Trade shows are a tough competitive environment. Your exhibit display can be one of your most effective marketing tools; yet, you have only a few seconds to capture the attention of your prospects. The exhibit must showcase your products, reflect your organization’s image, and draw potential customers into your booth on the trade show floor.

All this … in just a few seconds!

The key to creating a great exhibit display unit is to understand your organization’s goals for the trade show floor. Whether the goals are promotion or demonstration of your products or services, order writing, conferencing, or education, an exhibit display unit designed by a knowledgeable, professional exhibit house will establish your organization as a known presence on the trade show floor.

When your exhibit works – really works effectively – you are rewarded. Eye-catching graphics, color choices that capture one’s imagination, attention-grabbing demonstrations of the product or service your organization offers, and name recognition lure prospects into your booth. You are more visible on the trade show floor. You have instant name recognition. You increase your business opportunities. The choices that create such effects are the ones that set you apart on the trade show floor. There are display solutions to fit virtually every budget and exhibit requirement. The challenge is to choose an exhibit system that will meet all of your trade show goals and needs.

Graphics, color choices, and demonstrations bring prospects to your booth. These choices are the ones that can really set you apart from the rest and define your presence on the trade show floor.

Effective Exhibit Graphics

The primary purpose of your exhibit graphics is very simple: they get your targeted market to stop. If your graphics try to be all things to all people – then you may suffer the consequences. You might bring everybody in, and then you squander valuable time uncovering the qualified buyers among the crowd. Or your signage may be so confusing that nobody stops, and then you have no show.

Nobody comes to trade shows to read. Most exhibit graphics copy is flat and absent of informational vitality. The specific problem is that most exhibitors want too much copy. Do not relegate exhibit copywriting to an afterthought – you will loose valuable opportunities to communicate with both current and prospective clients as they pass by on the trade show floor.

Well-written copy can quickly deliver three levels of information:

• Company description – “this is who we are, and this is what we sell.”
• Industry position – your company’s unique marketing position in the prospect’s mind.
• Product position – key messages about featured products.

Remember, while you are qualifying the Attendees, they are doing the same thing to you. Trade show visitors complain because they cannot tell at a passing glance who exhibitors are or what they do on the trade show floor. They become frustrated and resentful, and in most cases they do not stop. Let your precise, eye-catching graphics begin the communication process.

Choosing the Right Colors

Color choice says a lot about who your company is. Color can shape the entire mood, feeling and reaction to your exhibit. Color can serve to cheer, to sedate, and even to influence mental judgments. Psychologists have demonstrated that color evokes strong involuntary physiological and psychological responses in human beings.

Documented reactions to color are:

• ☐Red is emotionally charged; it can stimulate people to make quick decisions and increase expectations.
• ☐Blue has a calming effect; it is also quite powerful being the strongest of the familiar colors after red.
• ☐Yellow is the highest visibility color – think about the new yellow fire engines? Yellow tends to appear brighter than white.
• ☐Green is positive and calming; it signifies new growth, energy and money.
• ☐Orange conveys economy “cheap”. Yet, orange portrays a strong personality.
• ☐Gold and ☐Silver symbolize prime, excellence and superiority.
• ☐Black represents power: also formality, wealth and elegance.
• ☐White denotes honesty and purity, but can even raise a temperature or slow a metabolism.

Booth Demonstrations

A good demonstration stops traffic at your booth even as they pass by on the trade show floor. The objective of the demonstration should be to focus your product or service into a concise and effective presentation. Keep your demo to two or three key message points; know who your target market is; emphasize the ‘gotcha’ feature of your product or service; know what the needs of your target market are; know what peaks the interest of decision makers in your target market.

Too often, exhibitors focus on features. Features aren’t necessarily important to the person buying your product. They want to know the benefits they will derive if they buy. Is it going to save them dollars or time? Is it going to help them work more efficiently? Demonstrate the benefits to support other messages you’re presenting on the trade show floor.

Don’t exceed 10 minutes. Don’t do a full-blown demonstration; save that for one-on-one sales visits.

The goal is to provide enough beneficial information to stimulate attendee’s interest so they want to see more after the show. The presenter should maintain eye contact with the crowd. If using a computer, use a swing-out keyboard and Stand to the side. Watch their nonverbal communication. Are they engaged or losing interest? Consider using a giveaway as a reward for taking the time to watch the demo.

Set Up Your Pre and Post Show Plan

Your display can bring the crowd to your door – then the real work begins. Lead generation is the top priority if every trade show exhibitor, followed by image, industry presence, customer contact, and getting a sense of today’s market. Winging it at the trade show is not a strategy – preparing a plan that identifies market segments, targets potential customers and integrates your trade show with other marketing efforts is the key to making the most of your trade show investment. And never forget the follow-up plan – and that doesn’t mean your vacation. Follow-up guarantees the success of your presence on the trade show floor.

Get Support From Your Exhibit House

Developing a winning trade show marketing environment requires skill and experience along with detailed planning every step of the way. Absolute Exhibits’ mission is to shatter the stereotypical approach to your needs by using award-winning, cutting-edge, creative, 100% strategic thinking and a fully-integrated arsenal of exhibit and display solutions … in order to make the registers ring for our partners…we don’t call them clients.

Our common denominator is a powerful creative mindset, and it can be seen in all our executions across the trade show floor.

We will set you in motion en route to a successful trade show presentation. Trade shows are a proven commodity that according to statistics can return eight-fold in both time and money the results of an “on the road” sales staff. But these statistics only come into play when you are a proven winner on the trade show floor. We will provide you with an exhibit design that will stop the show attendees.

Your company name or Logo on a display Booth does not say enough on the trade show floor. Bringing every piece of your product line does not work either. Nor, does a computer monitor usually snatch attention – people do not come all the way to a show to watch “television.” We will work with you to derive an eye-catching theme and product display that will capture the Attendees – then it is your job to put your expertise to work. Your trade show attendance days should be the most profitable days in your company’s year.

Jan Koren, President
Absolute Exhibits
(714) 685-2813
www.absoluteexhibits.com