WDM Magazine

Regardless of which way you see the economy heading, maximizing every trade show dollar your company spends has never been more important. Whether it’s selecting the right show to exhibit, creating an effective exhibit presentation or choosing a high-traffic booth location in the hall, a well-planned and well-executed game plan can translate into more sales, more leads and more product recognition than thought possible. If you’re a large exhibitor, you typically have the luxury of hiring a trade show marketing firm to get expert advice on ways to maximize your trade show ROI. But if you’re a small to mid-size firm who’s watching the budget, following just these four basic rules can take you a long way to achieving trade show success.

Rule No.1: You can never start too early to start planning for next year’s show
While this may sound like a ‘no-brainer’, its amazing how many exhibitors wait until relatively the last minute to make decisions which have a tremendous impact on their show, as well as their budget. If you exhibit at a trade show and found it honed in on your target market, call the trade show rep and sign up for next year’s show without delay. Many larger trade shows allow you to do this onsite at the closing day of the current show. This is also the time to negotiate for that good location in the hall; not a month before the show when 98% of the spaces are reserved. If you’re budgeting for a 10 x 10 or 10 x 20 inline space, spend the extra $75 or $100 premium for a corner spot. It enhances attendee visibility and gives the appearance of a much larger space for very little cost.

Likewise, select personnel to the man the booth as early as you can. I always encourage exhibitors to send people that want to go, not ones you think should go. For large shows particularly, hotels and airlines book quickly, so the best way to guarantee those great Expedia prices is to book well in advance. Also start coordinating pre-show promotions, hospitality suites or other marketing tools designed to generate booth traffic as early as possible to get the best possible pricing and lessen your team’s stress at crunch time.

Rule No.2: Analyze your trade show presence just as if you were the attendee
Some of the pricey advice you get from trade show marketers is a matter of common sense. When exhibitors ask my opinion of their exhibit presentation, I turn it around and ask them what they think. Since every exhibitor is also an attendee, if you look at your display and it’s visually weak, your message is unclear, or the display just looks too ‘cookie-cutter’ - if you’re honest with yourself - you already know where the problem is. If you’re looking to re-vamp an existing exhibit or start from scratch with an entirely new exhibit, a tradeshow expert can help you solve those kinds of problems and create the kind of exhibit environment that would make you stop and look if you were the one walking the show. This is not exclusively a function of the amount of money you spend. The creativity and thought of the design team you hire is the real engine that drives this process. Of course, there’s a lot more to creating a successful show environment, but if you’re on a real budget, this is some free advice that will start helping you produce tangible results in planning your next exhibit.

Rule No. 3: Realistic budgeting: Save where you can, spend where you have to
Probably one of the most difficult issues any exhibitor tackles is the budget. Setting a budget that makes sure you’ve allocated enough dollars to insure you can realistically get the full potential from any given show versus cutting so many corners that showing up with such a ‘weak’ appearance is actually detrimental is a tricky judgment call companies make all the time. Whether in good financial times or a slow economy, this is means determining your actual cost ‘basement’ when it comes to exhibiting. That means booth space, personnel (hotel, air, food etc.), exhibit shipping, labor and other show costs (drayage, electrical, carpet, etc.). If you normally take a 10 x 20 space, can your exhibit be re-configured to fit into a 10 x 10 space? If you normally send three people to a show, can the job get done with just two? Or will downsizing give the appearance to longtime business allies and competitors that sales and cash flow are down. Most of these decisions are subjective and should be carefully considered. On occasion, there are ways to have the best of both worlds and compensate for downsized environments. This strategy may be more complex requiring assistance of outside marketing advice.

Rule No. 4: Fairly or not, attendees will judge your company by your appearance
Referring back to Rule No. 2, image is everything. Just as, you, as an attendee, will likely judge the quality of a company or its’ products by its’ appearance at a given trade show; you, as an exhibitor, will be viewed. Even with in-booth demos, pre-show mailings and other important marketing tools; no other single component will create a more lasting impression (good or bad) than your exhibit. As referenced in Rule No. 3, being an exhibitor at a show without enough display ‘firepower’ to make the average attendee at least stop and look at what you have to offer likely means you will go home feeling unsuccessful and second-guessing everything.

I realize that the majority of smaller firms with lesser budgets feel they have no choice but to settle for a ‘pop-up’ or portable exhibit. Unfortunately, that generally means their overall ROI on the show is unacceptably small. Considering that some industry surveys indicate that as few as 1 out of every 9 show attendees will stop to visit any given booth, showing up with an exhibit that simply blends in with everyone else’s is not a smart option. Even large companies find their overall ROI shrinks when they spend a fortune at a large exhibit house in an attempt to get the kind of custom exhibit they need to ‘make a statement’ or enhance their image.

There is a third way. For 20 years, Adwest has provided exhibitors in a range of industries with custom high-end exhibits for the same price as some off-the-shelf portables. Whether it’s a 10ft. inline or a 20 x 40 island, Adwest offers creativity and experience to give you the kind of exhibit you want, but did not think you could afford.

Using just these four common sense rules, I think you’ll find you will not only get a better handle on creating a more successful exhibit environment, but also do it with less money and less stress. To those of you who are either event planners by trade or in-house exhibit managers for very large firms, I apologize for the oversimplification. However, I think that even you will agree that with all of the behavior measurement tools, interactive workshops and inclusion of social media; creating a truly successful trade show environment is more of an art than a science.

That’s why I’ll grant you that if there is a fifth rule, it could be ‘Learn from Your Mistakes’. If it didn’t work last year, it probably won’t work this year. Paying for expensive seminars or buying computer-driven evaluation toolkits is no substitute for simply taking a good hard look at how well you planned and how well you executed. If you see a problem, fix it. If you can make an improvement, do it. Don’t be afraid to try a fresh approach to rolling out a new product, offer new incentives to distributors or customers, or maybe even a new exhibit for an upscale image that may just pay off at a time when you least expect it. For 20 years plus, I’ve watched it happen and I’ve made it happen. Good luck and hope to see you at CES or CTIA!

Kevin O’Brien - Adwest
Creative Director
http://www.customexhibits4less.com
Office & Fax: 661-254-6065
Cell: 805-217-3269

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