We all know that getting your business, brand exhibiting and product and/or service offerings out there can be difficult. There are millions of businesses worldwide and standing out can be challenging. There are, however, various marketing tactics to promoting your brand, whether it is advertising your brand through social media or through traditional media such as television or radio. Businesses also promote their brand at events and one particular event that really benefits businesses are exhibitions and trade shows.

Evidence has confirmed that face-to-face opportunities with customers and potential future clients are an extremely valuable tool for developing new business. Even today, in this day and age of the rapid rise of technology, multi-channel and internet-based communication, there is still a need for personal interaction and communication. When you meet someone face-to-face, it becomes more of a personal interaction as opposed to meeting someone online. The need for personal interaction has never been so important. Essentially, meeting customers and future clients in person increases the level of trust. The combination of exhibitions and virtual marketing are critical aspects to any business’s communications strategy.

Benefits

There are multiple benefits to exhibiting. We all know that going to exhibitions can be a little overwhelming with the number of people and competition, however, it provides you with many opportunities to grow your business and brand. Exhibitions and trade shows are generally aimed at an industry and people interested or involved in that industry. Exhibiting is an excellent way to advertise to a target market and create brand awareness.

Generate leads

Exhibitions and trade shows are the place to help you get in touch with industry partners, investors as well as potential customers. A visitor to your exhibition stand can usually be turned into a sales lead which will, of course, benefit your business and work towards increasing your profits. Profit, essentially what every business wants to increase. Before going into such exhibitions for sales and networking purposes, it is crucial to creating and establish key goals. Know exactly what your objectives are and what strategy to put into place that will achieve your goals.

At exhibitions, you will be able to learn about what is happening in your industry. Educating yourself on new information and trends occurring within your industry can be invaluable to your business. If you are just starting out in the industry, you definitely shouldn’t miss out on education from your industry peers.

Strengthen your brand

A good show at an exhibition can help you build you enhance your brand as well as build credibility. Business credibility is important as it allows your customers and potential customers to know that you are reliable and trustworthy. Having these attributes will allow people to trust your brand and continue to associate themselves with it. Furthermore, you can also generate positive buzz about your product and/or service that you are hoping to launch or gain market traction for. By strengthening your brand you can also increase your customer base.

Exhibitions provide you with the perfect opportunity to direct clients and industry partners. You can expand your network talk to a range of different people that may be interested in your brand and offerings. Also remember to always be prepared to close a deal on the spot and ensure to take a direct approach when making a deal with a client. By doing so, this will solidify the deal and reduce the chances of clients saying they want to look at other stalls before making a final decision.

Choose the right design and placement for your stall

The success of your exhibition or trade show stall definitely doesn’t depend on the size. Whether you have a big or small stall, it is the design and placement that will determine the traction it gets at the exhibition. The design should incorporate your brand colours while also making sure it is eye-catching to stand out from the rest of the stalls. In a sea of competitors, your best chance of standing out is from your stall. Exhibition stalls come in all shapes, sizes and colours and there are also various ways to engage with the crowd. All in all, designing a stall that perfectly embodies your business and brand can take time and effort, however, it can generate astounding results.

Risks

Research, research, research. There is nothing more important than ensuring you have done thorough research before attending a trade show or exhibition. Research is one of the easiest things you can do to prepare yourself for an event where hundreds and possibly thousands of people will be attending. You want to make your brand and business offerings are eye-catching and attract your desired audience.

As with any business venture, there are risks involved that you need to be aware of in the planning stages of exhibiting:

• Exhibitions and trade shows require minimum a full day and probably more of your time
• Travelling to exhibitions and trade shows can be costly
• Displaying at a trade show can also be costly
• There is no doubt that there will be a lot of competition for all types of exhibition and trade shows

If you choose the wrong exhibition or trade show to promote your products and/or services, you can end up promoting your business offerings to the wrong audience. Promoting to the wrong audience can result in poor promotion which means that the cost of attending the trade show or exhibition can outweigh any revenue you gain. The last thing you’d want is your exhibiting experience to leave you with fewer funds than you started off with. Think about the all-important return on investment and how you achieve to increase it.

Deciding to attend

You might find that attending trade shows is worthwhile if you have:

• Enough funds to cover the attendance, display and other associated costs
• Work out how many prospects and customers you’ll need to obtain to generate a return on your investment
• Visited an exhibition or trade show at which you’re considering exhibiting and you’re confident that a suitable number of contacts attend
• Figured out a way to capture your desired audience’s attention
  Sufficient product information

Deciding to attend an exhibition or trade show is a huge decision. Think carefully about what you want to achieve and what you want for your business and brand to move forward. Make sure the benefits outweigh the risks and if you are in need of exhibiting professionals, The Exhibit Company is here to enhance your exhibiting experience.

The Exhibit Company

Here at The Exhibit Company, we are a team of exhibit professionals with years of experience and expertise within the exhibition industry. We are committed to creating amazing experiences that also generate astounding results. We disrupt the old way of thinking and inspire people to rethink their exhibiting programs to turn them into lead generation tools. Equipped with state of the art tools and resources, our team create innovative exhibition displays unique to your business.

Our process

• Discover session
• Strategy
• Creative design
• Project management

We have a four-step process that starts off with a discovery session to develop a deeper understanding of your business and goals. We then create an objective driven exhibition display stands that will meet your objectives and attract your desired audience. We don’t just ask “what’s your budget” and then suggest ways of spending it. We truly take the time to know our clients and their business in order to create exhibition displays that capture the essence of the brand. If you are interested in our exhibition services, contact us at The Exhibit Company today for more information about how our approach can help you.