MODdisplays is proud to announce the release of Xpressions Salesmate Tabletop Displays. These lightweight, portable tabletop displays are perfect for sales reps, insurance and pharmaceutical reps, college recruiters, and small companies looking to break into the world of exhibiting. The system is compact enough to be stored in carry-on luggage or packed away in your sample case, but provides a huge branding presence at your sales meeting or conference.

The frame is similar to that of a popup display, but the graphics are made from a dye sublimated fabric material. The entire exhibit weighs less than 3lbs., making it one of the lightest and most portable tabletop trade show displays on the market today.

The Xpressions Salesmate offers a number of benefits and features, including:

• Extremely compact
• Fast and easy set up – 5 seconds
• Easy change of images for different presentations
• Fits in sample case or carry on luggage
• Creates fantastic subliminal message in the sale presentation
• Low, low cost especially for large volume orders
• Sets up just about anywhere
• Nothing on the market like it

To get your Xpressions Salesmate Tabletop Display, call 877.663.3976 or email sales@moddisplays.com today.

No two companies are exactly alike, and every company requires a unique marketing strategy. Balancing professionalism and personality is a challenging task for a new company, but finding that balance could yield big returns on your marketing efforts.

Sometimes the industry itself demands a specific approach. A company that sells life insurance will probably maintain an air of professionalism, while a company that sells toys for young children would do well to create a more approachable feeling. As a result, companies are often forced into a particular mold that they cannot escape without doing irreparable harm to their image.

Some industries allow for a good deal of flexibility and creativity. As you shop for trade show displays, you’ll probably notice that exhibit retailers employ a wide variety of marketing styles. On some websites you’ll find pictures of staff members and their families and other personal touches, and on other websites you’ll find a rigid, corporate, and impersonal style. As a general rule, when there is less market research data available in a specific industry, marketing strategies tend to vary wildly. Companies tend to cling to something that works instead of asking themselves what works the best.

Striking a balance between professionalism and personality should leave your clients with the feeling that you are dependable, honest, and capable. Every industry is different, and you may need to be more professional or more personal to get the best results, but the only way to find out for sure is through trial and error.

At MODdisplays, we believe that we have found the ideal balance between custom exhibits and stocked exhibits. Using only stocked hardware, every trade show display we sell can be packaged and shipped in a matter of days, but our flexible modular exhibit lines allow for virtually limitless customization. With MODdisplays, you get the convenience and rapid turnaround times of a portable exhibit retailer with the flexibility and versatility of a custom exhibit house.

Because we can create custom-looking trade show displays from stocked exhibit hardware, we are able to keep our costs down and streamline the process of ordering exhibits online. Our catalog of stocked components is enormous, and it never stops growing. Whether you need literature shelves, monitor mounts, counter systems, light fixtures, or product shelves, we can meet your needs at affordable prices with lightning quick turnaround times.

You’re probably as tired as we are of the endless bickering between exhibit houses about whether custom exhibits or stocked exhibits are better, so why not experience the best of both worlds by purchasing your next trade show booth from MODdisplays? Call 877.MOD.EXPO or email sales@moddisplays.com for more details.

If your booth staffers are not driven to succeed, even the best trade show marketing strategy in the world cannot save your company from a disastrous exhibiting experience. At business to business trade shows, the people who man your booth will be the single most important factor in determining the overall success of your marketing program. Booth staffers should be outgoing, friendly, and professional, but never pushy or long-winded. They should recognize that everything about their appearance, demeanor, speech, and body language will reflect directly on your company’s image, and that creating a great image is what trade shows are all about. So what can you do to motivate your booth staffers to be top-notch exhibitors?

1-  Take care of their most basic needs. Nothing breeds frustration among employees more quickly than being undercompensated on their trip. If you put your employees in a cheap hotel room and give them a meager stipend for food, they will be less likely to perform at their highest capacity on the trade show floor.

2- Offer incentives for gathering leads and making sales on the trade show floor. It is always much easier for people to work hard for their own benefit than for the benefit of their company, so offering incentives is an easy way to improve the performance of your booth staffers.

