How to Make Your Trade Show Booth Stand Out

There are a few things pros know about how to make your trade show booth stand out. We're excited to share some of those insider tips and tricks with you here.

We get it. You need your trade show booth to stand out if you want people to spend time getting to know your brand on the show floor. Half-hearted exhibiting at a trade show isn't enough if you truly want to move the needle.

Face-to-face marketing is extremely effective. As we found out during the pandemic, meeting virtually isn't the same as having that in-person connection. But to make connections, you need to get people to stop and talk to your team.

Design Your Trade Show Booth with Modern Materials and Professional Graphics

Trade show booths that welcome people in.

Make sure your graphic design is on point.

Even the exhibitor with the best designed booth at the show will lose if their graphics are not designed with a trade show experience in mind. 

Make sure you are working with a designer who understands best practices for trade show graphics (or consult with industry pros to make sure your internal designer knows the best way to proceed).

Here are a few tips for trade show booth graphics:

• Keep text to a minimum
  Less is more. No one should be standing there reading your booth wall. They should be talking to your people!

• Logos - Think placement
  Get it up high and at eye level. People across the show floor should be able to spot you. And the people who are standing next to your booth should not be confused, straining to look to the top of your booth for your name.

• Professional photos and video
  If you are going to use photos or video in your booth, hire a professional to custom-make content for your company. Show off your product, your process, your people. 

• Spice it up
  Use brand-matching colors, patterns and graphic elements to add interest to your booth and reinforce your brand. Remember, think big. You don't want a small pattern that is going to be too busy or an element that is too small to see from a distance.  And get creative. Dimension. Different substrates. Get inspiration anywhere and everywhere!

Lighting makes all the difference

Ambient lighting isn't enough. Don't rely on it.

Yes, the exhibit hall will be well lit enough for people to walk around. But the ambient light in the hall is used equally by everyone. And you want your trade show booth to stand out.

Enter lighting into your booth. Don't skip (or skimp) on this crucial piece of the exhibiting puzzle.

Light boxes help you outshine the competition.

Light boxes allow an entire graphic to be backlit. Bringing a show stopping element to your booth. Both light and color. This is particularly compelling if you have some amazing graphics that you want to pop.

It's a perfect application for something you want to prominently feature.

With exhibit technology being what it is now, you can do a light box as part of a hanging sign or even in a small booth space. Talk about standing out from your neighbors!

Home owners have long loved the look and control of recessed lighting. So it's not surprising at all that this high-end look has made it's way to the show floor too.

If you have the budget to do it, recessed lighting is a understated way to introduce lighting that suggests quality, stability and a high-end experience. (Yes, this can be accomplished even in small booth spaces.)

Below is an example of a 10x20 exhibit kit that uses recessed lighting in conjunction with shelving areas for product display.

Note how the recessed lighting allows for clean line design (remember that point from above?!) and introduces light to the booth that will help showcase product?

That's a win-win in our book.

Accent Lighting: Chandeliers, pendent lights and more!

Remember how show attendees want environments that are inviting?

A booth where people want to hang out is a place your team can engage more comfortably, for longer periods of time.

So adding lighting elements that are pretty, modern and enhance the design of your booth is a great way to help your trade show booth stand out in the crowd.

Have a larger booth? Want to make a big impact? There are lighting companies that specialize in exhibit lighting. Their expertise has even blown away these seasoned industry pros on several occasions.

They know how to make light do their bidding, adding pops and cascades to perfectly complement graphics, products and design elements.

Ask your exhibit house about adding this valuable vendor to your roster for the next big show you attend. You'll see a huge difference.

Want to see what we are talking about? Check out the work of the team at Fine Design. They are magic-makers!

(Note: Expertise like this doesn't come cheap. It's not for newbie exhibitors or small booth spaces. But for those who want a big showing with their big booth, it's a guaranteed way to stand out against your competitors!)

Wrinkles are only cool on grandma.

Your table throw or fabric graphics must always be pressed, steamed and looking their best.

There is nothing worse than a wrinkly fabric in a trade show booth. Attendees notice little details like that. It reflects on your brand. Make sure their first impression of you isn't that you are sloppy and unprepared.

If you have a small booth and do your own set-up, bring a steamer.

