9 tips for creating an attractive trade show stand

Exhi­bi­tions and trade shows are excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ties to build new rela­tion­ships with poten­tial cus­tomers and pro­mote your prod­ucts and ser­vices. There­fore, you should cre­ate an attrac­tive and unusu­al stand that cap­tures vis­i­tors’ atten­tion. There are many cri­te­ria to con­sid­er when organ­is­ing and design­ing your stand.

Here are 9 tips and ideas for set­ting up a suc­cess­ful stand:

1. Planning is key

As with any event, plan­ning your par­tic­i­pa­tion in the fair and your stand is essen­tial. To make the most of your pres­ence at a trade show, you can send out invi­ta­tions in advance, increase pro­mo­tion on your social media chan­nels in the weeks lead­ing up to the event and, as far as pos­si­ble, direct­ly inform your cus­tomers and poten­tial cus­tomers that you will be attend­ing. Also, plan how many peo­ple and who will attend the event on behalf of your com­pa­ny, as well as the over­all strat­e­gy and goals:

• Do you want to tar­get new poten­tial cus­tomers and make con­tacts?
• Is the aim to intro­duce a new prod­uct? To be vis­i­ble in the sec­tor?
• Which prod­ucts will you give as gifts or to try?
• What actions will you under­take after the fair?

2. Strategically choose your location

The loca­tion of your stand is cru­cial to its suc­cess. If you are in a cor­ner of the fair with lit­tle traf­fic, it will be dif­fi­cult to attract poten­tial cus­tomers.

Find out in advance about the site plan and avail­able loca­tions; you may have to pay more for a bet­ter place. The best areas tend to sell quick­ly. Gen­er­al­ly, the cen­tre of the fair is the most cov­et­ed spot, as it is locat­ed in the mid­dle of the tran­sit areas and usu­al­ly close to the most vis­it­ed points (stage, round tables…). It is also where the most beau­ti­ful stands are gen­er­al­ly set up. Being at their side can only be ben­e­fi­cial.

3. Offer unique experiences

Com­pa­nies are becom­ing increas­ing­ly inven­tive and inno­v­a­tive when it comes to stands.

To keep up, cre­ate an expe­ri­ence that is dif­fer­ent and catch­es vis­i­tors’ atten­tion. One of the lat­est trends is undoubt­ed­ly VR/AR (vir­tu­al reality/augmented real­i­ty) tech­nol­o­gy. Inte­grat­ing VR or AR into your booth design is one of the best expe­ri­ences you can offer your poten­tial cus­tomers. Thanks to aug­ment­ed real­i­ty and vir­tu­al real­i­ty tech­nolo­gies, you can, for exam­ple, show your prod­ucts in new ways, cre­ate an immer­sive space if you are in the real estate busi­ness, cre­ate a trav­el expe­ri­ence if you are an agency, and so on. The pos­si­bil­i­ties are tru­ly end­less!

The good news in all this? Many com­pa­nies offer dai­ly or mul­ti-day rentals of RV/RA hulls to min­imise your costs.

Choose a theme

If you real­ly want to cap­ture the atten­tion of the atten­dees and attract them to your stand, for­get about your usu­al trade show stand and devel­op an orig­i­nal theme which cap­tures the essence and rein­forces the posi­tion­ing of your com­pa­ny.

Con­sid­er uncon­ven­tion­al options such as arti­fi­cial grass and gar­den chairs, flow­er­ing walls, or indus­tri­al decor for max­i­mum impact. The key is that they refer back to your com­pa­ny in some way. Be cre­ative and remem­ber that the visu­al aspect of a stand is key: the poten­tial cus­tomer must have a visu­al and even olfac­to­ry expe­ri­ence at your stand.

Aesthetics for your marketing materials

Your exhi­bi­tion stands will be more attrac­tive if you use large for­mat graph­ics, high-qual­i­ty print­ing and a large, leg­i­ble font. To get a bet­ter idea of what your stand will look like on the day of the show, you should ide­al­ly use a trade show stand design­er who can pro­vide you with 3D views. Well-thought-out and designed graph­ics will attract more vis­i­tors to your exhi­bi­tion stand.

Pre­pare a detailed bud­get for the costs of the mar­ket­ing mate­ri­als used. This may be a sig­nif­i­cant part of your over­all stand bud­get, but it is a cru­cial ele­ment that atten­dees will see from afar, and it will help your com­pa­ny stand out from the crowd.

Offer something to drink and some snacks

Rent a fridge and a cof­fee machine, and ensure you can offer drinks and snacks to vis­i­tors to your stand. These details should hold them a lit­tle longer, often trans­lat­ing into a bet­ter chance of a fruit­ful con­ver­sa­tion. Be cre­ative and offer food and drinks that peo­ple usu­al­ly like, such as a glass of cham­pagne if allowed, smooth­ies, juices, cock­tails, cof­fee, choco­late, sweet and savoury snacks, etc.

Stay connected

Before the event, announc­ing your pres­ence and pub­li­cis­ing your stand on social media may be a good idea.

Don’t for­get to share your day at the fair on social media (LinkedIn, Face­book, Insta­gram…). Cre­ate your own hash­tag and use the hash­tag cre­at­ed by the fair, then tag the atten­dees you inter­act­ed with dur­ing the event. Ask a team mem­ber to keep an eye on social media through­out the day to inter­act with those who want to ask ques­tions or close meet­ings.

The right team for your stand

Choos­ing the right peo­ple to rep­re­sent your com­pa­ny at a trade show is essen­tial. Remem­ber the goals defined before­hand and bring expe­ri­enced peo­ple who know the sec­tor, the poten­tial cus­tomers and the com­pa­nies present at the fair.

Offer goodies to potential customers

Every exhi­bi­tion stand needs to have some­thing to offer to cer­tain peo­ple. This is a strat­e­gy to attract cus­tomers to your stand. Most com­pa­nies hand out items with the com­pa­ny name or logo, such as pens and cof­fee mugs.

You have a wide range of options for this type of mer­chan­dis­ing. For exam­ple, it is com­mon to see per­son­alised USB sticks or note­books. Be cre­ative with­in your bud­get.

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