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Trade shows are a great way to but your business in front of thousands of people in a short amount of time. Putting together a trade show booth can be one of the most difficult and important things you do, especially if your business is new to trade shows.

Here are some tips to help you plan, design, and create an effective trade show booth.

Start with a plan

There are many different trade show booth options to choose from. You need to begin the process with a plan or you will spend a lot of money on a less effective booth display.

That's why you need to start with a plan. Begin by asking yourself a few questions:

1. What is the purpose of the trade show booth?
Are you trying to get new leads, pass out information about products or services, demo a product?

2. Based on the purpose of the trade show display, what functional needs do you have?

• Do you need to be able to sit down and talk to prospective clients for an extended period of time?
• Do you need an area where you can show a product?
• Do you need a stage to present information to a large group?
• Do you need to display brochures or product information?

3. What technical specifications do you need?

• Do you need power/electricity?
• Do you need a way to display a video or other, similar materials?
• Do you need additional security to protect special equipment from being stolen or damaged?

4. Are there any other considerations you need to plan for?

• Do you need a booth that can easily be assembled and disassembled by one person?
• Does it need to meet specific weight considerations for shipping?
• Do you need to be able to redesign it for different tradeshows or uses?

Consider appearance

Many companies design trade show booths to be an experience, creating a space that is aesthetically pleasing, noticeable, and inviting. Many companies today trend toward custom booth designs.

Consider the traffic flow of your booth, and design it in a way that invites people in but doesn't create traffic jams or make it uncomfortable to stand or sit inside the booth. If you have displays or other product demos, be sure there is adequate room for people to sit or stand to watch the demos.

In addition, look at all the lighting needs for your displays or demos.

Create the design

Now that you know exactly what you need, you can choose the display that works best for you.

Whether you need a tabletop model, a floor model, or a modular design, keep the graphics simple and easy to read: Include branding that helps identify your company, such as a logo, company name, and tagline.

You can also include some basic information about your products or services, but only if it can be easily displayed without looking cluttered. Make sure photos are colorful, inviting, and appropriate for the message you need to convey.

Work closely with the design company

If possible, choose a booth design company that is in your local area. Online-based display-booth companies may offer slightly better prices, but with a local company you can visit a showroom and to work with the company more easily to create your booth.

Putting together the right trade show booth can help you bring in new customers, display your product to a large audience, and develop sales leads that generate business for your company.

If you are going to spend the time and money to do a tradeshow, it's worth your effort to develop a high-quality booth display.

For more information, contact The Exhibit Source in Newton.

www.marketingprofs.com

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The Exhibit Source specializes in creating large-scale graphics that utilize color saturation and seamless designs, up to 10' dimensions. The Exhibit Source's turnkey approach factors in all aspects associated with cost and efficiency.

It all starts at our website’s “Exhibit Design Search” page where all the various exhibit designs are easily categorized and laid out for you. There you will see a wide variety of exhibit designs to include hybrid inline and island type exhibits, portable modular displays, counters and kiosks, and banner stands. And realize that we provide the full range of implementation services that include shipping, installation and dismantle, and storage.

If putting “eyes on” suits you, we absolutely welcome you to vist our new 18,000 sq. ft showroom in Newton, Mass. For over 20 years, we’ve provided the very best in trade show exhibit equipment to Boston, New England,  and beyond. Trust the Exhibit Source to help make the very best impression for you and your business.

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What are the first words that come to mind when walking through amazing trade show booths? Breathtaking. Risky. Colorful. Vivacious. Interactive. What sets a trade show booth apart from its competitors is its degree of interactivity and engagement. Booths that tell stories are the trade show booths that get talked about. The creation process of trade show booths starts with ‘a concept’. Once a concept is melded, the following factors make the difference between a mediocre trade show booth and an amazing trade show booth: creativity, strategy, logic, and a little bit of operational efficiency.

Creativity

The difference between a trade show exhibit you see passively and one that you scrutinize actively is the creativity factor. A high creative factor will lure your eyes to the center of the product or service. A trade show team’s creativity is the single most important factor during the research and development phase of creating amazing trade show booths. This is the part where endless ideas are discussed.