If you pay for installation from a trade show I&D company, make sure they are looking for these details and delivering the booth to you in pristine condition. You may have to be on-site (or have someone from your exhibit house on site) to help ensure these details are handled to your satisfaction.

The beauty of fabric graphics is that they are easily replaceable. So when you find that one is still looking dirty, stained or gross, don't hesitate to get it reprinted or updated.

Again, show attendees will notice a booth where graphics look less than desirable and will associate sloppiness with your brand.

Same with dated design. If a graphic is using old logo, tagline, colors or just "old" looking elements, get that switched out for some new show-stopping graphics! Don't wait. Your show ROI depends on these little finish details.

A cobbled-together booth will look haphazard. People will draw conclusions about the level of professionalism and quality you bring.

People can spot DIY from a million miles away. Especially if you end up with a neighbor who used professional materials and services. (Ouch!)

Yes, going to a show is an investment and an expense. We strongly recommend doing research and having clear internal discussions before beginning a trade show program. (What do we want to get out of the show? What shows are best to attend? etc.)

If you do it just because other people are doing it, you won't know what to spend on the program and that will hurt your ROI.

As with most things in life, do it the right way or don't do it at all. (Or wait until you are ready to do it right.)

Never sit. Stand and invite people in.

Ever walk into a store where the clerk is sitting behind the counter, hunched over and kind of grunts at you as you come in? Not the best way to start a shopping experience.

Contrast that with the experience when you walk into a high-end boutique or tech store. A smiling person greets you, asks your name and leans in as they ask, "How can I help you today?"

Night and day difference. Right? 

Don't let your booth be that first store.

Yes, we know. Working a show is hard on the sales people. It's a lot. Their feet are going to hurt! You can help without becoming that first store. Make sure you staff with enough people that they can rotate taking breaks out of the booth.

Do not. I repeat. Do not. Have ugly folding chairs in the booth for your staff to sit on.

Have meeting rooms. Or lounge furniture. Seating areas for more detailed conversations with attendees. Yes.

But your team should never be sitting there unless they are having a conversation with a prospect.

Be ready. Greet warmly. Stand to stand out.

Ask open-ended questions, engage and LISTEN.

It might be tempting for your sales staff to launch into their elevator pitch about why your company or new product is best. But you aren't pitching. You are relationship building.

Have your team ask open-ended questions that get a person stopping by your booth to share their pain points. You'll be surprised how much people will tell you if you just ask and shut up.

• What are you hoping to get out of the show this year?
• Why are you stopping by our booth today?
• What has been your biggest challenge recently?

The answers you receive will tell you everything you need to know about how to serve this particular person.

Take notes during or after the conversation.

Skip the collateral. Even (gasp) skip the business cards.

Okay, hear me out. I know it sounds sacrilege to forego the long-standing staples of brochures, info sheets and business cards.

You are going to the show to connect with new people. To serve new clients or make new partnerships.

People who are attending a show are likely traveling light and don't want to schlep a bunch of stuff home to sort through later. Also, people are busy. So don't give them another thing to add to their to-do list. Be different.

You could hand a new prospect a stack of collateral with your business card on top.

Or you could say, "Hey, I've really enjoyed our chat. I don't have any business cards on me. Would it be okay if I connect with you on LinkedIn?"

Depending on your industry and what would be appropriate, you could ask for a connection on Facebook or Instagram. Feeling bold? Simply ask to text a quick hello so you have their contact info and can continue chatting later.

And BOOM! Just like that, you are not a business card on the stack of junk for them to throw away.

You are a connection, a friend, a follower.

Then you can initiate future communication. Meaning they don't have to do a thing to keep this relationship going.

You'll move it forward because you are ready to serve them.

If you follow the advice above, after a show you don't have a generic list of leads to blast with a standard "post-show follow up". You have new friends.

And notes about those friends - notes about what their needs, pain points and other personal details to customize your follow up.

You'll stand out to prospects when your customized message pops up in their messages when everyone else is doing an e-blast. In your message, re-establish a personal connection. Engage with their content. Like their posts.

Provide value. "Hey, I found this video and thought of that thing we talked about." 

Share info about your product/service that will solve a problem they told you about. Address specifically how it can help them, make their life easier or make them look great to their boss.

This kind of customized and personal approach will make you stand out in a crowd.

Your trade show booth needs to follow these tips to bring people in.

You and your team doing the right things can bring the deal home.