Trade Show Tips: 5 Mistakes You’ll Want To Avoid

When it comes to showing at a trade show, you have to make a significant investment of your time as well as your resources. To ensure that you are able to achieve the best possible results, you want to avoid the five following mistakes.

#1: Cluttering Your Booth Space

While it is true that you want to make sure that you fully maximize your presence at the trade show and showcase your cool services and products that your company offers, it is also vital that you avoid having too many items on display at any given time. Otherwise, you may wind up having an exhibit that is too overwhelming and cluttered for show attendees to actually absorb the information that you are attempting to convey.

Rather, you should take the time to evaluate the objectives of your company and determine what may interest the attendees the most or what services and products you would like to drive their attention towards the most. Perhaps there are specific services and products that you can highlight that are more applicable at one show than another show.

Once you have determined what these items are, you should focus your trade show exhibit around them. Keep in mind that you can make additional company information available in an assortment of other ways, such as brochures and follow-up e-mails.

#2: Making Last-Minute Changes

It may not seem like it will have major effects if you make small changes to your trade show exhibit, but it can wind up affecting multiple elements in your overall design. In addition, it can be incredibly time-consuming and expensive to make alterations to your trade show exhibit as soon as it has been finalized.

This can be avoided by working alongside your team to plan out the exhibit and determine your objectives early on. Make certain that your plans are shared with the design team, and that all drafts you receive are carefully and thoroughly reviewed to ensure that all necessary changes are made well enough ahead of time.

#3: Failing to Be Clear Regarding What It Is Your Company Does

While you may not want to admit it, everyone doesn’t know who your company is or what it does. Don’t only invest in graphics and signage that display your brand and logo—make certain that you are also conveying the services and products that you are providing.

This can be done by utilizing taglines, graphics, in-booth videos, as well as product demonstrations. If at all possible, you should obtain outside feedback regarding your booth before the trade show. Request input and feedback from people outside of the organization prior to finalizing the booth design.

#4: Focusing Too Much on the Money as Opposed to the Impact

Trade shows are quite the costly investment, and it is important that you never take your budget lightly. However, if you put too much focus on reducing the cost of your overall investment, then you will miss out on some fantastic opportunities that come your way.

In the long run, saving a few hundred dollars is not going to make a significant different. In fact, it could harm the message that you are attempting to convey. Make sure that you stick to your budget, but make certain that you are not wasting a lot of time attempting to save a few bucks here and there at the expense of the overall message and display.

#5: Not Following Up on Leads

Believe it or not, there are numerous companies that allow leads to go unnoticed after the trade show. This is a significant waste of your investment as well as your time. It is important that you designate a plan for obtaining information at the trade show and following up on leads after the show. If you fail to plan, then you planning to fail—it is a common saying.

Regardless of whether this is your first-ever trade show or you are seasoned at trade shows, keep in mind that mistakes will happen. In order to be successful, you have to learn from the mistakes that you have made int he past and make use of that knowledge to do better moving forward. If you would like professional advice on navigating the complexity of trade shows and ensure you get the maximum ROI, contact us at Expo and Show.