you need to make sure you pinpoint what people MUST learn about your company in that moment that they see your booth graphics. Should the graphics feature a product or a corporate message? Should the graphics pick up the look of your ads or should they be different? What should your message be? All of this needs to be thought over carefully so that your booth will create the biggest impact possible.

2. Think about lines of vision

A common mistake is to place important graphics or copy too high or too low on a graphic. This of course defeats the whole purpose of having well-designed trade show booth graphics. If people can’t see your message they can’t react well to your message.

3. Don’t burden your trade show exhibit graphics with lots of copy

People are not going to have the time or inclination to stand outside your booth for five minutes so that they can read your masterfully crafted copy. When it comes to copy for booth graphics, less is more. Let the images you select speak for themselves.

4. Make sure your images will hold up in larger sizes

Often times there is an image that you have used on a website or in an ad that you think would look great in a booth graphic. However, make sure the image you want to use has the proper resolution so that if you need it bigger it will still look ok. Few things will make your graphics look worse than a fuzzy image that is not meant to look fuzzy!

5. Make sure your trade show booth graphics reflect the rest of your marketing

It is very important that your presence at a trade show or conference reflects the message you are promoting across all other marketing channels. If you are promoting a new product in your advertising or in your social media marketing, that new product message should appear in your booth graphics somewhere. If you have developed a new corporate theme for the year, that should be reflected in the booth graphics.

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

B2C

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Happy New Year from The Exhibit Source in Westwood, MA! We would like to thank our customers for allowing our business to be part of your lives. We wish you a wonderful and prosperous 2014!

If we have had the pleasure of providing you with a trade show booth, we hope that you were provided with the best product and the highest level of customer service that you have come to expect from us. If you find that you are going to be attending trade show or exhibit marketing event in 2014, we hope that you consider The Exhibit Source to provide you with your trade show booth display.

It is our sincere wish that throughout the season, and all year long, you are surrounded by family and friendship. From all of us here at The Exhibit Source, have a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.

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Trade show marketing is an efficient and successful way to find new, qualified leads. However, your business needs to participate successfully in trade shows; you cannot just be a bystander. Don’t set up a trade show booth unless you plant to do it right.

Here are four things you should never do at a trade show:

1. Forget to use a name. A potential customers is a real person, so treat them like one. Extend your hand in greeting, ask their name and tell them yours. Smile and act as if you’re actually interested. After all, they might just be your next big customer, but you’ll never know unless you make an effort to get to know them.
2. Pitch visitors. When they ask what you do, no one wants to hear your party line. Don’t tell them what your product does and how great it is. Don’t go on and on about its features. Instead, ask about them or the needs of their business. Engage them in conversation. Acknowledge questions without corporate-ese. You don’t know how your product can benefit another business until you ask about the visitors to your booth and their business.
3. Try to scan the badge.  Don’t have your trade show booth employees ready to scan badges. No one wants their information scanned to be bothered in the future by lengthy, automated emails thanking them for visiting booths and inviting them to download a whitepaper or attend an event you’re sponsoring.
4. Ignore visitors. This one should probably go without saying, but here it is: Don’t zone out and ignore people walking in or around your booth. There’s nothing more off-putting than walking up to a booth and finding people so busy playing with their cell phones that they have no idea people are there. These are your future customers.

If you’re business is going to attend a trade show, make sure you want to be there. Remember the reason your company spent the money to attend. Respect that investment and the people visiting your booth.

Life Health Pro

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Trade shows aren’t the least expensive way to market your small business, but if done correctly, they are one of the most powerful. Trade shows allow you to reach and speak to people who you might never get the opportunity to do business with otherwise. Planning ahead using a few simple trade show tactics is the key to a successful trade show marketing appearance.

Create A Clear Goal for the Trade Show

Some small businesses make the mistake of assuming that simply appearing at the trade show is enough to spark interest in their products and a desire to do business with the company.

However, every time you attend a trade show you need a clear goal in mind for what you hope to accomplish.

Once the goal is clearly defined, you can craft a trade show booth, presentation and literature to achieve this goal.

