How to Get Your Marketing Message Across

But how do you tailor your exhibition stands to really communicate what's great about your business and to make the most of this opportunity? 

Branding Your Exhibition Stands
An obvious starting point is your company branding and the branding of the product(s) you are championing at the exhibition. If you're a new business, you might want to make sure your logo and visual identity is larger than more established names, so that new customers can spot your stand from across the exhibition hall. The colours of your exhibition space might be set by the venue itself, so find out before you commission your stand if you are going to be against a particular backdrop. When exhibiting in London last year, a metal music themed exhibitor discovered his walls would be pale peach and spent all night painting them black to make sure his colours reflected his brand! Of course, do make sure you have the expo's permission before you start painting the walls! 
   
Graphics & Grabbing Attention
Graphics can help you to get your marketing message across, and these don't just need to be confined to your display stand as you can commission floor graphics too, helping you to grab attention and lead customers to your stand. Lighting, music (with permission) and animation can all help to make your stand more interactive and immersive for your visitors. 

Making an Impact
Exhibition stands are an opportunity to demonstrate exactly what it is that you do best. Products need to be on display, where possible, allowing visitors to experience, touch, taste and smell them. Of course, that may be tricky if you handle a medical product or an accountancy service, so you'll need to think more laterally about what's appropriate.

Consider testing out a few ideas on friends or staff to see how they interact with your give-away or demonstration. Practise your 'elevator pitch' on people before you get to the exhibition itself and make sure that you have all the props, answers and flyers that help you to explain exactly what problem you can solve.

What are you selling?
OK, so you know what your business does but spending money on exhibition stands needs to result in a return on investment for you. Consider launching a new product or idea on your stand, so that you can focus on that and monitor how visitors to your stand respond to it.

Having Fun
If your product or service is 'dry', it doesn't mean you can't have fun. There are banks that give away dog biscuits and shops with free samples of food or drinks on the high street, so take a leaf out of their books and delight your customers with a nice surprise. It's no bad thing to be one of the 'party' exhibition stands that all the other exhibitors wish they were a part of.