If exhibiting at industry events is part of your overall marketing strategy, these three tips can help make your exhibit display design attract the attention you want.
One of my longest client relationships is with Chemicals America, a chemical industry trade event organizer. Cause Design Co. created the event logo and brand identity system. When I finished the work, we had learned so much about the event and the market that I was asked to be a staff member for the very first show. Nine years later, I still look forward to working at the exhibitor services desk each September. In that time, I have seen hundreds of exhibit displays.
Industry events provide great opportunities to get your brand in front of a lot of people all at once. It isn’t often that you have such a large concentration of existing customers, potential customers, and competitors in the same place at the same time. However, the things that make it such a great opportunity are the very things that make it a challenge to stand out. There is a lot of competition for everyone’s attention. You have very little time, sometimes just seconds, to catch an attendee’s eye and convince them to stop and talk.
Here are 3 tips to help make it more likely the people you want to meet actually stop at your booth.
All attendees are not alike. Learn who your ideal customer is and design your booth to specifically attract them.
1. Know exactly who you’re looking for.
At any given event, there will be people attending for many different reasons. Not everyone wants or needs what you offer. Knowing your ideal customer helps you design an exhibit display that speaks directly to them. What words or images would get their attention? What pain points does your product or service address? Making these things the focus makes it easier for potential buyers who are on the lookout for your service or product. Don’t mistake this for a list of services or products, however. Too much text, or long lists of items, get lost in the sea of visual clutter on a trade show floor. Instead, use a singular image, or a short headline, that will resonate with the audience you’re after. Better yet, make it clever. When a person looking at your display suddenly smiles, you’ll know they’re someone you should talk to. And they are more likely to initiate a conversation if they already know you speak their language.
Design a booth that appeals to your audience from far away. Then hold their attention with graphics designed for when they get up close.
2. Think long-range and short-range.
Depending on the layout of the room you’re exhibiting in, people will view your display from a variety of distances. How do the graphics in your booth look from the other end of the aisle? Does anything stand out? This long-range view is important to consider. It is an advantage to have graphics that get noticed from far off. If you have a distinctive brand color, use it to differentiate your space from others around you. It’s helpful if your logo or company name is visible from this vantage point. Placement also matters from long distance, since anything lower than 6 feet will most likely be obscured by people standing between the viewer and the exhibit.
When someone is standing directly in front of your booth, they are better able to see graphics placed in the middle or lower part of your display. You can use this area to highlight more details about your company. But don’t get too carried away. Your graphics are meant to spark curiosity, not answer every question. Keep it to a minimum of 2-3 bullet points. Once a prospective customer pauses to consider your exhibit, the exhibit’s work is done. This is your opportunity to start a conversation. Or better yet, if your booth has attracted the right audience, they will likely have questions for you.
Give visitors to your booth something to take with them that will be a visual reminder of their experience.
3. Make the memories last.
The reality is that people will forget much of what they see and hear at an industry event. There is so much to look at, so many conversations, and very little will be retained. You can improve the likelihood that your leads remember their time in your exhibit with takeaway materials that are consistent with the graphics used on your booth. Most people need to see information repeated several times before it becomes fixed in memory. A brochure or sales sheet that matches the look of your exhibit display design will make it easier for that person you spoke with to remember your company when they are reviewing the material later. Even better, use QR codes in your display that link to pages on your website that are consistent with your booth design. This repetition of graphics may seem boring to you, but to your customer, it signals consistency and professionalism. Both are important perceptions for a prospective customer to have of your brand.
When you exhibit at an industry event, you invest a great deal of time and money. The exhibit fees, travel expenses, and employee time are worth the opportunity to solidify existing customer relationships, and secure new ones. Make the most of this opportunity with a strategy for your display graphics that will turn your booth into a lead generation expert.
