By Janice Jenkins

Trade show displays are one of the harder marketing materials to design for. Attendees are usually gazing though the crowds of umpteen trade show booths, just waiting for something to catch their eyes. This “something” needs to be you and the display in your booth.

Think about the last trade show you attended – how did you decide which booth to stop at? How many booths caught your attention? Probably not very many. Follow these guidelines and tips so that people will be swarming your booth at the next trade show.

Do not rely on your display to sell your product or service

Your display – your poster printing pieces, your brochures, etc. should all be there to help your salespeople sell your product, not the other way around. Do not rely on your display to sell your products. Design your posters, flyers and other marketing handouts to function as sales leads material – these items should not give specifics and details about product features – these items should outline benefits that can be quickly communicated to get attendees to stay in your booth and ask questions. That is where the real selling begins.

Do not just stand there – do something interesting!

Most of the salespeople at trade show booths are just standing there, looking bored, trying to hand out brochures or flyers. Yawn. What a bore! This type of trade show behavior will not get many leads. If you do something interesting, whether that’s demonstrating your product in action or playing some kind of game with attendees, more and more people will gather around your booth to find out about the interesting event. In turn, while people are in your booth, they will pick up a few brochures and other marketing materials. Draw people in with something of interest and then make your sale.

Keep it short

This ties in with the first guideline – not to rely on your display materials too much. You should think of your display as you would if you were designing a billboard. You only have a few seconds to draw people in – no one is going to stop at every single booth to check things out. People are in stroll mode and they are looking for a reason to stop, but they need a compelling reason to do so. If you have a poster that states “Stop here to find out about the newest vacuum cleaner that will clean so fast you’ll cut your vacuuming time in half” most people will have walked on before reading half of that sentence. On the other hand, a poster that reads “Slash your vacuuming time in half” says the same thing in less than half the words and also shows people a benefit of stopping in that booth. So keep it short and hit them with a benefit.

Be unique

Your booth display probably has a lot of the same things that your competitors’ displays have. Companies in the same industry tend to think alike – real estate companies think like other real estate companies. Car rental companies think like other car rental companies. Here is an idea to help you stand out in your industry: draw two columns on a piece of paper. Name the left column “My Display” and the right column “Their Displays.” Now, list everything you’re planning on putting in your display (charts, graphics, posters, brochures) in the left column and list everything you think your competitors will have in their displays in the right column.

Then, cross off everything that is on both lists. These are the things you cannot use.

If there is nothing left on your list, it means it is time to start thinking creatively. What can you do to be different? Do not be disappointed if there is nothing left – that just means you have started the thinking process and you already know what you do not want to do. Brainstorm with co-workers and try to come up with some new and creative ideas that will draw people to your booth instead of your competitors.