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.                                                                                                                                                    

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Published on: 6th December 2016