|
www. Trade Show Marketing Advice .org |
"designing a good trade show booth"
trade show marketing | trade show marketing articles | unrelated humor | home
You have about 5 seconds to get a potential customer's attention at a trade show, and to then make an impression. What kind of impression do you want to make?
Your trade show booth should be eye-catching and attention-grabbing.
Big colorful graphics these days are a must.
There are lots of new options in portable trade show displays these days, check them out. Portable displays can be used for 10ft by 10ft spaces, but also for larger booth spaces. They are much more cost-effective than modular displays that have to be crated and trucked - though expensive modular displays were my company's bread and butter.
Your graphics MUST say who your company is.
Your graphics MUST say what your company does.
Your graphics should say why you are better than your competitors.
Pictures are great, but don't forget some text to communicate the above 3 points.
Keep all of your text at waist level or above. Don't make people look down to read.
Keep your text big and short, and easily readable. Don't make it a novel.
Have a website and include the url somewhere.
Think about using a famous or authoritative quote for your trade show display.
Get a proof of your trade show booth displays graphics before they are printed. Ask someone to who doesn't know much about your company to quickly look at it. Then take the proof away and ask them if they can tell you what your company's name is, what it does, and what they know about it.
Get some kind of halogen lighting on your booth. Many other trade show exhibitors don't bother, and it's an easy way to stand out among the sea of same-as-the-next-guy trade show booths.
Pay the premium for the plush padded carpet. Prospects will notice.
Leave the front of your trade show booth space open so that people can easily come in.
Keep your trade show giveaways inside your booth space so people have to come in and say hello. Don't make it easy to snatch and dash. If you invest in giving out free trade show giveaways, make sure you get something out of it.
Don't be a crotchety old man like me (or like I used to be) and think that computers are too complicated. There are some amazing software design programs out there for creating absolutely stunning trade show booth designs, plus just creating 3D mock-ups of the actual trade show booth layout. My son pointed out some cool 3D mockups of some trade show booth displays made for the X-TREEM company (a fictitious company that offers, plans and sells extreme sports trips through the internet). Check the 3D designs out. It's amazing what computers can do for design.
- George
related resources:
trade show booths trade show displays