Best tradeshow marketing tips and case studies. Call 800-654-6946.
Best tradeshow marketing tips and case studies. Call 800-654-6946.

Graphics

The Power of Video at Your Next Tradeshow

This is a guest post by Emma Grace Brown

Are you interested in using video to enhance your trade show booth and attract more attendees? If so, you’re not alone. Increasingly, businesses are recognizing the power of video to engage trade show visitors and drive leads. If you’re considering adding video to your trade show strategy, here are a few things to keep in mind from the Tradeshow Guy Blog.

Video will help you stand out from the competition.

Video is an incredibly effective way to engage and captivate trade show visitors and can help you drive leads and conversions. In a sea of other exhibitors, a well-executed video can help your booth and product or service stand out and capture attention. Video is also an engaging medium that can help you communicate your brand story and message in a powerful way. When used correctly, video can be an incredibly effective tool for getting your message across to potential customers at a trade show.

Videos can communicate your message and tell your brand story.

When it comes to communicating your message and telling your brand story, there are few mediums more engaging than video. The right video content can be instantly memorable, helping to engage viewers and evoke a personal response. Furthermore, videos can provide context that transcends the boundaries of text-based content such as blog posts or articles. They enable you to visually demonstrate the personality of your company and showcase the truly unique aspects of what you have to offer.

Make your video visually enticing when audio isn’t an option.

Making an engaging video without sound can be a challenge. After all, audio is often the most powerful element when it comes to conveying emotion. However, videos without sound can still have an impact if they’re visually enticing. Start by creating a color palette that stands out and sets the mood for your video. Then use movement like pans, zooms, and fades to keep your viewer’s attention.

Don’t be afraid to use unconventional shots either – close-ups of small details or bird’s eye perspectives can be mesmerizing with the right lighting and composition. Animated elements like overlays, transitions, and logos can provide visual interest as well. Finally, build in enough time for post-production to make sure your video looks its best in terms of saturation, contrast balance, and other adjustments.

One way to reduce the cost of your trade show video is by using royalty-free stock footage. This approach can be a great way to save money while still getting high-quality visuals for your video. Check out these royalty-free videos that are priced affordably. When selecting stock footage, be sure to choose clips that are relevant to your product or service. You don’t want your video to feel disjointed or out of place. Also, make sure the quality of the footage is consistent with the overall tone and style of your video.

Drive traffic to your booth with the help of social media.

Social media is a powerful tool for promoting your trade show booth and driving traffic to your exhibit. When used correctly, you can reach a large number of potential customers and generate interest in your products or services. One of the best ways to use social media for trade shows is by creating a dedicated event page on Facebook. This page can be used to promote your exhibit, provide information about the event, and give people a way to connect with you online. You can also use this page as a central hub for all of your other social media activity related to the trade show.

In addition to creating a Facebook event page, be sure to post regularly about the trade show on all of your social media platforms. This will help keep your followers informed and engaged. Use images, videos, and text-based posts to create excitement around the event and drive traffic to your booth. Make sure you’re also using hashtags related to the trade show so that your posts will appear in relevant search results. And don’t forget to respond promptly to any comments or questions from followers.

Are you looking for a way to make your next trade show even more successful? If so, consider using video. This medium can help you connect with potential customers and create an engaging, interactive experience that will leave them wanting more.

Emma Grace Brown lives her life by her rules, and it works! When she’s not snuggling puppies, Emma promotes female empowerment through her website. Her mission is to help those who live with self-doubt to realize they don’t have to mold themselves to conventionality.

Can Limitations Help Your Creativity?

Unlimited choices. Seems like having the pick of anything we want would make things easier, right? For example, I have a subscription to Apple Music. Yeah, it could be Pandora or Spotify or any of the music streaming services. But with a streaming subscription, you have instant access to millions – literally millions – of choices when it comes to what songs or artists or albums to listen to.

Yet often I find myself stumped, not knowing what I should listen to. So I go back to my own library, which has only 50,000 or so tracks. Much easier to find something.

But too many choices? Yeah, doesn’t always work. Yeah, when I hear about the new album from Coldplay or Jackson Browne, I can easily jump over and listen.

The less choice you have, the more you must use those constraints to your benefit. I think the same thing applies to the scope of your tradeshow exhibit project.

