Trade Show Guru

I thought I’d stick with the “secrets” theme this week, and since I’ve already written about trade show secrets (in general) and trade show booth staffing secrets, I thought I’d write about trade show booth display design secrets. To my mind, creating compelling and effective graphic designs for trade show booth displays shouldn’t require an advanced degree from an Ivy League school. In fact, it’s mainly just common sense. But that doesn’t mean that effective trade show booth displays are really all that common at trade shows. Based on some of the trade show display designs I’ve seen, I have no idea what the designer was thinking. But if you read this post, absorb the wisdom of the trade show guru, and follow these basic steps, you’ll have the “uncommon” knowledge to design and effective and compelling trade show booth display that will stop potential prospects so you can talk to them and turn them into customers. The key to effectiveness is to make sure your design does these three things.

“Secret #1”: Your booth has catch people’s attention when they are passing by your booth space. Understand that your trade show booth is just one of many. Your design must distinguish your booth from all the other trade show booths. If you don’t get their attention, people will just keep going to see the next “interesting” booth. One time-tested way of “getting noticed” is to have a catchy tagline with a captivating background image.

“Secret #2”: You must clearly say who your are, and you must explain what you do. Use big letters for your company name and put it at the top. Then explain what your company does in one or two easy to understand sentences. If people can’t look at your display and immediately know who you are and what you do, you need to start your design over.

“Secret #3”: Your design must tell people WWIFT (what’s in it for them). This is the most important part of an effective design. People are interested in how you can help them – that is why they will stop and talk. For instance, if you are a financial services company, tell them how much money you can make them. No matter what, you must tell people how you will help them.

To conclude, designing effective trade show booth displays involves creating a design that covers the three “secrets” above. Your design must stand out from the crowd and get noticed. Your design must say who you are and what you do. And lastly, your design must say how you can help people. To be a successful trade show marketer, make sure your trade show booth display design accomplishes these three “secrets”. May your next trade show be a huge success, and may you end up with more trade show booth traffic than you know what to do with!