Trade Show Display Marketing: 5 Questions To Help Ensure Success
The only thing worse than failing to grab attendees’ attention at a trade show is securing their attention by making the wrong first impression. It is not an easy task because you only have a short period of time to make an impression and draw attendees to your booth or presentation. The right trade show displays will be an invaluable resource – but only if you choose and use them correctly.
Here are five questions to ask yourself when designing and purchasing your next display:
1. What is the message you want to communicate?
Your display has to match the overall theme of your company and your sales pitch – and it’s important not to mix your messages, or send contradictory messages, as the graphic to the right highlights.
2. What are the event limitations?
Some trade shows limit the area you can reserve, the height of acceptable displays and the material you can exhibit. Make sure you understand these rules before planning your ideas.
3. Who are the attendees?
There are obvious differences in marketing to different genders and 
different age groups; they have different experiences, different needs, etc. Know your audience and what will attract their attention. If you haven’t been to the particular event before, make an effort to contact someone who has and ask them about the expected audience, activies, and which booths were the most popular and why.
4. What will your competitors do?
Building to Question 3, look at their website or flyers to see what presentations and booths have looked like in previous years. Do they host seminars or open houses? After-hours gatherings? Find out, and use that information to plan how you will separate yourself from the herd.
5. What metrics will you use?
Trade show displays are a marketing investment. As such, you need to decide before the event how you will define success and exactly how you will measure that data. Keeping records on leads or responses can help you understand your Roi from each event.
If you can answer these five questions, you are ready to contact a trade show display professional and talk to them about the style, size and features you would like. They can then walk you through all your options to help you make a decision that will turn heads, and also turn attendees into leads and clients.