Creating a winning trade show stand can be the difference between a lackluster event for your business or a year full of potential leads. Before you can build a rapport with potential customers at an exhibition, you need to first attract them to your stand.
Getting your booth to pop amid the competition can feel like fighting against a crowd, however, these five fundamental ways from Gazeboshop will ignite curiosity in passersby and turn them into potential customers.
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1. Reflect your brand values in every square inch of your stall.
First things first, it is crucial that your trade design and its content are cohesive to your company’s overall marketing message. Put simply, your trade show stand is a living embodiment of your brand and it must reflect that. Positioning your company in a different light compared to the hundred other trade stands is difficult enough! Make it easier for prospective customers by drenching your stand in brand colors and design elements so they know exactly who you are.
2. Spoil your prospective customers in experiences.
Your brand deserves better than to be remembered by trade show visitors by free pens, travel mugs or tacky plush toys, unless those are critical to your company image. If you’re interested in catching bigger fish, your trade show stand should focus on offering attendees experiences rather than free branded products.
Opt for product demos or opportunities for customers like playing with samples or handing out goody bags with products you can’t shift in your stock. Likewise, think free Wi-Fi or wireless smartphone charging over USB memory sticks with your logo on them. Providing experiences that require visitors to spend longer at your stand gives you an opportunity to engage with them and turn them into customers. Sounds so much more memorable, doesn’t it?
3. Use color for impact.
One guaranteed way of standing out among your competitors is to research their brand colors and choose something contrasting and brighter. As long as you follow the rule of thumb and stick to three bright colors, this is a surefire way to create a winning trade show stand.
Using bright colors will make your brand recognizable to visitors, especially when sticking to key colors with the 60-30-10 design rule. Here, you apply a primary color to 60% of the space, a secondary color to 30% of the space and your accent color to 10% of the design. This will help to unify your booth while also ensuring the important elements stand out to visitors in the accent color.
4. Use digital displays to your advantage
Did you know that the human brain responds more intensely to video and graphics than text? Playing short marketing videos on a display in your trade show stand is a great way to attract attention. If your budget doesn’t allow a digital display monitor, why not combine a QR code in your print graphics for your trade gazebo and lead prospective customers to your company’s socials, website, YouTube review or product demo? The possibilities are endless once you combine digital with in-the-moment opportunities.
5. Respect empty space.
That empty space on your trade booth can say a lot more about your brand than your catchy slogan. You want to maximize the space you have but avoid cluttering every inch of your exhibit since this can often leave visitors feeling overwhelmed. You only have one opportunity to be memorable at a trade show and those limited all-important spaces in customers’ minds are reserved for the brands who know exactly who they are, so keep text concise and punchy.
To reiterate, do not give your prospective customers information overload by shoving in as many statistics about your company’s success as you can. As a rule of thumb, try to keep about 40% of your booth empty and remember, you can always email more information to prospective clients the next day.
