Primary Questions to Ask Yourself Before Exhibiting at a Trade Show

Exhibiting at a trade show is great for expanding your business and creating that exposure so more people recognize your brand and can get the opportunity to speak with you face-to-face; it’s a very effective way to gain trust from your customers. Before you dive into exhibitions, here are several key questions you should ask yourself before you exhibit, and we will be going through those in this post – these questions will help you get a better understanding of how you should approach your next event and can also provide you direct you on where you should prioritize your budget allocation, so you are spending it on the areas that matter most to you. 

1. Is this event suitable for our business? 

There are different types of trade shows out there which yield different crowds. Some are B2B (business-to-business), where you mostly get to speak with industry business owners and trade customers. The other type will be B2C (business-to-consumer), allowing the general public to enter the event. The kind of event you exhibit will depend on what you are trying to get out of the event. Are you focusing on selling bulk and potentially forming a partnership with another company, or do you want to let people know that you exist and are happy to sell in small quantities to the public? Once you figure out what business position you are in, you can select a suitable event for you.  

2. What are we trying to achieve?

Knowing your goals for the event is critical as it will drive how your booth is designed and how it will function. Some of the answers could be, are you looking to create brand awareness, do you want to sell products direct to the public, are you trying to get as many people to your booth as possible, or are you looking to find long-term quality clients who align with your vision of your business – you could have a lot more you’d like to achieve. In the end, we’d suggest that you prioritize a small list of perhaps your top 3-5 goals because once you start to mix too many purposes, you will find that your exhibition booth will begin to look too messy, and your message will become blurred and challenging for your audience to grasp. 

3. What are our competitors doing?

Start early and do your research, find out if your competitors exhibited at the event the previous year, and have a look at what they did. You probably do not want to copy them directly but do better than what they did, and understanding what they did previously will put you in a better position on where you should start with your expo booth. Do you know if they are planning to exhibit again this year? Have they provided any additional information to the public that will attract them to visit their stand? If they have, you could also create some hype to give visitors a reason to attend your booth – it could be a giveaway, a fun activity, exclusive discounts, etc.

4. What should we copy?

You could always copy an idea and customize it to suit your preference on how you want it to look and perform. Do some research and find out what would attract you as a customer. You can then use that as a starting point to see if that would work with how you plan to display products or promote your services because the same idea will not work for all companies. Therefore, if you can see what others have done in the past and its effectiveness, you can consider implementing it in your booth because at the end of the day, you want to get the most value out of the event, and it doesn’t matter what ideas you are copying – it’s the results that matters.  

5. What do we need to improve?

If you have exhibited before and notice that the event did not perform as effectively as you imagined, then something must be changed to get a better result. This is your chance to critically evaluate your previous event, find out where the weak points are, and address them – mistakes only make you stronger. Perhaps it is the way you approached your customers, or was your messaging not clear and concise from a distance, or was the lack of lighting preventing visitors from visiting as they get distracted by other booths. Maybe it could be your booth being too basic; you may need to upgrade to a customs booth to effectively create a visually appealing booth that makes people want to visit your stand and find out more. 

6. How much are we willing to invest?

Different budgets will give you different results, the lower the budget. The more essential your booth will look in the sea with other primary booths. Sometimes even stretching your budget slightly will allow you to upgrade specific components to create that point of difference when compared with other booths. Do not under-invest or over-invest, set yourself a budget that you are comfortable with, and then with this in mind, you can explore the different options you can get, compare the features, then determine whether or not you are happy with it if you are expecting a much better outcome then that could be a sign where you may need to increase your budget to suit. 

7. How do we measure our success?

In other words, what do you value more? Is this event about making as many monetary sales as possible, or are you more interested in lead generation (which could turn into future large orders or returning customers?) Your booth options are dependent on what you are expecting to get out of this event, which means it is essential for yourself as the exhibitor to understand what you want to gain from exhibiting at your next event. 

8. What type of booth should we get?

Typically, there are several types of stand packages you can go with, and each with its advantages and disadvantages along with its price point differences. The most basic package you can go for is a hire shell scheme; this can be upgraded to a pop-up booth that you can own and reuse at the next event. A custom exhibition booth is on the other end of the spectrum, but don’t let the name scare you. Many tricks can be done to bring down the cost of a custom exhibition booth – it is just a matter of explaining your requirements to your stand builder, and they will find the most optimal method to achieve it. If you are looking for a professional look, going with a custom expo stand is the way to go.  

9. Who should we partner with?

Selecting the right stand builder can be a complicated process as different companies can achieve similar outcomes for you overall. The factor which sets them apart is communication. Are they understanding your requirements and can respond quickly to any of your concerns? Making sure they are robust with touch means you won’t need to worry about them disappearing, which will give you that peace of mind and allows you to utilize your valuable do the more important things such as fine-tuning your pitch for the show-days etc. 

10. What if it doesn’t work?

There are no rewards if you do not take any risks, there is always the chance that your first event may not work out, but equally, there is the chance that your first event will be a hit – there is no natural way to find out unless you put this into action and give it a fair chance to see what you can get out of it. Being prepared is a significant factor. Plan for different scenarios and have a strategy to address them or make it a goal to try different techniques each day. Explore other methods and find out what works for you, then expand on it at your next event.

Conclusion

Apart from that main list of questions above, there is one key factor to keep in mind: to be prepared. A helpful strategy to have before exhibiting at the trade show is to be ready for different scenarios. The more prepared you mean, the less reactive you will be when asked a wild card question. This means you will be in a better position to control the conversation, and it will be viewed as a professional and planned response that will impress your customers. In any circumstance, it is advised to partner up with an experienced Custom Exhibition Stand Builder.