Exhibitions are great events for marketing your business, earning new customers and developing a friendly, face-to-face, relationship with existing customers and potential prospects. Most of all, it’s your chance to really shine, both visually and intellectually to convince passers-by that they’re in safe hands.
Getting those passer-by’s interested
Everything mentioned above is almost redundant, if you stand isn’t interesting and compelling. Sticking up an A3 sheet of paper with your business name scribbled on in blue biro isn’t going to get the crowds flocking around your stand, and it’s not going to portray a serious and professional style for your business.
Here are the 5 main things you need to think about before setting up at an exhibition:
Creativity Vs. minimalism
Placement
Preparation/Set-up tests
Branding
Budgeting
Creativity V.s Minimalism
Creativity can be the best and worst way to attract people to your stand. A creative stand can offer something new and fresh to people who have been walking round all day, looking at the same types of stands. Encouraging people to come over and have a fun few minutes playing a game, you deviced, or making your banners three dimensional all add a certain spark to your stand, that leaves a memorable and lasting impression in the minds of people who saw it. The danger of creativity is that it can look unnecessary, messy, unprofessional or deter people from remembering who you actually are and what you do – that’s the main thing.
On the flip side, minimalism in a stand can work wonders. Short, sweet, to the point. Who you are, exactly what you do and a few examples of your product or service are all your actually need. Stripping the stand down and hitting people with the bare essentials of your business provides a digestible and simplistic impression on passers-by.
Placement
Have a chat with the event organiser prior to the event, to make sure they know exactly who you are and what you do. With businesses whose brand name doesn’t immediately scream what they do, it can be all too easy to be placed anywhere at random, at an exhibition. You want to make sure that the people who are walking around your area of the exhibition care about what you’ve got to show.
Preparation
The 5 Ps – Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Make sure nothing is rushed, on your stand. Have all fliers and business cards ready well in advance. Following on from the point above, make sure you’ve planned where you’ll be in advance and most importantly – make sure you setup your stand before the exhibition to get an idea for size.
Marking out a section in your office, 5×5 Metres for example, can help you get an early view of how your stand will look. Does it look cramped? Take something out, or arrange it. Nothing looks worse than spare products sitting at the back of your stand in tatty boxes, because you were taken by surprise by the small size of your area. This can also help you arrange your banners, table position and product placement in a way that looks the most visually appealing and airey.
Branding
you’re at an exhibition to represent your brand. Make sure your stand oozes your brand and livery. Relying on the pre-provided brand name sign, design to help you find your stand, will not work. Make sure your banners, business cards, products and giveaway prizes are branded – this helps people associate what they saw at your stand, and the products/services you offer with your brand name.
If you conduct a giveaway it’s important that all, or at least some, of the prizes you present to the winner are branded. A bottle of champagne or some chocolates are common prizes but putting yourself in a visitors shoes will help greatly. the average exhibition-goer could enter 10, 20, maybe even 30 competition that day. Receiving some chocolates through the post won’t remind them or you at all.
Think about branded mugs, pens, a discount code for your site, novelty branded toys etc. Straight away, it’s clear that it was your business who sent them free stuff. They may mention it on their blog, tweet it or visit your site. All of these are great.
Budgeting
A lot of things in business require proper budgeting. However different an exhibition may be from your typical goings-on in the office, it’s still important to budget correctly.
Exhibitions are there to promote your brands, create awareness of what you do, generate some interest/leads and communicate with people who maybe didn’t know you existed. If you’re spending more on the exhibition than the effects of it will generate, you’ve essentially wasted a day.
Speaking of exhibitions…
We’re at the Business Franchise Exhibition – Manchester this weekend (21st-22nd June). If you’re planning on heading down today or tomorrow, come and see us. We’re at stand P60!