Make Your Business Shine Bright: Trade Show Tips from the Signworld Experts

Make Your Business Shine Bright: Trade Show Tips from the Signworld Experts

So you’ve decided that a trade show will be good for your brand, and are now looking for signage and set-ups tips to make your business shine bright.

Some business owners think that trade show success boils down to buying booth space, unfolding some tables and chairs, and setting up an A-frame sign. If you’re one of them, your first trade show experience may be a bit of a rude awakening; a successful trade show set-up takes a lot of work, and even more planning.

If you’re attending a show outside of the city, the plans get a little more complicated. Finding ways to transport all of the equipment you’ve prepared for your display can be tedious.

Fortunately, we have prepared a number of trade show tips to help you make the most of your experience. Whether this is your first trade show or your fiftieth, these pre-show planning strategies can help. 

Find the right show for your showcase! Business owners from any industry need to exercise great care when selecting the trade show for their display. Trade shows come in all shapes and sizes – industry trade shows, vendor trade shows, product trade shows, and consumer trade shows – each with unique images and promotional strategies that attract different demographics, business sizes, and industry players. There are a number of online resources that you can use to locate the trade show associated with your desired consumer audience.If you’re a first-timer, it might be best to limit yourself to shows dedicated to small businesses. Trying to compete with the “Big Fish” can be daunting and expensive for small business owners.

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Research your target audience and tailor your signage to catch their eyes. Trade shows are veritable battlegrounds where business owners fight for the attention of vendors, consumers, and prospective franchisees. If you want to stay competitive, it’s imperative that you research your target audience to develop an understanding of their unique needs. Once you have this information, you can tailor your signage to attract them.Research resources abound in the Internet Era. Reviewing Google trends recorded from your target demographic is an excellent starting point. Seeing your target audience’s most popular search phrases gives insight into how they think, and can be used as a “cheat sheet” telling you what words to include in your sign copy.

Set goals for your business. Goal setting is important in any walk of life, and this is especially true with trade show success. There are many measurable variables that you can record to gauge the value or “return on investment” of your trade show display. For example, you might track the number of prospective contacts and leads, total attendance to your booth, the amount of materials handed out, the total sales increase, associated website traffic boosts, the number of interviews you secured with media representatives, and more.Plan your sign design around these goals, so that the copy and layout makes your desired “call to actions” most prominent. For example, if you’re hoping to increase website traffic and have made this one of your goals, then your sign should direct the reader towards a URL. Travel light with simple signage options. A-frame signs and banners are two of the best options for first-time trade show attendees because they are lightweight, portable, and make a big impact on passersby. These signs are also very resistance to damage that may occur during transport.

You can get more trade show tips and sign design assistance at http://www.signworld.org!