With everyone under one roof and your target market at your fingertips, exhibitions and tradeshows are the perfect place to gain new customers and sell, sell, sell! However the competition is heating up with more attendees and exhibitors visiting each and every year. What are the consequences? You need to make sure you stand out!
Don’t shy away from the competition. If you are attending an outdoor event or exhibition, the perfect solution is an exhibition trailer. Attending an indoor event, grab yourself a bespoke indoor exhibition stand. Both of these will make you main the attraction and have your potential customers flocking towards you!
Think About Your Message!
Before you commit to an exhibition stand or trailer you need to think about how you are going to captivate your audience. First impressions count and you only get one chance to make a good one. Reconfirm your goals and objectives of the event, this will help you to decide what your message is. Continuity with your brand will also help to reinforce your overall business objectives and will help exhibition attendees recognise and trust you. Again, remember a bespoke design could be the key to helping you get noticed over you competitors!
Don’t Over Crowd Me!
Less is more darling. It’s time to think about the content of your trailer or stand. Don’t over crowd your space, keep it simple and sleek. Make sure there is plenty of room for attendees to explore and don’t bring too many products, pamphlets about your services or general junk that is going to overwhelm your exhibition visitors. You want your business, brand and products or services to speak for themselves. Let them do the talking and the selling!
The same goes for staff members. Too many and you will look like your desperate, too few and your team will be rushed off their feet and your potential customers will be fed up with the lack of personal service. Get the right balance and your trailer or stand will thrive, and so will your business!
Logo, Loco
No matter what you decide to include you must integrate your current brand and marketing efforts, especially your logo. Your logo is the most recognisable symbol of your business, including it on your exhibition trailer or stand will help your potential customers recognise you not only today but in the future. “Remember that stand with those great products”, “oh yea, the one with the red logo” – the conversation that you want to create! Images and colour is also something which will help you to stand out. Remember to keep them in keeping with your brand and its message though.
Top tip – keep your logo at eye level! By having your logo at eye level, you are more likely to get noticed and remembered. Of course, you can have your logo featured more than once but make sure your capture the eye of your customers by getting at least once in the right place.
It’s All About Those Contacts
Nine times out of ten your main objective is going to be selling your product or service. What do you need in order to sell? Contacts! Don’t make the silly mistake of not being able to offer people your contact information easily. Make sure you take lots of promotional material with your contact details on i.e. business cards and leaflets, and make sure you ask for theirs! Unless you are operating in a B2C market and asking a customer for their details may seem more like you are stalking them.
Of course, there is a way around this. Get them to sign up for a newsletter or competition. Then you have their details and you can promote and continue to sell to them after the event is over.
To Buy Or Hire, That is the Question!
One of the final decisions you need to make is whether you are going to hire or purchase. By purchasing you can transport your trailer around the country with you, gaining extra attention from potential customers. However, you also need to be able to transport it! Unless you are able to find a reliable exhibition supplier who will do the hard work for you! Buying an exhibition stand, you’ll need to store that for safe keeping as well. With any buying or hiring decision that are pros and cons, of which will make or break the final decision for you. After all, it depends on what you really want!
