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HelpExhibition Marketing: How to Ensure Your Exhibition Stand Design Is ‘On Brand’
Image courtesy of Exponents
Exhibition marketing provides the opportunity to build brand awareness, reach a new audience and make sales. After all, industry research from Exhibit Surveys Inc. shows that over a third of attendees at any trade show are first-time visitors, while 84 percent have the power to make final purchasing decisions.
With that said, success or failure with exhibition marketing will largely depend on the design of your exhibition stand and the most successful stands are not just eye catching and attractive to look at - they say something about the business. So how can you ensure your exhibition stand design is ‘on brand’?
Expand your event marketing both on and off the exhibition floor. Here are some tips to build your brand:
UNDERSTAND YOUR BRAND
While it may seem obvious, the first step to ensuring your exhibition stand design reflects your brand is to establish exactly what your brand identity is. This will include basic elements, like your company logo, the fonts you use for marketing, your color schemes and your slogans. At the same time, it also includes more abstract ideas.
• What is the overall purpose of your business?
• What do you, as a company, stand for?
• What is your unique selling point?
• Are you trying to present yourself as cutting edge, or traditional?
Work with your marketing department, make notes, and try to be as specific as possible about what message you are trying to convey to the wider world.
EXHIBITION STAND DESIGN
Next, you need to think about the overall appearance and layout of your exhibition stand. If you have lofty ambitions and goals, you may need to invest in a bespoke stand, whereas if you are operating on a budget, a modular stand may be a better choice. However, once again, you need to think about what your stand says to attendees.
If your business is based on modern technology, you want your stand to look modern and may want to include features like touch screens. Alternatively, if your business is based around working closely with clients to provide custom event solutions, your stand should provide space to sit down and chat comfortably.
Think carefully about any exhibition services you want to include and whether they tie in with your brand values.
CHOOSING GRAPHICS
In addition to the overall design and layout of your stand, the graphics you include can have a significant influence over whether or not your exhibit remains on brand. Moreover, high-quality graphics can provide you with a competitive advantage in terms of attracting passersby, who might not actively be searching for your stand.
Avoid generic graphics at all costs and make sure every image has a clear connection to your business. Your company logo should be clearly visible and, crucially, attendees should be able to ascertain what your business does, purely from looking at the graphics you have chosen.
SHOWCASING PRODUCTS
Finally, your brand identity is likely to centre around the products and/or services that you offer, so for this reason, you should work closely with an exhibition company or agency that has a proven track record in designing and delivering successful stands, to ensure that you create a stand that is suitable for showcasing these in the best way. Doing so means focusing not only on the layout, but also lighting.
“Lighting is an essential design element in any modern exhibition stand,” says Andrew Robinson, writing for Eden Group. “Use spot lights, down lights, up lights, and colored lights to highlight products and displays.”
Guest Author Bio: Reno is a founder and director of a leading exhibition and event company Enigma Visual Solutions, specializing in retail designs, interiors, graphic productions, signage systems, office refurbishment, event branding, exhibition stands design and much more. He specializes in experiential marketing and event productions. He enjoys sharing his thoughts on upcoming marketing ideas and design trends. Feel free to follow him on Twitter.
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