Create A Powerful Image for Your Booth and Presentation

Never underestimate the “wow” factor of a trade show display. You only have about 30 seconds to capture your audience’s attention, so make those first few seconds count. Tools for introducing the “wow” factor into your trade show appearance include:

• A colorful, well-designed trade show booth.
• Knowledgeable booth staff who can easily engage people in conversation.
• Working models of your unique product or service.
• Audio and/or video to capture attention across a busy venue.
• Literature and/or product samples for potential customers to take home and remember you by.

Build ways to garner attention at the event, and ways to stick in attendees’ minds afterwards. Part of this is color coordinating your booth artwork with the literature or samples you hand out, so the attendee recognizes your logo and name later on.

Promote Your Appearance at the Trade Show Well Ahead of Time

Radio ads, TV ads, billboards, and social media are all excellent ways to get the word out before the trade show that you’ll be there. But don’t just promote your appearance, give people a good reason to come to the trade show and make the effort to stop by your booth. People are more likely to come if there’s a reward involved.

Choose A Heavy Traffic Event Over A Small Niche Trade Show

Some small businesses think that a small niche trade show is better for them to get noticed than a huge, more generalized show, such as a home and garden event or ladies’ show.

However, those larger events get much more traffic, which means more exposure for you than you could generate at a small event with fewer attendants. Even if you attend an event where most people are outside your niche, you never know how meeting, greeting, and networking can pay off in the long run.

If small businesses plan and use smart strategies and trade show tactics to design the booth, produce quality literature and up the ante with audio or video, they can measure up to the big guys and come out on top.

For more information, contact The Exhibit Source.

smallbiztrends.com

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In the last 10 years the trade show rule book has been rewritten as a result of fundamental technological and economic changes. Rules about what it takes to succeed on the show floor.

Here’s what’s changed – and how you can adapt to those changes:

1. More Uncertainty: Economic uncertainty has lasted for years, and shows little signs of going away. This makes your top company executives reluctant to commit early to trade shows, and buy capital-intensive larger exhibits. You have to balance the need for financial flexibility by waiting longer to commit to shows and vendors, and yet still avoid more expensive rush charges. Rental trade show exhibits help avoid capital expenses, too.

2. Measurement A Must: Gone are the days when you could end the show by saying, “We had a good show, didn’t we?” and that would be enough. Your trade show spending is being compared to more explicitly measurable electronic marketing mediums. So even if your trade show is producing greater results, if you don’t prove it with real numbers, such as ROI ratios or sales generated, it didn’t happen in the minds of your bosses, and your budget is in jeopardy.

3. Trade Shows are Stronger Than Expected: Trade shows are one of the winners in the marketing media wars. Along with electronic media, trade shows have retained a greater share of B2B marketing budgets than print and direct mail. That’s because trade shows still provide what all marketers want: face time with lots of real buyers in one place.

4. More Knowledgeable Buyers: Attendees now look up potential suppliers on the internet before the show, so they arrive already knowing about your products. If they visit you, it’s because they want to know if your product really does what you say it can, who your people are and how trustworthy your company is. You will need to provide more hospitality, have more space for longer meetings, and bring people who can answer detailed questions, but also deepen relationships.

5. Pre-Show Promotions are Harder: Pre-show promotions with traditional media don’t bring in as many attendees as they used to. To get attendees into your booth, you have to do more at-show promotions, to grab their attention when they are focused on the show.

6. Social Media Rising: Social media is where people now spend their time. Fortunately, social media is not a replacement for trade shows, but is a great conduit to people who have tuned out of direct mail, email, ads, and phone calls. Social media can also help you extend the conversation that peaked at the show. Your activities in your booth (new products, product demonstrations, customer testimonials) are great content to share via social media after the show.

7. Which Promotions Work Now: Trade show attendees may walk the show floor, but it’s harder to get them out of the aisle and into your booth space. The internet has given them control of the buying process, so they don’t like to easily give it up at a show, either. So your promotions have to be better. To get them into your booth, you have to give them one of these three things: an exchange of value, an experience, or learning.

