Tse Lo Sze Simonai, Wikipedia Commons
Maebmij, Wikipedia Commons
If you want to spend your trade show dollars wisely and well, start by asking two basic questions:
Why are we going to the trade show?
Who do we want to attract?
The first question, understanding why you’re going in the first place, seems over-simple, but it’s not asked often enough! If your answer is, “To make money,” you haven’t really worked through this most important question.
In general, businesses go to trade shows to do one of four things:
Of course you may have other reasons, but these four objectives cover 99% of trade show business.
Your booth should reflect the answer to this basic question. If you’re looking to actually make sales at the show, you’ll need to be sure your visitors understand how to buy right now. Creating brand awareness may mean a “classic” look and some branded freebies. Teaching something probably requires an interactive experience, while introducing something new may need a bit of flash.
Whatever your purpose, be sure your booth leads potential customers in the right direction!
Next, ask who you want to attract. You don’t want to waste your time with “that guy” that talks your ear off and won’t let you get to “real” customers, right? So how do you get the right visitors to your booth?
The first step is in understanding your market as it applies to that particular show. If you sell electronics, for example, you’ll find a different market at a broadcasting show than you will at a robotics convention. Know what your customers want – and give it to them!
Find just the right freebie for the crowd. Or an interactive experience that will blow them away. Or a sale on the very item you know they’ll be looking for. You can qualify leads just by creating the right experience at your booth.
So once you’ve answered your two big questions, you can start creating the right display. Of course there are many other elements to developing the perfect booth, and we’ll cover those in future blogs. For now, let’s focus on your main banner and related signage.
Here are three “HAVES” for your displays:
Have a Theme
Have a Headline
Have a One-Sentence Message
Go back now to your questions:
No one said it would be easy! But asking the right questions and focusing your displays around the answers is a great start.
Check out some great ideas for tradeshow displays from Bannerbuzz here!