Trade Show Marketing Blog

Managing shipping and logistics for a trade show exhibit can be a complicated process, so why not let MODdisplays handle your display booth from start to finish? We offer exhibit storage and logistics services at a very competitive rate, which takes the burden off of your trade show marketing teams when it comes to managing your projects.

MODdisplays charges $25/month for exhibit storage, as well as $100 every time the exhibit enters or leaves our facility. The price includes a complete checkup on the health of your exhibit, but does not include the cost of any repairs or replacements needed to have your trade show display booth in working order. The cost also includes professional exhibit logistics from our shipping staff, which ensures that your exhibit will arrive on time and in one piece for your next event.

Although your exhibit storage plan does not include the cost of shipping, we do not mark up shipping at MODdisplays. Due to the massive volume of trade show exhibits we ship, we receive substantial discounts from UPS and FedEx, which means that allowing us to ship your booth will actually save you money on transportation. This savings often makes up for the cost of exhibit storage and logistics, which means that your company actually saves money by letting us do all the work!

Expand Media Screens are high-quality banner stands with a sleek, modern appeal. Finishing touches such as chrome end caps, chrome feet, and stylish design set these banner stands apart as a great solution for any exhibitor. Every Expand Media Screen we sell comes with a lifetime warranty on the hardware, so if anything ever breaks you can rest assured that it will be repaired or replaced in a timely manner.

Expand has manufactured more banner stands than any other company. Although they boast “Swedish Quality”, you’ll notice a “Made in China” sticker on the bottom of every Expand banner stand out there. Unlike other Chinese-made products, Expand banner stands are incredibly high-quality products that are held to rigorous standards. An Expand product feels much more substantial (although not necessarily heavier) when it is held in your hand, and the quality is immediately evident.

Expand made its name by producing the Quickscreen Banner Stand, which is the best-selling banner stand in history. Today, the Media Screen has replaced the Quickscreen as the new banner stand of choice among picky exhibitors.

If you have any questions about the Expand banner stands we offer, give us a call at 877.663.3976 or email sales@moddisplays.com.

If you’re planning to exhibit at a trade show in the near future, you should develop a detailed exhibiting plan the includes the following information:

• Exhibiting Objectives - What do I want to accomplish through my trade show marketing program? Your objectives should be clearly spelled out so that you can measure your success after the trade show is finished.
• Trade Show Schedule - Which events do you want to exhibit at? You’ll probably want to find conferences and expos that will be filled with members of your target audience. When planning your exhibiting schedule, you should be creative and look for unique opportunities.
• Set a Realistic Budget - Many exhibitors budget too little for their event, and wind up looking like amateurs. You should plan to spend about $200 per square foot for the whole of your trade show marketing program, and budgeting any less will probably result in reduced return on your investment.
• Create a Marketing Scheme - Your trade show display booth, promotional literature, and promotional giveaways should all carry a consistent theme throughout. This will give your company a strong branding presence.

Planning for a trade show can make all the difference in your exhibiting program.

There are many programs designed specifically for lead capture and customer relationship management, and using these programs could help to bolster your trade show marketing program. Instead of coming home from an event with an enormous stack of business cards, you could come home with a detailed database full of potential leads. By categorizing and organizing your leads as you get them at the trade show, you will be able to quickly relay information to your sales staff for follow up.

According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, less than 15% of leads generated at trade shows are ever followed up. Why waste tons of money on travel, trade show displays, and exhibiting accessories if you never plan to follow up on any of the leads you generate? Although following up with leads may seem like a simple task, it is often very difficult for sales personnel to prioritize and understand potential clients. This difficulty is caused primarily by a lack of information. Imagine the following case:

You meet two visitors at your next trade show. The first visitor you meet is interested in a few of your low-dollar items, but is looking to close a deal within a few days after the show is over. The second visitor you meet is interested in your most expensive product, but is looking to make a decision after a few months of research and deliberation. When you return to the show, you simply pass your sales staff business cards with the name of the product written on the back (believe it or not, this is the most common method of “lead capture” used at trade shows). Naturally your sales staff will push low-dollar clients toward the back of the line and attack high-dollar clients first, but this would be the exact wrong thing to do with regards to your two visitors. As a result, your company will lose both sales. If only you had the ability to capture a bit more information, you would have had a much better result.

One common method of lead capture is to bring a laptop to the trade show that is already running your customer relationship management program. This system will allow you to enter leads directly into your company database, which will allow sales staff at your home office to begin preparing follow up presentations before the show is even over. Many CRMs allow you to track statistics related to your marketing campaigns, and assigning each trade show to a different campaign will help you better understand which shows are good for your company and which shows might be a waste of your time.

Many companies use software that is specially designed for lead capture at trade shows. Sales Force is a great tool for lead capture, and it allows you to forecast future sales with relative accuracy. Many companies also choose to use software that aids in campaign tracking as it relates specifically to exhibiting. One good example is Exhibit Force, a software that will definitely help you figure out which shows have resulted in the best return on your investment.