8. Vertical Market Messages Love Flat Screens: In the old days, exhibitors would design their exhibit with a main message for the company overall, but swap out a portion of the exhibit graphics to customize their message for different industry trade shows. Now, with the price of large LED flat screen monitors about 25% of what they were when introduced, exhibitors tailor their vertical market messages with pixels, not printed graphics.

9. Even Island Trade Show Exhibits Are Lighter: While portable trade show displays have been the standard for decades, the high cost of shipping and especially drayage have caused big-booth exhibitors to try to lighten their load, too. The improved style and flexibility of metal frame exhibit systems and the brilliant, sharp fabric graphics of today are taking over many trade shows.

10. Unqualified Leads Will Be Ignored: You have to give your sales force more qualifying information about each lead than just contact information, and you should only give them the qualified leads that are ready to talk to a sales person – or at least tell them which leads are the higher quality ones, so they can start there first.

If your trade show marketing isn’t as effective as it used to be, see if you haven’t adapted your program to the new rules of the show hall. Take these new rules into account, and rejuvenate and enhance your program and your results.

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

TSNN.com

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When business is good and sales are going well, it’s easy to get complacent about your marketing plan. But, marketing complacency can be a costly mistake. Markets, competitors, customers and strategies change quickly. If you’re not keeping up then you can easily fall behind which will certainly affect your bottom line.

Here are 10 signs you need to upgrade your marketing strategy:

1.   Looking old and run-down at the tradeshow. Tradeshows are like marketing face-offs with your competitors. Even if your trade show booths are far apart, the side-by-side comparison can be unflattering if your technology is outdated or lacks interactive demonstrations. See which exhibits draw the most traffic and bring yours up to snuff.

2.   Leads that aren’t converting. Are conversions down? You may be targeting unqualified prospects. Or your sales team may need more marketing support, such as better sales tools and greater communication with prospects during the conversion process.

3.   A dated color palette. If your marketing colors are more than five years old, rethink them. Color trends change frequently. Pantone’s website and colormarketing.org can help you keep current with your colors.

4.   Using an outdated logo. A brand identity created decades ago is a common marketing blind spot. While you’re sticking to your guns, your competitors may be capturing market share with a more contemporary approach. A design team can help you revamp your brand identity without losing your heritage.

5.   An antique website. A website that’s more than three years old probably lacks the speed, functionality and content today’s Internet users expect. You can create a new site with WordPress, a popular and easy-to-use platform.

6.   Pasting stickers on brochures. At some point, the positives of using up your brochure stockpile are outweighed by the negatives of presenting patched-together materials. If you’re using stickers to correct old information on your sales collateral, you’re due for something new.

7.   Outdated photography. Changes in products, facilities, equipment and even hairstyles can quickly date your marketing photos. Hire a professional photographer to keep your image library up to date.

8.   Bullet-ridden PowerPoints. The days of the PowerPoint presentation loaded with endless slides of bulleted copy are long past. PowerPoint now allows you to share information in a much more engaging way, while newer presentation tools such as Prezi are even more interesting. Delight your audience by bringing your presentations into the 21st century.

9.   Plain proposals. The sales proposal packet is your last — and perhaps best — chance to set your company apart from the competition. Make your materials stand out with professional design and well-written content customized for each prospect.

10.   Forgetting about social-media. By now, your company is probably on social media. But if you’re not actively posting and engaging with others, you’ll come across as a wallflower. Devote time and resources to getting off the sidelines and into the conversation.

You would not be comfortable walking around in a ‘70s leisure suit. The same can be said of your marketing strategy. Make sure it’s up to date, so you can look your best. For more information on effective trade show marketing, contact The Exhibit Source in Westwood.

Life Health Pro

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If you are going to partake in trade show marketing, then understand your market, analyze it constantly and then act on what you’ve learned. These are the lessons learned at trade shows.

Don’t just send out a million e-mails and hope to get three registrations.

Instead, use the information you have available to you to decide on the best possible marketing plan, then monitor and tweak it as you get closer to your event.