Sure, you may love to have a large island, 20 x 30 or even larger. Just think of the things you can do with such a large space! But if you have only half or less of that space, it forces you to consider every square foot. And as a result, you can still come up with some very creative tradeshow exhibits.

Want eco-friendly? Use cardboard tubing, bamboo wood, or actual live plant enhancements as part of your design.

Need a table but want it to still be an eye-catcher? Try a custom branded, LED-highlighted odd-shaped table.

A custom LED-highlighted table takes up little space but catches eyes.

Need to save on cost and still have a nice-looking booth? I’ve seen several booths that use the shipping cases as building blocks for counters and back walls.

Looking for a way to draw attention to your small booth presentations? Hire a dynamic and charismatic presenter that’s experienced in drawing small but enthusiastic crowds.

Creativity isn’t limited to large canvases. You can get creative in countless ways. Just pull out your thinking cap and collaborate with others.

Small Biz 101: Budgeting for Trade Shows

This is a guest article by Lee Becknell of Pinnacle Promotions.

Trade shows take a great deal of forethought and planning, but your business will reap substantial rewards from participating in these types of events. Maybe your business is relatively small and you’re looking to expand your demographic, or you’ve just undergone a company rebranding – trade shows can provide a platform to spread your brand’s message and inform people of your products or services.

Whatever your intentions may be for attending a trade show, you’ll need to put a lot of planning into the process, which includes creating a budget. Use this trade show checklist to ensure your budget is considering all essential components such as promotional products and trade show giveaways, travel and booth fees.

Booth Space

One of the most essential aspects of your trade show display, your booth should be secured as soon as you decide to attend an event. The larger the booth space, the more expensive the rental cost will be, so give some serious thought to how much space your company will actually need. Aside from booth size, the location of your display plays a role in price determination. If you’re interested in a spot closer to the trade show’s entrance, you’re going to end up paying more. Though a location closer to the entrance may gain more attention, opting for a booth further in the back of the space could cut costs.

Utility Expenses

Once you’ve selected a booth at the event, you’ll need to secure any other utilities your display may require, including electricity, WiFi, AV services and other accessories. This part of the budget often gets overlooked by those who are not as experienced with trade shows. As you’re planning for the event, consider what types of extras your booth may require. Are you planning to play an informational video about your company or show photos of products? You’ll need to make arrangements for electronic connections and TV displays. Write down any additional costs and then inquire with companies near the event space to get a price estimate and add this into your budget.

Staff Costs

For a successful trade show experience, you’ll need a well-trained, professional group of employees who are willing to attend the event and share their expertise with guests. Because trade shows are typically considered occurrences outside of normal work hours, you should factor in additional wages to compensate qualifying staff members. Prior to the event, you’ll also need to train employees on what to say, how to behave and what to wear at these events. To present a sleek, united front between employees, you can purchase uniforms specifically designed for trade shows like comfortable Nike t-shirts branded with your company’s logo.

Travel and Accommodations

Aside from booth rentals, traveling to the event can be one of the most expensive parts of your trade show budget. The best way to keep this cost down is through early planning. Determine which trade shows your company will attend for the entire year and then begin scheduling travel plans right away to avoid rising prices as the event approaches. Work with other members of the marketing team to decide how many employees will be needed at the event. Then, factor in the cost of flights or renting vehicle transportation plus hotel accommodations. Keep in mind that booking a place to stay far from the event may save money in the short term, but don’t forget the additional travel costs to get from the hotel to the convention center.

Promotional Products and Trade Show Giveaways

An excellent method for spreading your company’s message and brand, promotional products and trade show giveaways, commonly called “swag,” should be a focus for your trade show preparation. Offering some useful or unique items to attendees is a great way to capture their attention and give them something to take home that will remind them of your company.

Select well-known brand-name items and have them personalized with your logo or choose a promotional product that’s beneficial to others in your industry. It’s best to order these items in bulk to get the lowest possible price. In order to plan how much you’ll spend on promotional products, estimate how many trade shows the company will attend in a year and then research how many people are expected at each event to get a sense for the number of promotional products you should have on hand.

Booth Graphics

Now that you have your booth space figured out, you need to consider how you’re going to make your company’s area look attractive and professional—feel free to get creative here. Most companies that attend trade shows will order custom signs with the name of their business and sometimes the company motto. Offering brochures or pamphlets can help inform attendees about your business and give them something to remember you by along with promotional products. People who frequent trade shows are interacting with dozens of different businesses in a matter of hours or days. It’s rare that attendees will remember every single company they encountered, so providing them with helpful reminders, like handouts and trade show giveaways, will encourage information retention and may generate prospective leads.

