Tuesday August 2, 2016 14:56
Buying tradeshow displays for the first time can be a stressful experience that requires you to determine your budget, figure out what will work best for your brand and your customers, and create a design and layout that will draw people in, all while staying within your budget and being appropriate for the number of staff you can send to each show and the space you can afford to reserve. If you’re new to the tradeshow scene or have been renting your booths for several years, this process can be a daunting one. To make the experience easier and more successful, follow the steps discussed below.
Determine your goals - before you begin to look at tradeshow displays, you must first determine the overall goals for your tradeshow outings. Work out factors such as whether you will be promoting a new product or service line, marketing your company in general, or looking for new clients and potential leads. Once you’ve determined your goals, decide how you want to measure your achievements and success in terms of things like the number of visitors you draw in, the sales you get on the floor, or the number of business cards you get while there. After you’ve determined your goals and your performance indicators, you can then begin choosing and designing tradeshow displays that will help you reach those goals.
Have a plan - try to create a rough plan of what your tradeshow schedule will look like for the foreseeable future. Take into account how many shows you want to attend, where they will be located, and what types of shows they will be. By knowing the venue and overall theme of the show, you can better tailor your tradeshow displays to your needs. If you know you’re traveling out of town for a number of shows, you can focus on pop up displays and portable options that will make travel and shipping easier. If you’re staying in town or attending a large, potentially lucrative show, you can invest in a bigger-scale, more customized booth instead.
Know your audience - the key to successful tradeshow displays lies in how well they resonate with the customer. To create displays that do this successfully, you first need to be intimately familiar with your audience and know things like what they are interested in, what they need to know about your brand or product, what they do and don’t like, how old they are, and where they are in their lives. Knowing these factors allows you to customise your displays so that they meet the needs of your customers, which ultimately means more success and more sales for your company.
Know your limitations - when you’re ready to buy tradeshow displays, it’s also important to know your company’s limitations, including how much you can afford to spend, how many staff members you will be able to send to each show, and what size of space you will be able to reserve. All of these limitations should play into the displays you choose. If you’re short on budget, space or staff, be sure to opt for more compact, affordable, portable options, whereas if your opportunities are more open, you can go all out and choose fully customised displays and booths.
Tradeshow displays are a long-term investment for your company and you should be able to use them and find success with them for many years to come, so be careful in selecting, designing, and caring for them.
If you need more help choosing the right tradeshow displays for your brand, contact Textiles Alive today. Our team can help you craft the perfect display for your next show.
Textiles Alive is a premium dye-sublimation textile production house in New Zealand. As a trade-only fabric printer we guarantee a collaborative approach in the delivery of textile-centric solutions to market. Privately owned, the business was established in 1980 and has been at the forefront of the fabric printing local market. We have a relentless focus on innovation, ensuring that we lead the industry in best practice, world-class delivery and personalised customer service.