3- Take care to pick the right booth staffers in the first place. Although senior members of your sales staff may love to travel and exhibit at trade shows, they may be less motivated to do well than a young, ambitious sales person who works hard to impress. In addition to the fact that younger, more ambitious sales staff usually do better at trade shows, it will cost your company less money to send employees who earn less per hour.

4- Allow your booth staffers to be a part of the exhibiting process from the beginning. They will be much more comfortable working within the confines of your trade show exhibit if they played a role in the planning and development process. Who would want to be a part of a marketing campaign that they don’t believe in?

Shopping for trade show displays and exhibit graphics has never been more affordable than it is right now. In addition to drastically reduced prices for 2009, MODdisplays is offering additional savings in the form of promotions that are valid through March 31, 2009. Taking advantage of these coupon codes and special savings can help you make the most of your exhibiting budget.

• Free shipping on hanging signs. When you purchase a hanging sign through our online store, use the coupon code “HS-SHIP” to receive ground shipping on your hanging sign at no cost to you.
• Free carry bag with any Xpressions tabletop display. When you purchase an Xpressions tabletop display, receive a free padded carrying bag for a limited time. Call 877.663.3976 to redeem this limited time offer.
• Free shipping on Entasi displays. Receive free shipping on any Entasi display by using the coupon code “ENTSHIP” at checkout.
• Free banner stand light with the purchase of any Expand banner stand. For a limited time only, receive a free banner stand light with the purchase of any Expand banner stand. Please call 877.663.3976 to take advantage of this special offer.

If you have questions about any of our promotional offers, feel free to call 877.663.3976 or email sales@moddisplays.com.

Exhibitors and attendees both noticed that CES had a much smaller and more relaxed feeling this year compared to 2008, but many show-stopping products were unveiled this year. According to Engadget’s CES Article, Palm stole the show, but HDTV-related gadgets were also a big draw at CES 2009.

One of the most interesting products I saw was the 50-inch multitouch TV from Samsung. Although I couldn’t think of any practical uses for this device, it was definitely a lot of fun watching people play with images and use the built in chalkboard. Like almost every product at the Consumer Electronics Show, the TV was outlandish and impractical, but isn’t that what defines CES after all?

Although CES was smaller than usual this year, it wasn’t near as small or under-attended as many experts predicted. The trade show industry still appears to be going strong despite the downturn in the American economy. With the prospect of Apple exhibiting at CES in 2010, the biggest of all trade shows should get even bigger next year.

The largest consumer technology trade show in the world kicks off tomorrow in Las Vegas. The Consumer Electronics Association is a massive organization that spends nearly all of its energy planning and preparing for the Consumer Electronics Show, which is widely recognized as the most prominent trade show in the world. With big name exhibitors like Sony, Samsung, Motorola, and many more, CES has drawn massive crowds to Las Vegas year after year for almost four decades.

Each year, many new products and technological innovations are unveiled at CES. With over 2,700 exhibitors planning to show their stuff this year alone, it could take you weeks just to visit every trade show booth spanning across three of Las Vegas’ largest convention centers (including the monstrous Las Vegas Convention Center). There are always a few diamonds in the rough each year (startup companies with brilliant products or technological innovations), and there will be a massive media presence in attendance hoping to be first to spot the next great opportunity.

Positioning is the way you set your product or service aside from your competition in the marketplace. As you can tell, the positioning of a product, service, or even store location will stick in the customers mind and always be associated with the company. If you just take a few moments to think about the type of restaurants along interstate, you will realize that they are mostly fast food. These companies have positioned themselves in a place where they know customers have a need for quick, easy food.

Location is only one factor in positioning a company. Think of communication and the messages that are portrayed through commercials and other types of advertisements. For example, what comes to your mind when you hear the name Mercedes, Gatorade, or Subaru? What about department stores such as Neiman Marcus, JCPenny, and Bloomingdales? If you think of the ads for each of these products and companies, you will notice that each place has a different approach. The approach that each company takes depends on the market they are trying to reach and that reflects how they will position themselves.

