Most companies who use trade shows as a part of a larger marketing campaign actually spend less than they should on their trade show marketing campaign. If you spend too little on your trade show marketing campaign, you will appear underfunded and unprofessional, which is actually worse than if you never exhibited at the trade show at all. Appearing underfunded will leave visitors and attendees with a bad taste in their mouth with regards to your company brand, which is the last thing you want.

If you’re looking for ways to cut your trade show budget, there are some simple strategies that you can use that will reduce your expenses without resulting in an unprofessional look. The goal should be to reduce your expenses and yet still improve your appearance and brand presence at trade shows. I’ll outline a few strategies below:

The first thing you can do to reduce your trade show budget is to focus tightly on the things you can improve without incurring any additional cost. At little or no cost to your company, you can train your booth staffers in trade show marketing and lead collection, which will pay off tremendously with even the slightest improvement. No matter what your display looks like or what kind of marketing material you have invested in, the people who represent your company will make a bigger impact on visitors and attendees at the show than any other factor, so be sure that they are well trained and prepared for the rigors of the trade show environment.

Planning ahead is also a great way to reduce cost. You can save thousands of dollars on travel and lodging expenses by booking flights and hotel rooms far in advance. It is common knowledge that good rates on hotels and flights can be easy to get when you plan ahead. You can also save a lot of money in shipping and logistics services by planning ahead with regards to the purchase of your trade show display. There is an enormous difference between the cost of overnight shipping and ground shipping, and planning in advance can result in massive savings.

You can also reduce your expenses by analyzing what employees spend on trips. Dining at fine restaurants, flying first class, and other perks should be avoided to reduce the feeling that a trip to a trade show is a vacation. You can still have fun, but ensure that business is the primary feature of your trip, and don’t get caught up in distractions.

The number one way that exhibitors can save money is by carefully considering where they exhibit. Many exhibitors attend shows year after year without any analysis of the profitability. Eventually, exhibiting at unprofitable shows becomes a habit instead of a conscious decision, and this causes results to decline further. Most exhibitors could do well by carefully considering which shows they exhibit at and eliminating the ones that are not profitable (even if they are industry specific trade shows where your company is “supposed to make an appearance”).