When we go to trade shows, we’re there for one purpose only…
To draw as many people as possible into our booth, and to garner as much attention as possible.
Trade shows gather as many people related to its industry as possible in one centralized location (the show floor).
At that point, it’s the exhibitor’s job to execute its strategy to get those attendees into their booth.
But within the show strategy, how can you leverage your booth’s design to help garner more attention?
Booth Layout Design Tips
The best way to get as many people into your booth is to be Apple, Inc.
After that, just sit back and watch all the attendees flock into your booth…
……………………….
Ok, so you’re probably not a company with as much brand recognition and press coverage as Apple, right?
No worries, because we still have some good design tricks and tips up our sleeve.
Step #1 – Make Your Booth Look Big
Assuming that you have a good, visible booth location, you still need more people to see you.
With so much going on directly on the floor, the next best place you can place an attention-grabbing display is up above your booth.
An overhead trade show hanging sign would add an insane amount of visibility to your booth which is why many exhibitors have added them to their display strategy.
Step #2 – Add Backlit Displays with Bright Colors
Your booth is going to be competing against all of the other booths next to or near yours. You can stand out from the other trade show booths by adding in some strategically placed backlit displays.
These displays can add vivid and bright colors to your booth, so make sure you pair them well with a good graphic design as these will be your booth’s focal pieces.
Step #3 – Keep them engaged
Once they’re in your booth, you need to keep them engaged. The hard part is over as your booth stands out from the others and now you need to engage them with friendly staff, interactive digital kiosks, product demos, games and more.
Graphic Design Tips for Trade Show Exhibits
If you’ve been exhibiting for a long time, you’ve probably noticed the change in display designs that companies are bringing to the show.
Its come a looong way and boring designs are out, and cool, fun designs are in.
You could have a booth decked out with top-of-the-line displays, but if you pair it with a corporate gray, monotone overcast-esque design from the 1980’s, you probably won’t be attracting very many people.
It’s really important to maximize the money that you’ve spent on displays by effectively using their graphics and minimize any exhibit design mistakes.
With any display budget that you go with, the actual graphic design of the displays is equally, if not more, important.
Here are a few tips that we give when asked about graphic design strategies:
Tip #1 – Bright Colors
You should use bright colors in your graphics. Even if your company brand palette is a bit muted, using bright and vivid color combinations can really make the difference in booth visibility.
You can still maintain brand consistency while also displaying colors outside of what you would normally consider “yours”.
Established brands do this all of the time, especially when launching campaigns for new products. (Remember when Heinz launched Purple Ketchup?)
Tip #2 – Logo and Slogan Placement
At trade shows, you need to create instant company recognition.
Especially from the customers who know you already and are trying to find you on a busy trade show floor.
By placing your logo or slogan up high, you should be able to create that instant visual recognition from people with or without previous knowledge of your company.
Tip #3 – Movement
Ever notice something small move just a little out of the corner of your eye? Humans are incredibly good at detecting movement… and it gets our attention fast.
By adding some movement to your booth (and before you go there, no we don’t mean jump roping) in the form of a rotating trade show hanging sign powered by a rotating hanging motor, a banner that spins, or one of those “wacky wavy inflatable arm mans” or an inflatable “Air dancer” you can draw even more eyes to your booth via that human instinct.
Conclusion
To step up your event marketing game, you really need to start thinking outside the box and embrace self-promotion.
Especially considering that the era of boring, monotone booth designs have gone out the exhibit hall door.
This kind of creative thinking can be tough to plan and execute, and average planning can yield average results, so it’s really important to spend some time on booth design.
The rewards are amplified show successes that you can hopefully repeat across different shows in the near and distant future!