Planning for a trade show
Planning for a trade show is an essential part of ensuring a successful show.
Although expensive, trade shows are a great resource for new business leads, client retention and promoting a brand.
However, there are some missteps often made by exhibitors that affect the appeal, professionalism, and success of a trade show booth.
Here are five simple mistakes to avoid that will elevate your on-site trade show presence.
1. Adequate Lighting
Although the cost is cheap compared to the cost of a trade show display, many people choose not to purchase trade show lighting accessories. Not providing your own lighting can make your booth to be at the mercy of the location venue. Often times convention centers are poorly lit, creating an uninviting presence for your booth space.
Trade show lighting is a small price to pay for a booth that will always be bright and welcoming, Backlit trade show displays are a recent industry trend. Another option is using LED lighting to illuminate entire booth graphics. Both veteran and new exhibitors are enhancing their presence with Graphics made for light boxes. Trade show lighting is a crucial part of drawing customer traffic and increasing trade show sales. It is the first step in the process to a successful planning for a trade show.
2. Hiring Booth Models or Use your Sales Staff?
Booth models may seem like a good idea but can hurt your credibility. Staff your booth with trade show salespeople. Your booth sales staff should be approachable, professional, and knowledgeable in order to cultivate quality leads and enhancing customer relations.. Face-to-face marketing is an essential element of trade shows. Not capitalizing on a opportunity to meet customers in person is a mistake that will cost you money. Use your best sales people in your planning for a trade show and reap the benefits.
3. Designing your Graphic Space
Creating a memorable brand is a fundamental goal of any marketing plan. Your trade show booth should give potential customers a easy to understand message that your company is trying to send. Resist the implulse to put quantiy of information on a graphic surface rather than a clear strong message. A busy, jumbled graphic with too much to read will not be effective for booth visitors. Logo and slogan are the two major components in branding a business, so keep those elements as the main visual focus. Customers should get a quick, concise impression of your company’s offering. The rest of the information should come from your sales staff. You want the customer to talk to someone not just walk through. Graphic design is another step in successful planning for a trade show.
4. Effective Promotional Items
Branded promotional items are a tried-and-true trade show must have for a successful trade show. Rather than going it alone, try using a promotional product professional. On line companies are just a google away but are they staffed with good sales people or are they just order takers, TY Ink Promotions is a proven group of professional sales people that will help you pick smart, effective tradeshow giveaways that meet your budget. They have on staff graphic artist who can make virtual samples of your logo on each giveaway. They have thousands of products and can guide you to proven effective promotional items
