Trade shows increase awareness about your products, showcase your services
and enhance your image among your competitors and potential customers: in
all a very powerful way to increase your sales. It is critical to arm
yourself with the most compelling trade show display you can. At an event
where your booth is one of hundreds, an attractive display creates the
opportunity for a worthwhile discussion of your company.
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Compelling is a relative term keep in mind, the graphics on the trade
show display are going to compel prospects, suspects and customers into your
booth as opposed to allowing them to walk right on by. The goal of these
graphics is not to be the most informative or the most colorful. You don't
have to have millions of photos, or so many product descriptions that your
booth looks like alphabet soup. Good graphics consists of three ingredients:
- Excellent (not good, excellent) photography of your product(s), or
excellent photography of what I call men and women in motion;
- Your logo
or company name across the top and/or large enough to be seen from across
the hall and
- A features and benefits panel - a screened-back vertical
rectangle containing at least three or four bullets with copy that
translates the most important features of your product(s) into benefits.
Let's begin with photography. The standard approach to product
photography at trade shows has always been as many photos as possible,
typically several dozen images, all 8 x 10 mounted on foam board and Velcro®
taped to the display. It s a time-honored tradition that couldn't be more
wrong. Instead, like so much other advertising, in the trade show booth,
less is more. Try using only four or five images that are at least 20 x 30 .
Studies show you have about seven seconds to attract a customer walking past
a trade show booth: making them squint at 20 photos in seven seconds will
get you nowhere.
Larger photos are more compelling, more colorful and, when shot and
displayed correctly, they will stop people in their tracks. I recommend
working with a professional photographer for these images and taking
advantage of a mural. While it will likely end up costing more than those
product shots you took in the warehouse with your new digital camera, you
will see a noticeable difference in the traffic to your booth. When
finishing off your photos, mount them with pliable plastic coverings, not
foam board, so they can be used over and over again without damage. Foam
board ages quickly and there is nothing worse than a booth that looks like
it s seen one too many tradeshows.
Like good photography, displaying your company s name and logo is simple
and easy to do correctly, but often overlooked by first-time and seasoned
exhibitors alike. The name/logo should be the uppermost addition of the
display, running laterally and spanning the length of your booth (at least
10 feet wide). It should be visible from far enough away that passers-by are
not left wondering which booth they re about to happen across.
A Features and Benefits Panel is a chance for you to herald your goods
and services. Like photography, your goal is to be compelling, not
overwhelming. The message should be three or four short descriptions of the
foremost benefits of the company. You need to connect with your potential
customer, but leave them wanting more. A successful panel message brings
customers to you seeking more information and excited about getting it right
away. In that single instance, you ve branded your organization by your
uniqueness and your product s intrigue.
A key stumbling block for first time exhibitors is the selection of the
display itself. Too many young companies attempt to build their own
displays, which look unprofessional and can cause more than a few headaches
during transport and set-up. In general, a pop-up display is the best option
for budding exhibitors. The displays are affordable, easy to maintain and
set-up and with compelling graphics and a keen salesman, can make any
company look like IBM while on the trade show floor.
A 10' pop-up trade show display is a good choice. It's lightweight, easy
to install (if it takes more than 15 minutes, you've done something wrong)
and it comports well with the "Get-Home-Syndrome" at the end of the show.
The "Get-Home-Syndrome" says all you really care about at the end of a trade
show is easily dismantling the display, putting all the components into the
case and exiting the exhibit hall.
If you can afford it, reserve 20' instead of the customary 10'. Why? Have
you ever tried to talk to a prospect or suspect while your colleague was
talking to another prospect or suspect in a 10' booth? There's no more room
for anything else. I don t care if you re a Fortune 500 company or a mom and
pop. It s all about room. If the demand is great, you need more space.
Here are some other easy rules of thumb when buying, setting up and
utilizing a display of any kind:
- The simpler the better.
- Good, clean design
and presentation speaks volumes about an exhibitor.
- Keep background colors
neutral if you have individual graphics.
- Bright photos/logos/benefits panels
leap off neutral backgrounds.
- Grey and black are the most common colors used
in trade show booths. If you have a mural, gravitate to a darker colors,
imperial blue and black.
- Frame the graphics with blue or black to help them
standout.
- If it takes you more than 15 minutes to set up a booth you have
the wrong booth, too much display information or are otherwise making your
display too complicated.
- Never, let me repeat that, never place your table
parallel to your display. It's a mistake that the vast majority of boothsmen
make. They set up a long table, stand behind it, blockading themselves from
their customers and blockading their customers from their display.
Now that you have your booth organized and you've learned how to attract
prospective customers to it, remember that attending a trade show is just
one step in the process. It is critical that you not limit yourself to one
show. You and your management team (or you, if you're it) should determine
to go to a minimum of three shows annually. Choose those that are attended
by the decision-makers in your industry and find something new and exciting
for your display each and every time you re in the booth.
Trade shows are excellent sales builders and the company that ends up
with the most leads at the end of the show WINS!
