Trade Show Wars: Beat your Competitors!
In previous posts, we’ve discussed researching competitors and the kind of information you should attempt to gather about them prior to committing your company in a trade show as a competitor. Now that you have the information, your choice is whether you use it to help you position yourself and your trade show display above the competition at the trade show, or whether you want to use the info as a guide to tell you which trade shows to attend and which ones to avoid!
If you want to take on the competition head-to-head, then you 
definitely want to keep the size of their booth space and the quality of their trade show displays in mind when you’re planning to attend the same show. You also want to pay attention to the activities that they normally sponsor within their booth and any social events they like to sponsor at the trade show. Whether you want to try and match them or whether you want to beat them at the game, it’s obviously useful to know how they usually play the game!
If you are competing with an organization or company that offers products very similar to the ones your company produces, then knowing what products of their own they bring with them to their trade show display will help you decide which of your products to display in your booth. Do you have a product that will outshine theirs? Spotlight it! Do they have a product that is currently better than one of yours? Maybe you should leave yours at home for this show.
Regardless of where you think your product ranks against your competitors’ products (in the consumer’s eyes), you need to remember that it’s all about making your display stand and your product unique. You want to get the attention of the visitors and to be able to show them that your product is different from, and better than, your competitor’s products. Knowing what your competitors will bring with them to the show and how they exhibit their products will help you with this differentiation.
Once you’ve done your research and gathered all the information you can about your competitors, you have to put it to use. Be sure to have an eye catching, professionally designed trade show display. And take everything you learned about your competitor, their booth size, display plans, and products, and use that knowledge to position your company in a way that highlights your differences, showing how those differences benefit the consumer.
For more, check out how to size up the competition or how to find your competition’s strategy.