Even when building materials manufacturers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on large show-stopping booths, they frequently design them with little regard for the audience. The end result is they miss a lot of business.
I was at the Design Build show when I saw this booth from Armstrong that is a great example of how to do it right. Yes, this is just a simple pop-up booth but the concept of speaking to the show attendee is even more important the more you spend on a booth.
And yes, I called it the Best Trade Show Booth – Ever to get your attention because I see so many trade show booths with poor messages. They get caught up in the creativity and forget the needs of the audience.
This was a show for Design-Build contractors. If you researched Design-Build contractors before designing your booth, you would find that they are interested in SPEED. The faster they can design and build a building, the more successful they will be.
This is different than the interests of builders, architects, contractors or dealers.
Look at the area I circled in red.
Look at that great headline that speaks directly to design build contractors. “Finish Every Job on Time, On Budget and On The Mark”
Now read the panels below – “Installs 12x Faster”, “Clips and Accessories Overnight”, “Installs 3x Faster”, “Stop Cutting and Painting”, “The Answers You Need, When You Need Them” and “Installs 2x Faster” These are all very meaningful for this audience.
If Armstrong had not done their homework, they probably would have used the headline, “Inspiring Great Spaces” which means nothing to this audience.
This example stood out to me because Armstrong was the only exhibitor that tailored their message to the audience. Every other manufacturer exhibit just used their, “One Message Fits All”, booths. They typically featured the company name, a photo and some generic bullet points that have nothing to do with Design Build.
If you want to get better results from trade shows, you need to know the audience and tailor the message. If you don’t have the budget to tailor the messages, go to fewer shows and use that money to do a better job at the shows you attend. Even if you just create a simple sign or Kinkos pull up banner with a message for that show, you will improve your results.
Contact me if you’d like to discuss how to grow your sales and stop wasting money on ineffective programs.
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