Here are some of the takeaways from the trade show marketing industry:

• When you deliver messages to your potential audience, with your trade show exhibit and your marketing materials, make them meaningful.
• Do everything you can to understand your market: Read all the pertinent industry publications, join online communities, attend competing events, ask questions, talk to exhibitors and survey past attendees.
• Take the time to build a marketing plan. Create an action calendar that begins almost as soon as the last show ends with a checklist of things that have to be done, deadlines attached to each one and a project manager for each task.
• Put everything you want and hope for into the plan, then scale it back in line with the budget and resources you know you will have available. Anybody can be a good marketer when they have a lot of money. The trick is to be good when you don’t have an unlimited budget.
• After you have a plan, reassess it constantly throughout implementation: Know which e-mails are being read, watch tracking codes and notice when people abandon the online registration system.
• Frequently (maybe every week) apply the “gut check”: Take a step back and see how you’re performing against where you want to be. “If your numbers aren’t there, you’ve got to start putting new things in.
• Analyze last year’s registration reports and see what they tell you about what you should do this year.
• Build your registration system by “channeling your inner consumer marketer”: Put the highest-priced packages at the front and the add-ons at the end.

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

Expo News

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Trade show displays give you a presence at trade shows and similar events, but it can be difficult to differentiate yourself from all of the other businesses. One of the best ways is to incorporate the season or nearby holiday into your display. Not only will this make people gravitate towards your trade show exhibit, but it also ensures that you have different designs so that your display doesn't get old. Here are a few ways to creatively add the season or holiday into your trade show exhibit.

Colors

Sometimes just adding the right colors into your booth display or table covering can give you a seasonal look. Every season and holiday has its colors. Fall has orange and dark reds, winter has white and summer typically has blues and yellows. Instead of using your regular colors for your display, switch over to a seasonal color.

Graphics

This is an easy way to incorporate seasons and holidays into your trade show display. Add a few graphics that reflect the next holiday. For example, add some Santa Claus hats or pumpkins for Christmas or Halloween. You can add these into your overall printing and display, or you can change your logo for the season.

Use the Holiday or Season

What is commonly done on the nearby holiday? Why not add this into your trade show display? For example, you can make your marketing materials look like turkeys or pieces of candy. Most printers will offer a die cutting service to accommodate special shapes. Another thing that you could do is wrap your marketing materials near Christmas time.

You can also use common imagery from the season. Flowers are very common during the spring. You could attach flowers to your marketing materials and display. People like getting unique marketing materials from trade shows. Not only that, but this will definitely help you stand out from the crowd.

At the same time, make sure that you keep your audience in mind. If your audience is primarily powerful CEOs, then some of these ideas might seem too childish. Be creative, but don't alienate your audience.

Smells

Most trade show exhibits only use a table and some banners or panels to show the company's logo and main message. Adding a scent to your trade show display not only makes you stand out, but it's a great way to add the season or holiday into your display. Every season and holiday has its own scents. If it's Christmas, then cookies and pine trees are great. Spring is full of floral notes and freshly cut grass.

Adding a scent to your trade show display is easy. You can just buy a candle with a seasonal smell. While there are many cheap candles, it's best to use more expensive ones. The cheaper candles tend to have overpowering smells that can drive people away.

Food

Perhaps the best way to bring people to your display is free food. Just adding a small plate of cookies can make people flock to your display. Just like with smells and imagery, every season and holiday has its own unique food. While Thanksgiving and Christmas are known for turkey, ham and other meats, it's best to use cookies, candy and small things that will last throughout the day.

Don't put all of the food out at once because it will be gone within an hour or so. Just put out a handful of cookies and replenish the plate once it gets low.

Conclusion

Incorporating the season into your trade show display is a great way to attract people, but it can be difficult to do this if you don't know what you're doing. For more information for adding seasonality to your trade show display, contact The Exhibit Source.

Paramus Post

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Have you been trying to figure out if your business should exhibit at upcoming trade shows? There are several benefits and advantages to exhibit marketing. Trade shows are a valuable sales and marketing vehicle. They help generate business through qualified leads, build brand awareness and cultivate relationships. However, in order to maximize all the benefits and to help justify your continued investment in trade shows, it’s important to take the time to evaluate your marketing program in its entirety. By implementing a focused plan your company can achieve greater results and a better ROI.

