Designing Trade Show Booths – Top 10 Tips for Success
Everyone in sales and marketing has at one time or another been bored to tears working a trade show booth that didn't draw visitors. Sometimes it's the product, sometimes it's you, sometimes it's the audience but in most cases it's because the trade show booth lacked zing.
Your trade show exhibit is a direct reflection of your company's image. It's an opportunity to make a first and hopefully lasting first impression in a matter of a few seconds. This small window of time is critical to attracting prospects to your booth.
To be effective you need to create a "WOW" exhibit that attracts people and instantly communicates your message.
The experts at Lumichrom, who with over 25 years of booth design experience created the following 10 tips to follow the next time you need to create a new trade show booth, banner stand or graphic.
- Keep it simple – think billboard not bulletin board
- Design your booth to be memorable, evoke an emotional reaction and appeal to your target audience
- Limit the main colours to three or less
- Employ bold colours; high impact hues will stand out from a distance while neutral colours will just blend into the background
- Simple, benefits-oriented copy works best to get attention - use bullet form rather than lengthy text rich copy
- Know your audience - use words to target your buyer's hot points be it products they are looking for or benefits you can deliver to them
- Go for the clutter-free look and feature only one or two products
- Use fewer and larger graphics – intriguing photos or illustrations that speak to your target audience
- Use lighting – it can increase awareness of your exhibit by 30-50%
- Make sure your graphics can be seen from a distance and up close
If you want your trade show exhibit to have impact start with these simple guidelines and build from there. Think from the perspective of prospective customers; they are being inundated by information, graphics and lights. They are fighting crowds, have sore feet and a limited time to see a vast array of booths. Don't stand out from the crowd by being the booth no one wants to visit.
Do plan your booth in advance and keep in mind that your booth should reflect your company's look and feel. Your booth needs to be easily identifiable and consistent with your company's branding. Pick up colours in your logo, utilize existing fonts & design elements. And pick the right trade show exhibit for your needs – it doesn't have to be a 20' booth – it could be a smaller more portable display such as a banner stand wall. Take a look around at your next trade show and see what's out there. See what works and doesn't work and use the best elements for your own display.
The above tips won't guarantee that your booth is filled to capacity but they will ensure that your booth's design is not turning prospects away. For additional assistance in creating your perfect booth visit the experts at Lumichrom. They can help you choose the best exhibit for your needs, design the creative that gets noticed and even print your graphics in house.
Lumichromis an Exhibits, Display and Graphics Company with over 25 years experience with designing & printing trade show booth and banner stand graphics.