Plan How to Transport Booth Accessories

Another minor detail that many companies overlook when planning for trade shows, logistics are essential to transporting your supplies. If you’re traveling a long distance with a lot of equipment (think TV displays, furniture for your booth, etc.), then you’ll likely need to book a freight service to deliver the accessories. For companies that don’t require much equipment, you can also consider shipping essential items, including your promotional products, to the trade show location to lower your overall cost. Be sure to get an estimate on either logistics services or shipping costs when planning your budget.


Lee Becknell serves as the Senior Digital Marketing Manager for Pinnacle Promotions. Lee oversees digital marketing from the Atlanta, GA headquarters. Lee has been with Pinnacle for over six years. Lee enjoys spending time with her husband, son and golden retriever, running and taking naps.

Designing and Preparing Graphics for Tradeshow Exhibits

You might think that designing graphics for a tradeshow exhibit is hardly any different from designing graphics for a brochure or a website. But you’d be wrong. There are a number of differences, and an experienced tradeshow graphic designer is an invaluable asset if you’re facing the prospect of doing it alone.

First things first. What’s different? The most obvious is that graphics are much bigger on a tradeshow exhibit than a website or brochure or sales sheet.

Second thing is that people will interact differently with tradeshow graphics than they will with a brochure or a website, which means your approach to crafting a design with an impactful message must be different.

Your message must be clear

And third, and perhaps the most important, the resolution of the tradeshow graphic file will by its very nature be much higher than a web design or print design.

High resolution is a must for tradeshow graphics

Since graphics are much bigger, and since people interact with tradeshow graphics differently than with websites and printed material, the design and messaging have to reflect that difference. Thousands of people walk by a typical tradeshow on any given day. They glance but often don’t see the graphic messaging. If their brain stops for anything, it’s for either a familiar logo or a bold question or statement. A supporting image such as a photograph can also be a factor in keeping someone attention for another few seconds if you’re lucky. Great care and decision making must go into the design: what image resonates with your brand and attracts attention? What message is important and can be communicated in a few short words?

File preparation is critical to keeping things on schedule

Finally, the crafting of the digital graphic files is critical to ensure high resolution in the output. I’m not a designer or a graphic printing technician, but I can pass along some of the general guidelines on how to prepare the files.

File Formats

Each printing facility and tradeshow exhibit house will vary slightly, but the main things to keep in mind are to make sure the graphics are submitted in an acceptable format. Typically, most printers accept Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign or high-resolution PDFs. Other programs such as Quark, FreeHand, CorelDraw and Publisher are typically not acceptable. Neither are files such as Microsoft Word, or low-resolution JPEG, GIF, PICT or BMPs.

Font Specifications

Fonts are typically converted to outlines. If not, you’ll need to provide Macintosh of TruType fonts with the files.

Resolution

This differs from shop to shop, but I generally see requirements of setting up files at 100-120 pixels per inch at 100%. Anything smaller and the final print will show pixelization.

Color Specifications

Again, varies from shop to shop, but most ask for vector files in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), and raster artwork in RGB (Red, Green, Blue). If this is over your head, speak to your graphic designer. An experienced designer can address these issues.

Uploading and Sharing Files

Given than tradeshow graphics are high resolution and cover a lot of square feet, the graphic production files are going to be big. We just did a set of banner stands this week where the graphic files for five stands amounted to about a gigabyte. Too big to email, so it’s got to be transferred. We typically create a sharable file on DropBox, but there are other tools to share big files, such as HighTail, Google Drive, SendSpace and others. Again, pretty easy to do. In fact, many companies have dedicated FTP sites where you can upload directly to them.

Final Thoughts

The topic of tradeshow graphic design, file creation and production can take up several books, and no doubt it has. This short blog post barely scratches the surface. Need to know more? Speak with experienced designers and production people that do it every day. They’re happy to share their knowledge and make sure you get the highest quality graphic you can.

