Errors to Avoid with your Exhibition Displays
If you’ve decided to find some exhibition displays and start working the trade shows for your industry, good for you! Trade show displays are still one of the single best all-around ways of increasing exposure for your company, meeting leads, and establishing yourself as a major player in your industry.
However, putting together successful exhibition displays is hard work, and there are a lot of little mistakes that first-timers commonly make. So, in hopes of making your first few trade show booths a success, here are a few of the common errors you need to avoid.
Common Mistakes Made At New Trade Show Displays
- Not booking ahead: You need to have your plans in place for your exhibition displays weeks, if not months in advance. The Trade Show Institute has a nice chart showing just how costly waiting until the last minute can be. It can add thousands of dollars to your costs.
- Not reading the manual: Many newcomers don’t realize this, but most exhibitors have extensive lists of rules for exhibition displays on their property. You – or someone on your staff – must read this and ensure you aren’t running afoul of any rules that could add costly expenses or fees.
- Not having a plan: Granted, it’s a hard to come up with solid numbers with no baseline benchmark, but you still need to go into your show with a firm idea of what you want out of it. Come up with specific targets for how many leads, sales, or contacts you wish to make, and use your performance to judge how to better perform in your next show.
- Not scripting: Seriously, unless you are the next Daniel Webster, never ad lib when doing major presentations at your exhibition displays. Write out everything beforehand and practice your speeches and presentations, preferably in front of an audience that can give you feedback. Most of the time when someone stands up and gives a great speech that seems fluid and spontaneous, they’ve actually practiced it extensively.
- Not scoping out the competition: It may be tempting to hover around your exhibition displays at all times to make sure nothing goes wrong, but at some point you need to make time to walk around the trade show yourself and check out what your competition is doing – look over their trade show booth, products offered, literature, etc. This is valuable research that will give you insights into their plans, strengths, and weaknesses. (And have no doubt, they’re doing the same to you too.)
- Not showing enough modesty: Both over-statement and under-statement can be bad for your exhibition displays, but if you have to err on one side, lean towards humility. Few things will drive off potential visitors faster than a booth set up by a braggart. If you’re going to call yourself “#1” or “the best” at something, make sure you’ve got strong evidence to back your claims up.
- Not having relevant freebies: According to the Event Marketing Institute, some 70% of visitors go to exhibition displays for the swag, so it’s a great marketing strategy. However, make sure those freebies are
- A)something useful to the consumer they won’t immediately lose or forget about, and
- B)something that directly relates to your business.
- Not training your staff: Don’t just ask people to show up at the proper place and time. Pick your exhibition displays‘ staff carefully at least a week or two beforehand, and then work with them to ensure they know your products and know how to interact with visitors. Your staff are the ones who actually get your leads and sales, so they need to be ready for the responsibility.
For more things that can wrong, check out our article on trade show blunders or our article on the deadliest trade show mistakes.