The Trade Show booth is one of life’s great enigmas. How can you make it an attractive place to lure potential clients, without being overly gimmicky? How can you design a booth that makes customers feel comfortable while getting the information about your company they need, but without being so sales-y that it turns them off from your product?
Remember, your booth needs to not just attract passers-by, it needs to attract the target audience for your product. Spend some time really analyzing the type of person most likely to buy your product and then cater your booth to them. This is the type of thinking that needs to go into your booth well before you even set up for the trade show.
What kind of Trade Show Booth do you want?
There are so many different styles, and none are right or wrong, but they can be right or wrong for your needs. Do you go with a tabletop design for a 6-8 foot table? These are cheapest and easiest to set up. Or do you want a portable display, something that is easy to transport and set up, yet stands on its own? Or is a more complicated but larger scale display the right move you, something like a modular display that allows for flexibility in set up and size?
Where do you want to set up your Booth?
You may not get the pick of the litter in terms of trade show location, but there are some common places you’ll want to avoid, as well as some rules of thought that maybe aren’t as important as you might think. You definitely want to avoid being placed near the food area, or at the end of a dead end. Lines at the food vendors can cause unnecessary congestion around your booth which will be a turn off. Similarly, people are less likely to casually head down a dead end area of the convention center. That said, many people consider the center or near the entrance to be the most coveted location at the show. That is not necessarily true. Many people who are attending the trade shows will make it appoint to traverse the entire grounds, so having a prime location is not nearly as important as having a set up that attract the attention of the people walking by.
Unless your name is already a household name, you want to be able to attract these potential customers as they walk around the convention center, and a beautiful graphic showcasing your name is not enough to do that. Focus on the aspects of your display that you can control, and do not rely on a non-existent name recognition. Neutral colors as opposed to bright and flashy colors are better. Make sure the graphics are easy to read and not complicated at all. Good lighting is important, and inviting. Make your displays easy to access – no bending, reaching, or squinting. Keep your booth clean and attractive. Anything that may turn off a potential customer probably will. Audio/visuals are also a great way to bring in the attention of those at the trade show.
Anything you can do in the set up of your display booth to make it crisp, clear, and concise is going to win the attention of potential customers. Remember, people are there to learn, and they want to see your product. But there are also so many others there that any seemingly insignificant thing can turn someone away.
With plenty of time thinking about your customers and designing your booth ahead of time will reap you many rewards when it comes time for the trade show.