When exhibitions don’t deliver on commercial expectations, it’s common practice to blame the exhibition organiser for not delivering the right people to your door. But it’s worth considering whether you have done everything possible to get value from your investment.
Spending time, money and effort on an impressive bespoke stand will only be profitable if it is reinforced with strong promotional materials. It’s a common mistake for companies to fail to provide consistent marketing materials within their exhibition design. Even worse, some companies fail to use them at all! From brochures, to displays, to hand-outs, this is your opportunity to reinforce your brand’s messaging and promote your company through marketing they can take home. Ignore the use of promotional material and your customers will have nothing to remember you by.
If you haven’t bagged the most prominent plot in the hall, you’ll need to work a little harder to stand out. A poorly lit, disengaging, unexceptional stand in a prime position will still fail to attract visitors.
Produce an eye-catching stand with high-level branding, designed for optimum visibility at every angle of the hall, and you’ll entice visitors wherever in the exhibition they may be. Appealing to different senses with a variety of textures, lighting and sounds can help to immerse your customers in your stand and capture their imagination.
Attracting your customers to your stand is just one part of the sales process. You then need to concentrate on giving them a superb visitor experience, whether that’s through engaging interactive displays, memorable large-scale demonstrations or, critically, well prepared and enthusiastic staff.
Your team should look the part and behave professionally throughout; it’s unlikely they will do so if they have been on their feet for 24 hours over the past 2 days! Equally staff should only be seated when talking ‘one to one’ to visitors. So make sure your team has time off, and introduce fresh blood every day if possible.
Make sure your available budget is being fully utilised. When did you last change your supplier? How much of the spend does your audience really see? Would the purchase of a modular display system reduce labour and transport costs, and enable you to attend more exhibitions?
Keep your target market in mind at all stages of the concept, design and exhibition process. Are you looking to sell to a broad audience, or is your market a very specific, lucrative group?
Combine this with committed follow-ups to leads, and you’ll ensure your exhibition experience isn’t a wasted one.
Feel free to contact us for more information.