Around 93% of businesses marketing at trade shows feel optimistic or hopeful about the success of their event and trade show booth design. Despite a dip during the pandemic, trade shows are now beginning to open up to the world once again. But when working out your budget, how do you ensure your booth is a success?
One way is to avoid the classic pitfalls. Read on as we discuss what to avoid when creating your trade show booth.
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Your Trade Show Booth Design Has No Objective
Just because your competitors are there is not a reason to be at a trade show. These shows are an excellent way of marketing your company and its products. Yet like any campaign, trade show marketing needs to have measurable objectives.
Tie these objectives into your overall marketing plan. Once you have an overall goal at the show, you can theme your booth to better facilitate your desired outcomes.
Do you want to capture a client's emails in a list? Are you looking to find new people to franchise your brand out to? Or do you just want to sell services on the spot?
When you have a clear aim, it also makes it easier to measure how successful the show was. Your booth can be designed not just to attract visitors, but to funnel them towards your desired action.
Your Trade Show Booth Does Not Look Professional
The trade show display accessories you choose will be the outward impression of your brand and its message. Looking professional is essential. The trick is that being professional does not always mean having to look busy and expensive.
If you have a relatively small budget you can still get a great trade show design with the right trade show supplies. A small, understated booth is better for trade show marketing than a large one where the budget looks like it has been spread thin. This can give a cheap look to your booth that will not give the right impression.
One of the best places to start when choosing trade show booth materials is with a custom logo tablecloth. Custom printed tablecloths are the centerpiece of any good booth design and are the easiest booth item to have made. Pick a color and size and send in your logo - that's it!
Poor Design
You can have a huge budget but with the wrong design, it will be for nothing. There are a number of options you can employ to build your trade booths such as counters, storage, and media kiosks. However, one of the best trade show booth design tips is that just because you can doesn't mean you should.
One of the most important considerations is space. Do you have enough floorplan to accommodate staff and the people attending, plus your trade show supplies and trade show booth materials? Allowing people room to move and mingle is one of the most important booth design ideas.
After this, you need the remaining room to incorporate trade show display accessories. You also need to accommodate for space around them for viewing and demonstrations.
Third in the line should be areas to sit and chat. These should be situated away from the busier areas, so you can talk to clients and potential leads.
Your Trade Show Booth Design Is Not in Line With Your Brand Image
Even with a simple, low-budget look, your trade show booth materials should reflect your brand identity. The graphic, colors, and lighting you use should be those that have tied into your previous marketing efforts. The color and design of your retractable banners, for example, should be consistent with your logo tablecloths.
Graphics are the key to attracting attention. Make sure you choose the correct text and imagery to entice visitors to your tradeshow booth. It may be beneficial to allocate some of your budgets to get professional pictures and shots for effective trade show marketing.
Color in your trade show supplies is one way to tie the booth to your brand, but it is a balancing act. On one hand, you need to attract attention. Some of the colors in your chosen scheme may not be ideal for doing this.
On the other hand, you need to create a mood. While this is often reflective of your brand image, it may not always be the case. This is why you need a professional designer to balance the elements and refer you to the best trade show products and trade show equipment.
It Is at the Wrong Trade Show
No matter how good your trade show design is, if you choose the wrong show it won't matter. Different trade shows are set up for each industry. Sometimes, they can overlap and blur making it hard to know if some are worth visiting. No matter how good your trade show supplies are, they won’t help if you’re at the wrong show.
Part of this comes from knowing who will be there. Is it a direct-to-consumer show, or a business-to-business? You then need to know what type of attendees will go, to theme the booth and its contents to their needs.
From this, choose the right trade show for your needs. Is it a travel expo, electronics, software, or one of the many others? Check who has exhibited there in previous years and check if it is relevant to your market.
Giving Too Much Information
The worst type of clutter in your trade show supplies and trade show products is information noise. In a world where images and snappy headlines are our default browsing choice, we need short snippets of text for effective trade show promotion.
Don't blast your passers-by with large blocks of text. Instead, use trade show materials to wisely to draw them in. Once they are there, your personable staff should be able to explain the details.
Not Having Storage
When you set up a tradeshow booth, it is inevitable that you will order a mountain of marketing trade show materials. Laying them around in boxes will look unsightly. Place them on tables and they can quickly become messy.
Ask your designer to place storage somewhere in your booth. The most simple solution is a branded table cloth that hides what is under and behind, so you can place your items under and out of the way.
Not Taking the Right Staff
Your staff is the physical extension of your trade show booth. No matter how well designed the booth itself is, take the wrong staff and you have wasted your money. Only put your expert sales staff and most personable members out front to be the face of your business.
Setting up a Trade Show Booth
When commissioning a design for a trade show booth, know what you want then get a balance between space, practicality, and attracting attention. Make sure it fits with your brand image.
For high-quality trade show display services and trade show display solutions, Custom Banner Lab should be your first stop. We have everything from flags to backdrops to get your trade booth off to a flying start. Contact us here to discuss our exceptional range of products and get the right display materials today!