Positioning strategies are really important when it comes to choosing your trade show booth and graphic design. You want to make sure that the booth you choose reflects the image of your brand and coincides with any other marketing material you have. Determining what graphics you choose for your display depends on what your positioning strategy will be at the trade show. If you chose the correct show to exhibit at, most likely you will have competition there, so you want to make sure your products benefits and services stand out from the rest.

Positioning strategies generally focus on the consumer or the competition. Both ways associate product benefits with consumer needs, but to focus more on the consumer you have link the product with the benefits the consumer will derive by creating a favorable brand image. The competitive approach positions the product by comparing it, and the benefit it offers, with the competition. For example, Scope mouthwash positions itself as better tasting than Listerine. Apple positions itself as having fewer viruses than a PC. Positioning can be the most important part in marketing to establishing a brand.

Before you attend a trade show, pick your booth, and design graphics ask yourself these questions:

1. What position do we already hold in the target consumer’s mind? (This answer must come from the marketplace, not your manager).
2. What position does our company want to own?
3. What competition do we have to beat to get this?
4. Do we have a strong marketing budget to hold this position?
5. Will we stick with a consistent positioning strategy?
6. Do our creative’s match our positioning strategy?

MODdisplays has a lot of experience in picking a booth that best fits your company’s needs and strategy. If you have any questions or need advice on picking a trade show booth, please call MODdisplays at 877.663.3976 or email sales@moddisplays.com.

An industry is a group of companies that operate with the same end-users in mind. For example, the trade show materials industry is comprised of all the companies that are working to sell trade show displays and exhibiting accessories to a group of people who can be collectively referred to as exhibitors. The strongest companies always find themselves in a leadership role within their industry, while weaker companies spend most of their energies imitating the strategies of the stronger companies in an attempt to catch up.

Trade show marketing is no different. If you find yourself planning your trade show exhibit by trying to model your booth after one of your best competitors, you will probably find that your industry-leading competitor will have further distanced itself by the time you’ve adequately mimicked their exhibiting system. In order to take a leadership role in your industry, you need to step away from industry standards and norms and take a long, hard look at what end-users are looking for. Once you understand your client’s profile, you’ll have a clear picture of what marketing steps to take. Instead of merely copying your competitors marketing efforts, you will be able to define your own presence and set the tone for your industry. Your display may take an entirely different shape and style than any of your competitors, but that won’t matter if your look is exactly what clients have been searching for.

One way to spot a dying company is to look for responsive marketing practices. Do you ever wonder why Microsoft doesn’t respond to Apple’s constant jabs about the inferiority of Windows PCs? The reason is simple: Microsoft holds over 80% of the market share, and responding to Apple’s marketing efforts would legitimize them. While marketing campaigns should be flexible enough to respond to changing competitive environments, they shouldn’t be focused entirely on tearing down competitors. A marketing strategy that directly attacks competitors in an unskilled or tactless way only serves to legitimize your competition, and may actually drive customers away who want to find out what it is about your competitor’s business model that has you in such a tiff.

When planning your next event, think carefully about what will interest your potential clients. If possible, try to take your thinking outside of the context of what other players in your industry are doing. If everyone else in your industry is making unnecessarily large profit margins, your company will have a lot of success by offering lower prices. If your industry lacks a recognizable brand name, improve your packaging and placement to put your logo in the minds of your potential clients. If your industry is like most, there is plenty of room for improvement. Can you ever improve as a company if you’re constantly copying ideas and responding to the work of your competitors?

MODdisplays is proud to announce our biggest savings event ever: 15% off every product on our online store. We understand that marketing budgets get pinched near the end of the year, but that doesn’t mean that your company should have to sacrifice its presence at your next trade show.

Whether you’re looking for top of the line Exhibit One displays, popup displays, or Xpressions displays, you’ll find unbeatable prices on our online store.