If you have any questions about trade show software, feel free to contact us at 877.663.3976 or email sales@moddisplays.com.

You can increase your company’s visibility at a trade show by sponsoring a speaker for the event at which you are exhibiting. Sponsoring a speaker should constitute more than simply shelling out some cash to have your name announced along with the speaker, it should be well integrated into the rest of your trade show marketing program. Given the amount of money you’ll likely be spending to sponsor a speaker at your next event, you will definitely need to make sure you take advantage of the opportunity in every possible way. This post will help you make the most of your trade show speaker without overwhelming the audience with annoying branding messages.

If you’re going to sponsor a speaker, you need to get visitors and attendees excited about attending the speech. It is not unusual for the speech to be the most uninteresting part of an event, but sending out pre-show mailers and marketing literature will help you attract attention to the speech.

It is also important to educate the speaker about the products and/or services your company offers, and ask him/her to incorporate your company into the speech in some way. Be careful not to insist that the speaker use specific phrases, as this is a big turn off, but let them know your main marketing bullet points and they will probably find some way to slip them into the speech. Having a speaker talk directly about your company and your products can be especially powerful if the person is well-known and well-respected within your industry.

If the speaker is an important voice in your industry, people will want to talk with the speaker before and after the speech. Arrange for the speaker to be in your exhibit space during peak trade show hours before the speech is given, and be certain to mention that they will be there in your pre-show mailers. Also, arrange for the “question and answer time” that inevitably follows speeches to take place within your trade show booth. This will attract a good deal of attention to your exhibit space and will lend credibility to your branding efforts.

Sponsoring a trade show speaker can be a great boost to your trade show marketing program, but only when it is integrated into your overall exhibiting strategy.

If you want to be able to measure your success at a trade show, you need to set goals for your exhibit marketing campaign. Without measurable goals, it will be impossible for you to know the return on your investment. Some examples of practical goals include:

1. Generate 25 sales from the leads you gather at your show.
2. Spend less than $150 per square foot at your next expo.
3. Hand out at least 5,000 brochures on the first day of your conference.

With simple goals in place, it’s really easy to know how well you’re doing. It also gives your booth staffers something to strive for, which generally will increase productivity.

A national moment of remembrance takes place at 9 p.m. US Eastern time.

Exhibit One displays are the most versatile and attractive exhibits on the market. The eco-friendly design of the Exhibit One system allows you to help the environment without sacrificing your look. Check out the Exhibit One promotional video today:

To get more information about Exhibit One displays, contact MODdisplays at 877.663.3976 or email sales@moddisplays.com.

If you’ve ever attended a trade show, you know that many exhibitors try to attract traffic to their trade show booth using gimmicks. This may be a great way to increase foot traffic to your booth, but it may also serve as a major distraction that prevents your booth staffers from educating visitors about your company. Using gimmicky promotions such as a money blowing machine, prize wheel, or other odd promotions may actually detract from the overall success of your trade show marketing system.

The first rule of thumb when using gimmicks in your exhibition is to leave plenty of space for crowd control. If you plan on attracting a lot of foot traffic, you need to have a lot of space so that people don’t feel overcrowded. When exhibitors use gimmicks to attract traffic, they often find that their booth becomes so clogged with people who are not interested in their products and/or services that valuable potential clients are prevented from stopping by. Be careful not to overcrowd your display and there will always be plenty of room for your potential clients.

If you’re going to use gimmicky promotions, the rest of your trade show exhibit should match the feel of your booth. Sleek, modern displays such as an Exhibit One display or XRline display would probably look out of place next to a money machine. The last thing you want to do is to send your potential clients mixed messages about what type of company you are. If you’re going to use gimmicks, I would highly recommend purchasing a more playful style of display, such as an Xpressions display or Burst display.

If you decide to use gimmicks within your trade show booth, make sure that your sales staff are educated on how to make a quick pitch to your potential clients. Attracting large quantities of attendees to your booth is great, but it doesn’t mean a thing unless you can turn that traffic into leads and turn those leads into sales.

Trade show magicians can be a great way to attract extra traffic to your exhibit space. Competition for the attention of visitors and attendees is ruthless, and anything you can do to hold the attention of passing visitors for more than a few seconds will give you an advantage over your competition.

Although trade show magicians can work wonders for your marketing program, you need to be careful to make sure that they don’t overwhelm your booth display and create an atmosphere that is unattractive to your potential clients. Especially if you sell products that cater to a serious audience, I would not recommend using magic to attract potential leads. If you sell children’s toys or video games, magic could be the perfect addition to your booth.

Typically an experienced and talented trade show magician will charge between $2,000 and $4,000 per day, but their services could be well worth the money if you generate a few key leads as a result of their work. If you decide that you want to use a magician at your event, don’t assume that every magician is the same. Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.

In order to maximize your efforts and make your magician work for your company, you probably want to spend at least a few hours reviewing some basic selling points for your company. As a rule, every member of your exhibit staff should be properly trained before the show, and that includes your trade show magician. Your company will look unprofessional if you have staffers who do not know anything about the products and/or services offered by your company.