We’ve discussed the importance of choosing the right show. Now that you’ve done that, you need to get the best booth space you can – not all equally sized trade show booths are equal. People, it’s time to think like a grocery store manager.

You may know this, but the arrangement of aisles, displays and products in a grocery store is anything but random. A lot of science has gone into understanding how to most effectively market to shoppers. Certain areas of the store are more likely to draw attention – and some are less likely.

Clearly, you can pay up for the best placement, but if your company could do that you wouldn’t be ready this blog. So be smart – think about how you can get more valuable space in the venue without paying more. Said differently, avoid paying for a good space and getting a bad one.

So, what’s good?
• Line of sight from the entrance
• On a major aisle
• On a cross aisle, from a major to a major
• Near an industry leader’s booth

What to avoid?
• Being on the extreme right or left immediately inside the entrance
• Near a column, equipment riser or stairs
• Being near the bathrooms or food service area
• Being near the conference area

With advance planning, you can get a better booth and you won’t pay more. By the way, don’t expect the conference organizer or reservation agent to care if your booth is good or bad – they probably won’t even be at the show. Once you get your booth (and here’s where we tie it all together), design your booth to optimize the space. Position your signage to face most of the traffic. Create more audience “catchment” against the traffic flow. If the aisle is too busy, design the booth to get people out of the aisle.
With some creativity (and of course a good booth designer), you can choose a good space and optimize it. Whether you have a banner stand, pop up display or a truss display or modular exhibit, the same rules apply.

Impact Displays offers trade show displays and large format graphics to help you get the most out of your next trade show.

If you’re planning a trade show strategy (or re-assessing your company’s current strategy), the best decision you can make is going to the right show(s) and avoiding the wrong shows. Sure, this sounds simple, but what qualifies as “the right” show? We’ve written a lot about optimizing your show investment – it starts with an assessment of your company’s show goals and how to achieve them most cost effectively.

Despite the emergence of new marketing channels, face to face interaction is still the most effective way to build relationships, position your brand, and market your products. What specific trade shows you exhibit at will reflect your goals. Trade shows can be useful for:

1. Launching a new product/service or updating an existing offering
2. Communicating a new brand, identity or message
3. Re-establishing market presence and participation
4. Announcing new partnerships or collaborations
5. Explore joint ventures with industry participants

You’ll achieve these goals by executing on the steps we’ve discussed in the past. But it’s important to decide who will be at the show you want to exhibit at. Questions you’ll want to ask include:
1. Are my current customers usually there? What about companies I don’t sell to currently?
2. Are the attendees at the right level to help make my show a success?
3. How many attendees will be there? Will I be over-shadowed? Can I create presence?
4. Are my products/services a direct hit with this audience or are they peripheral?

As you think about your ideal trade show (and compare it to this show), think of 3-5 ideal customer types. Are they going to be at your show in reasonable supply?

There are many other decisions – how large a booth, what type of trade show display, how to prepare and staff – but none of these are as important as making sure the show(s) you attend is the right show.

Impact Displays sells trade show displays, including pop up displays, banner stands and truss displays and custom large format graphics. Impact Displays also offers an abundance of trade show tips and a comprehensive trade show buying guide to help make your show a success.

Companies that are going to trade shows for the first time are often in the dark about the costs of trade show exhibiting. We’ve written quite a bit about how to maximize your trade show investment – here’s a basic guideline for what that investment is at typical companies.

We looked at information from data collected and published by the CEIR in collaboration with Deloitte & Touche, which found that companies on average spend 24% of their sales and marketing budgets on face to face promotions. That sounded high to us – they may be including other events in addition to trade shows. Our own survey of more than 100 small businesses suggests that companies with less than $50m in annual revenues spend approximately 8% of their marketing budgets on trade shows, expos and events. In these companies the marketing budget averages 6-10% of revenues, so trade shows would equal 0.5%-0.8% of annual revenues. That would mean that a hypothetical business with $10million in annual revenues would spend $50k-$80k on trade shows. Larger companies spend more in total but less as a % of revenues.

Where does the money go? Our research over the past the past 2 years suggests:

• 30% of the budget goes to exhibit space at the exhibit venue
• 20% goes to the exhibit itself, including graphics, shipping and set up
• 20% goes to travel, meals and lodging for staff at the show
• 15% goes to show services at the venue (cleaning, internet access, electrical, etc)
• 10% goes to transportation of equipment to/from show
• 5% goes to advertising and promotions before and during the show

With these estimates you can benchmark your company, and using our other suggestions on maximizing your return you can get better results. Keep in mind that there’s a lower limit to trade show exhibiting expenses – so smaller companies will have a proportionately larger budget for trade shows, all other things being equal.

Impact Displays is a full service exhibit house located in San Jose, California. Impact offers a variety of useful suggestions to improve your company’s trade show performance, as well as a broad line of trade show displays and large format graphics.