Trade Show Guru

Sometimes trade show exhibitors attempt to save money and try to get by with cheap trade show displays (and one can understand why in this economy). But usually in the big picture, cheap trade show displays end up costing an exhibitor a lot of money in the end than they save up front. The brutal truth is that trade show exhibiting is an expensive form of marketing. Often just renting the booth space can cost several thousand dollars (or tens of thousands of dollars), plus one has the travel costs of getting your trade show exhibit staff to the show, and the housing cost of putting them up in a hotel and feeding them. It costs money, big money, to exhibit at a trade show.

So if you’re going to spend your hard earned marketing budget dollars at a trade show, you want to make sure you pick up enough trade show leads and/or make enough trade show sales to recoup your expenses and actually make money. But if you make the mistake of using a cheap trade show display, and your trade show image is unprofessional (and cheap) there is a good chance that your potential trade show traffic will be turned off and will just pass your trade show booth by. My advice is to you is that you spend the money necessary to have a professional trade show display with a smart trade show design that draws a crowd. Don’t skimp on your trade show image… first impressions are often the only impression, especially if the first impression is that you are cheap. Do you want your company to look amateur, or professional?

Now the above said, sometimes “cheap” trade show displays can actually end up being the hit of the show.

[funny image of trade show booth constructed out of cardboard boxes]

The trade show display above obviously didn’t cost a lot of money, yet makes a very clear point, and is effective. So sometimes if you are clever enough, you can actually make “cheap” work to your advantage. But for most of us, it is better to spend the money to get the job done right. You don’t have to spend a fortune, and you don’t need to overpay or spend money on useless features, but make sure you get a professional trade show display that will get you enough trade show traffic and trade show business to justify your exhibiting efforts and make your company a trade show success.