Logic

Logic is the phase where fantasy needs to be converted into reality. Basically, this is the part where we take creative ideas and turn them into realistic plans. Many ideas fall out, but most, if not all, can be used. This is the time to sit down and discuss how these creative ideas could be incorporated on the floor. Whether this is duplicating an experience done before in another medium or a brand new experience involving different components, sitting down to add realistic materials to create the visual display is essential.

Strategy

The strategy component is where your team needs to decide how to incorporate the audience. Do you give them a sales pitch? Do you allow them to test out the product? Do you view a video? How does the audience and product meet? Coming up with marketing strategies for how to incorporate the audience may need to be a factor in the design of your exhibit. Remember, the exhibit is a part of your marketing –your place that will support your ability to obtain consumers. Strategize how to capture your audience’s attention, pull them into your trade show display, and sell them, all in your amazing trade show booth.

Operation

What your consumers see on the day of the convention does not magically appear. Once you have completed the creative, logistical, and strategic components of the process for your amazing trade show booth, you need to plan out how these booths will be constructed, transported, set-up, torn-down, transported back, and stored. This is also the place where most show-stopping errors occur. Make sure you are very organized during this process. No matter how effective and precious the booth, an error in the final steps of operations can cost you dollars in the end.

To ensure a smooth process from creativity to operations, connect with a trade show exhibit company who can provide amazing trade show booths. Contact The Exhibit Source.

www.business2community.com

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So why do companies that invest thousands of marketing dollars at trade shows not get professional help before they exhibit?   Here are 7 reasons why there will always be exhibitors who aren’t exhibit marketers:

• B2B companies too often put their trade show marketing in the hands of a well-meaning, but overworked and unprepared employee — and don’t provide any trade show training, because trade shows look deceptively easy.  They are actually harder than they look.

• Some exhibit marketers are not allowed to choose their booth staff, and get stuck with staffers who don’t want to be in their trade show displays — and those unwilling staffers plainly show their displeasure to prospects.

• Some exhibit marketers lack the authority to make the changes necessary to actually market at trade shows, rather than just show up.

• Some show owners wash their hands of the continuous need to provide coaching to their exhibitors, both new and returning.

• Some people responsible for their company’s trade show program think they already know all they need to know — and so they don’t want to find out what they could do better.

• Sometimes there is no primary owner accountable for their trade show program, so multiple departments fight over what to do or don’t fight over it at all.

• Sometimes, exhibit marketers know what to do to succeed, but frustratingly, lack the budget or the time to create a fully integrated trade show program.

Those are 7 challenges that inhibit trade show success.  Fortunately, there are companies that can help you do trade shows right.  A professional trade show display can help improve trade show results.

Are you at a company that fits one of those 7 reasons?  Contact The Exhibit Source.

Excerpts - TSNN

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As companies in Massachusetts attempt to increase their bottom line and tighten their belts, they need to consider the ROI of their marketing techniques. What has the longest reach, what has the best ROI, what causes the most conversions to sales? All of these questions are valuable and need to be considered.

While your are considering these questions, consider the study recently released by The Exhibit & Event Marketers Association and the Chief Marketing Officer Council on the value of trade shows and event marketing.

Among the key findings was the continuing importance of trade shows and events for marketers across organizations, despite growing reliance on social media and digital channels. About 90% of respondents reported that trade shows held at least some level of importance for their business, and almost half considered trade shows and events essential.

“Events and trade shows and their ability to host intimate, face-to-face dialogues with customers, prospects, influencers and even competitors remains critical to many marketers across a multitude of industries,” says Liz Miller, VP of marketing programs for the Chief Marketing Officer Council.

Most marketers think of trade shows as ways to increase revenue, with the majority using them to find new prospects and to gather or cultivate leads.

The process of event marketing, however, is undergoing an evolution to make them more personalized. Many companies said they were starting to move from the large trade shows, toward smaller, targeted gatherings. Other companies are choosing to host their own events to build their brand.

The survey gives marketers and event planners insights on how to make the most of these business trade shows. Organizations also understand that they need to make themselves stand out on the trade show floor through well thought out and captivating trade show exhibits and that they need to give social media a bigger presence at these events — all intended to help exhibitors and marketers attract interest and better relay their message.

For more information on making an impact at trade shows, contact The Exhibit Source in Newton.

Excerpts - businessadministrationinformation.com

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