Most companies that exhibit at trade shows are selling a physical product. In fact, it’s one of the best things about trade shows – your potential clients can see your product, up-close, in-person, and possibly even in action. However, unfortunately, their trade show design doesn’t always reflect the importance of the product.
Have you seen a booth that’s so cluttered it looks more like a flea market than a trade show? Or have you seen a big lump of machinery in the middle of a display with no explanation of what it does? Avoid these mistakes and others like them with these tips for product displays at your next trade show. And if you need help with new design ideas to feature your products better, you can always ask us. We love to help!
Product-Centered Trade Show Design Tips:
Don’t bring too many products. Perhaps consider featuring only your best or your newest products. Simpler is often the better approach. With too many things to look at, you risk your customers not being able to focus on anything and they’ll simply move on.
Demonstrate your products. Show it in action! If it’s too big or noisy or it’s just plain impractical to display a fully-working product, consider animated video or cutaway models that will still give the customer an idea of what your product does. If it’s a personal demo, practice that demo over and over to get smooth. Your booth staff should not be struggling to figure out how to use the product while demonstrating.
Think about scale. If the product is huge, support it with other graphic and design elements to make it almost part of your booth architecture. If the products are small, consider using things like large-scale graphics or dramatic lighting to draw attention to them.
Build a set. Create an environment similar to where the products will actually be used, whether it’s with the architecture of the booth, images on graphics, or additional props beyond your products that help signal to the buyer that they are “home.”
Tell why you’re better. We’d all like to think our products sell themselves, and it’s tempting to think that once your products are on display, they will. Give yourself more visual proof by supporting your products with graphics that make your products’ benefit obvious. Do your products last longer? Do more, faster? Cost less over time? Take less energy? Tell your products’ story with graphics and/or AV tech.
If your business is all about the product, make sure your trade show design reflects that. A better product display means more eyeballs, which means more conversations, which leads to more sales.