Mere participation in a trade show does not indicate that your success is guaranteed. There are a whole lot of factors that play a role in deciding whether your booth has been a success at the trade show or not.
Hence, you need to plan smartly and quickly. To begin with, you need to have proper booth placement strategies as the placement location of your booth matters a lot.
A strategic booth placement location that is as visible as possible to the visitors will give your booth a mix of perception and psychological advantage. Besides, it will help your booth in maximizing visibility.
TRADE SHOW BOOTH PLACEMENT STRATEGIES
For maximizing visibility, you need to have effective trade show booth placement strategies.
Consider the following aspects while crafting your booth placement strategies.
HAVE PROPER GOALS
You should be clear about the purpose of your participation in a trade show. It will be best defined by clear-cut goals. This will give you a specific direction and also aim at specific targets to achieve at the trade show.
Different exhibitors have different goals. Some look to attract lots of visitor-traffic while others look to raise better awareness about their brand and elevate their brand profile. Similarly, there will be exhibitors who will look to achieve specific sales target for the month and so on.
Whatever the goals eventually are, you need to find out how people get through the trade show venue floor and from which entry points they enter the venue floor the most.
When you know the real facts, you can accordingly plan your booth floor strategies. Additionally, you will also be better placed to pick the right booth that is easy to spot for the visitors; and then incorporate the right ingredients like using strong visuals, etc, to make it visually appealing.
BE FAMILIAR WITH THE SHOW RULES
Different trade shows have different set of rules. It is important to update yourself with the trade show rules and know how the booth spaces are awarded and assigned.
A great majority of trade shows use a point-based system. Under this system, points are awarded for
- Past participation in trade shows; &
- Amount of floor space purchased.
Often, in many cases, priority for booth spaces are given to trade shows association members’ first. Hence, it is advisable to being a member of the trade shows association as this will give you the benefit of the best or better booth placement. Besides, if you consider renting big size booths, it will help you to earn more points and will also place you in what can be considered as ‘pole position’, when you look to choose your next booths. Eventually, you stand to benefit from savings on money and expenditure.
Knowing the rules will also help you to know which booths you can choose; and the method that needs to be followed for choosing the specific booth. If you are sure on this, you can put your name on the contract early. This will help you to choose the best available booth that meets your needs for the show.
KNOW THE PREMIUM SPACES AT THE SHOW
The location of your booth at a trade show matters.
Every trade show will have prime spaces which generally are corner spaces; front of the trade show hall spaces; and major cross-traffic aisles spaces. These spaces enable the booths to be visible easily from even a far-off distance.
Most exhibitors tend to believe that the most prestigious locations at shows are larger booths at the front of the trade show hall; or the spots they had occupied during the previous show. Hence, companies that need larger spaces get rented large booths first as they need to accommodate their sales team from the front to the back.
A booth location near a prime space will help in maximizing visibility, as they tend to attract lots of traffic. Some good examples of prime locations include proximity to
- Washroom or food/drinks counter. Visitors are known to frequent them at regular intervals.
- Forum area. Generally, trade show organizers allocate a space for hosting international learning activities, discussions, and deliberations. Proximity to this area means you get to attract a lot of visitors; and your booth as well will gain substantial importance if it is at a little distance from the forum area.
- Trade show signage’s’. Among the signage’s, your booth placement would be best served near the primary digital signage carrying the names of the trade show and the sponsors. If done accordingly, people are most likely to remember the location and get curious about your brand. This will compel them to visit your booth. Your brand will become synonymous with the trade show event itself.
- Booths of reputable competitors in the same or opposite row. The reputation of your competitor’s brands will attract visitors to their booths. When this happens, visitors will also look at nearby brands as well. This can enhance your brand’s relevance and attract the same set of visitors.
Keep in mind the itinerary of the trade shows, when crafting booth placement strategies. This will help you to choose the perfect booth placement location.
SELECT THE APPROPRIATE BOOTH SPACE/SIZE
Booth locations generally are drawn up, based on the previous year’s show, by the trade show management. Taking this into consideration, your trade show booth placement strategies should focus on buying a booth of optimal size that fits your need.
Most popular booth shapes and sizes are 10×10, 10×20, and 20×20. But eventually, they depend on your industry. Some industries can do with smaller size while some require larger sizes.
The best way to proceed would be
- Select a booth shape and size by matching your booth space with your booth property and booth display area. This will give you ample choices of booth configurations.
- Make your booth selection based on where your company would be in a year or three years from now. If you go by this scenario, then your selection should be a 20×20 ft booth; or if you’re looking to maximizing visibility, opt for a 20×230 ft booth.
Navigating the trade show floor booth placement strategies can be complicated. This is when you need to pull up your socks and find ways to deftly navigate the challenge and craft the best possible trade show booth placement strategies.
Hence, plan your strategies by taking into consideration the merits and demerits of the trade show booth locations for maximizing visibility of your booth. If done accordingly, then you can make proactive strategies to get the most out of your trade show participation.
ALSO READ: How to select the correct type of trade show display rental for your tradeshow?
