The Exhibitor's Resource – Trade Show Marketing Blog

Trade show exhibitors often struggle with what information and images include on their trade show display graphics. Many offer a wide range of products and services, and may feel frustrated when trying to distill their pitch down to a “billboard” message. But we have a workaround for this problem that seems to be working for our clients. We suggest that exhibitors create alternate sets of trade show display graphics for secondary markets or additional product lines. With a larger inventory of graphics, exhibitors can deliver the best message to the audience attending a particular trade show. Sometimes the re-skin is comprehensive, and the entire look of the trade show display is changed with the switch-out of graphics, but the change can be more subtle by only changing out market-specific panels and leaving the overall branding the same.

And the alternate graphics can go beyond just changing the look or message from show to show. Marketers interested in comparing one look or offer to another can do this type of A/B testing by using one set of graphics on one day of the show, and another set on another day. This type of testing works best when there is fairly consistent trade show floor traffic on the days that the display graphics are being tested, but can give feedback about what message or offer draws the most visitors to your trade show booth space.

As you begin your next trade show graphics project, keep in mind the benefits to creating multiple sets of graphics for different audiences and different marketing messages. It will help you improve your trade show marketing effort at a relatively low cost.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Trade show displays used to be restricted in one way or another by graphics, either by dimension constraints or other limitations the graphic output option being used. Creative trade show display designers figured out how to work around many of those issues, but there was always a limit to how wide a continuous graphic panel could be or how vivid certain colors could be printed. However, in the past 10 years, large format printing has come a long way, baby. Whether it’s advances in graphic output resolution (how many dots per inch could be crammed into an inch), or it’s dramatic increases in continuous media width, there have been some very exciting improvements in trade show display graphics even in just the last few years. And without a doubt, THE biggest game-changer for trade show display design is fabric printing technology. It’s the new textiles and other woven media, plus the ink technology that goes with it that has turned fabric into stunning graphic murals, back lit display structure, and whimsical other-worldly exhibit forms. Very often now, a printed fabric skin is a viable alternative to just about any other trade show display material. Fabric printing technology for trade show displays has gotten so good that it really is the case that the graphics and the message are all that the audience sees. And of course, the ability to print on fabric has made modular displays even more lightweight and manageable. Best of all, even as the quality of the graphic output improves, the overall cost of exhibiting comes down, in large part due to the savings that are realized with lightweight, fabric-based trade show display architecture.

Popularity: 16% [?]

GOAL #1 – Be Seen. You only have a few seconds to capture prospects’ attention when they walk by your display. Use a stand-out image or attention-getting headline to bring them in.

GOAL #2 – Conspicuously feature your Brand Name or Logo

GOAL #3 – Tell everyone what your Company does

GOAL #4 – What is your offer?  What separates you from your competition?  Why should they stop and learn more?

GOAL #5 – Simplify.  Think billboard rather than brochure – a few bullet points and that’s it.  Rely on your booth staff to take it from there, providing literature, web links and follow-up to further explain your specific products and services in detail.

Popularity: 100% [?]