While there are several business benefits to exhibiting at a trade show, here are 5 top reasons you need to exhibit now:

1. Efficient Use of Time

Trade shows are one of the most efficient methods of marketing. It is an opportunity to connect with a lot of customers and prospects in a short amount of time – in one location. And, with cost savings benefits. According to data from the Center for Exhibit Industry Research, it costs 62% less to close a lead generated from a trade show than one originated in the field.

Trade shows allow you to connecting with people, brands, information and business solutions—all in one place. This makes them efficient in time and effort, and money.

2. More Focused and Isolated Leads

With the ebb and flow of business, budgets may tighten, but the need for new products and services does not necessarily stop. People attending trade shows are serious about doing business. According to a recent study, 63% of show attendees assign high importance to face-to-face interactions at exhibits in helping with the ‘narrowing of choices’ in the buying process. By not being present at an industry trade show, a company risks missed business opportunities.

Keep in mind, that there are trade shows that are very targeted and specific so you know exactly who will be at the show and on the floor. Think in terms of the quality not quantity of the trade shows in your program.

3. Unique Advertising Channel with Minimal Risk

A different course to take is to exhibit at a vertical trade show, which allows your brand to connect with a specific audience with- out the distraction of your competitors. Qualify the investment by collecting with the number of leads collected at the show, this can be a good investment.

4. Greater Risk in Being Absent

Consider the long-term effect of not exhibiting at trade shows. Being absent from key shows instantly makes you a non-player in the field and puts your competitors top of mind with customers.

However, simply showing up is not enough. You have to plan how you will attract new leads at the show and how you will follow up with them for effective results.

Look at the whole picture: Make sure your advertising, online marketing, media relations, and public relations are aligned with your overall marketing strategy

Build quality traffic: Consider a variety of new and traditional communication channels such as social media, video, and email, direct mail or print.

Follow-up: Develop a system to organize leads at the show so your team can make immediate contact with your “hottest” leads.

5. Effective Use of Marketing Dollars

Few marketing activities show a clear ROI. Trade show impressions, contacts, leads and sales are measurable results that have an actual value. Overall costs are easily computed.

When reporting results, ROI is not a luxury—it is essential. Very few companies measure their trade show participation. With measurement motives in place you can fine tune your program for better return on your marketing spend.

Don’t Underestimate Your Trade Show Exhibit Design: Consider the architecture of your exhibit to enhance each visitors experience with your company and its brand. Are you using or incorporating rental property in your exhibit? Is your booth design consistent with your branding and messaging platforms?

Face-to-face marketing is a proven effective business strategy for building brand awareness, making business connections, and ultimately, driving sales. Simply put, participating in trade shows makes good business sense. Don’t just show up at your next show. Remember attendees are at trade shows for a reason. Help attendees, who are your potential customers, get the business solution that they came for, by taking the time upfront to plan your course of action.

For more information, contact the Exhibit Source.

business2community.com

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Is your business getting ready to attend a trade show? If so, choosing the right exhibit display company in Westwood, MA and taking the time to get organized and plan will make your trade show a success.

Here is an idea of how you should plan the countdown to your trade show.

• 6 to 12 months out: Begin planning your budget, selecting what trade shows you will attend and booking trade show booth space

• 4 months out: Work on show objectives, obtain and exhibitor manual and source your exhibit design and production

• 3 months out: Establish booth work schedule, set up any required outside suppliers and plan printed marketing materials

• 6 to 8 weeks out: Check on production of display material, order product samples and literature, confirm pre-event advertising and press releases and order necessary show services

• 3 to 4 weeks out: Write and mail customer invention letters, finalize VIP guest events, confirm shipping information and provide to suppliers and prepare training materials for staff for show

• 1 to 2 weeks out: Collect supplies, tickets and service orders sent to show and ensure your payment system is setup and ready to accept credit cards during the event

• Day of show: Pick up badges, confirm arrival of display, equipment and literature, supervise set up and conduct pre-show briefing with outlined goals to staff

Want more information on trade show marketing? Contact The Exhibit Source.

Entrepreneur Magazine

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