A start up business guide to exhibiting

by Startacus Admin

Catherine Crawford is one of the exhibition stand consultants at Marler Haley. Alongside developing bespoke imagery for their eye-catching exhibition stands, Catherine also provides advice and guidance to businesses on how they can make the most of the time which is invested in attending an exhibition. Here Catherine shares her thoughts on some basics to consider if exhibiting at an event or conference....
A start up business guide to exhibiting
As a start-up business, you may be starting to look at avenues to increase your brand awareness and sales. Exhibiting is a great way to do this but it can be difficult to know how to do it right and how to stick to a budget to increase your return on investment. After booking your stand space, you’ll need to start developing your exhibiting strategy to make sure you have a great event.
What to take with you to an exhibition
You’ll need to brand your space. If you have a space-only stand, then you’ll need to use displays that can add branding to your space as well as to attract attention from afar.
Using exhibition stands that you can use time and time again such as simple branded banner stands or pop up displays are a great choice to increase your return on investment as you won’t need to repurchase them for future events.
To create your design, use your logo in the upper third to make sure it can be seen from afar. Add a simple strapline to make sure people know what you do and add strong imagery to catch their eye.
When it comes to text, less is more on displays. After all, you want people to come and talk to you – not to read your displays.
What to remember
As well as packing your displays to take with you, you’ll also need to think about what you’ll be wearing as you are the face of your business.
It’s also worthwhile spending some time planning some points that you’d like to mention to visitors, such as your USPs or any special offers. This can then be shared with anybody else who will be manning the stand to help make sure that everybody is singing from the same hymn sheet.
When packing, make sure that you also take emergency supplies, such as tape, scissors and a first aid kit. You never know what the day will throw at you so it’s best to have a plan of action ready for most eventualities.
How to make the most of the exhibition
Before the big day, work out how many leads or sales you’ll need to take in order to break even from the event. This is then your target for the day that can be used to judge whether the day was successful or not.
After the event, make sure you recalculate your return on investment to know how successful the event really was. This will then help you in future planning to assess what you can improve for your next event!
The most important thing to remember is to have fun. People go to exhibitions to see the faces behind brands and being energetic and enthusiastic you are about your brand will rub off onto visitors and leave a lasting impression of your business.
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
WeWALK, RNIB, and ICL consortium secures UKRI funding to improve mobility for visually impaired and elderly.

The impact of standards, ethics and conduct on business success and profits - Work.Life has some interesting insights...

The lowdown on Space32 - the startup that wants to help hybrid-working businesses find the working space and solution that's right for them.

Global Tech for Good initiative seeks innovative startups and scaleups that are creating positive social impact and enhancing people's lives through tech.

The lowdown on Bidnamic, the startup that's combining advance machine learning with human expertise to help retailers to maximise revenue and profitability from Google Shopping.

Innovative Czech fintech startup 4Trans raises investment to expand first of its type AI driven factoring services across Europe.

Edinburgh-based life science company Cytomos secures funding to support further development of its innovative cell analysis tech.

Ethical Equity and Streets Consulting join forces to deliver Founder Workshop to help close the inequality gap in startup to scaleup funding.

Fancy being featured in this year’s SmallBiz100, which showcases the best of Britain’s vibrant small business community? There's just a couple of days left to do just that!

Screenloop secures major investment to support further development of its AI-driven recruitment platform that helps companies build the best teams and removes unconscious bias.
Published on: 6th December 2016
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.







- Assistive technology innovators and partners awarded £1.7m project funding 1st Jul 2022 WeWALK, RNIB, and ICL consortium secures UKRI funding to improve mobility for visually impaired and elderly.
- How the pandemic affected each industry 27th Jun 2022 New research from School of Marketing reveals the impact that Covid-19 has had on key business sectors in the UK.
- The Finalists of DBACE 2022 are revealed 21st Jun 2022 The lowdown on the innovative young visionaries that are in the running for this year's Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Entrepreneurs.
- OKAPI: Orbits raises €5.5m for Breakthrough Space Traffic Management Software 13th Jun 2022 Innovative German SaaS startup OKAPI:Orbits secures investment to support its mission of securing efficient and safe operations in space.