Infographic: 16 Tips and Tricks for Tradeshow Success

I love infographics, especially tradeshow infographics. So when Anna Carling at US Event Management reached out with an offer to share something new they’d been working on, I said, “Bring it on! Let’s take a look!” Turns out it’s a very comprehensive infographic that walks you through 16 tips and tricks. Well, let’s share what she sent along:

Are you wondering how to be successful at a trade show? Well, look no further, because this infographic will take you through 16 tips and tricks that will guarantee your success! From dressing to impress and creating a welcoming booth space to staffing and giveaways, this incredible infographic has everything you’ll need to know about how to successfully market your product, service, or even just yourself at a trade show. Thinking of doing something a little different with the design of your booth? This infographic will help you decide if that’s the right choice for you! Being successful at a trade show can do a whole lot more than just sell one product of yours, it can create connections that last a lifetime and create a boom for your business. It can also get your name out there to potential customers and raise awareness of your ever-growing brand, and in a world absolutely full to the brim of businesses offering goods and services, it’s good to be able to stick out. If you want to learn all about how you can become successful at a trade show, you need to check out this infographic right now so that you can be the shining star of the next show. All in all, these 16 tips, tricks, and tools will guide you to the success you’ve been dreaming of, promoting your business and building your brand all in a positive direction at the same time. You should already be checking out this incredible infographic so that you can learn all about the keys to trade show success, brought to you by US Event Management. Don’t waste any more time reading about what’s in the infographic, and instead, see for yourself what this incredible post can do for you and your booming business today.

tradeshow infographic

Click here to download a full-size PDF of the tradeshow infographic.

More Cool and Informative Tradeshow Infographics from Pinterest

If you’re a long-time reader of this blog, you may recall the time awhile back that I posted a collection of tradeshow infographics from Pinterest.

Time to do it again! Let’s see what the search turns up.

Let’s start with Software Tech Tradeshows & Events, posted here. Not a ton of info in this one, but it does look helpful if you’re in that space. It is a bit of a promo item from KWGeek.

Next up: our good friends over at Bartizan offers Countdown to ROI, a Timeline to Plan for a Tradeshow.

Heritage Expo posted 6 Mistakes That Will Sink Your Tradeshow – good takes on a number of things to be wary of when doing your tradeshow planning.

Exhibitor Magazine posted an infographic on Exhibit Design.

Pro Imprint details the ways that tradeshow giveaways can make a big impression.

A collection of informative infographics from Supportive Guru here, including Building an Exhibit for Your Business: There’s also one called how to be a Superhero at your next tradeshow!

Exponents offers Tips for Tradeshow Graphics. Not a lot here, but what’s here is good information.

Monster Displays offers a quick overall look at tradeshows.

One from Nitro Displays is very useful: Marketing Automation at Tradeshows.

And let’s wrap it up with Tradeshows by the Numbers.

Seen any good tradeshow infographics? Let me know! Browse through the gallery:

Getting the Color Right on Your Tradeshow Graphics

When I first got into the tradeshow world around the turn of the century (!), an issue that kept coming up time and time again was the color of tradeshow graphics.

There are a number of problems that come up with printing graphics with accurate color.

tradeshow graphic color

First, since we printed everything in-house at that point, we needed to make sure that the printer’s output was consistent with what was called for. A graphic designer will usually spec a PMS color (Pantone Matching System), which is a proprietary color space that identifies exact shades. That meant regular testing of the system to make sure that the color matched.

The inks in the printer must be of high quality so that when the computer that is used to process the print calls on the right combination of the various ink tanks.

Next, you have the computer monitor. Many clients would look at something on their monitor and think it looked exactly how they wanted it. Trouble it, monitors differ in their output as well. So, what you see on your monitor in your office may not be what I see on my monitor.

Don’t forget about the substrate you’re printing on. Whether it’s fabric or paper, simply by changing the source of paper from one package to another may bring a subtle difference. It’s the same with carpet dye. One dye lot may be slightly different from another, and if you try to match a new printed piece with an older printed piece, chances are good it won’t exactly match.

Then there’s the human factor. We all see colors differently, and usually the person operating the printers have a good eye for colors.

So how to address this? If you are trying to match a PMS Pantone color exactly, the best thing is to provide a paper-printed color sample that you like. For example, if you have a brochure or other printed piece that is exactly what you want, color-wise, make sure your printing vendor has that. If they have that piece in hand, chances are very high they can make adjustments in their process to create a printed tradeshow graphic that matches your desired color.

But understand that there a lot of variable! The technology has generally made it easier to color-match, but it’s not always guaranteed. Just work with your exhibit house or print shop if color-matching is important.

Speaking of colors, did you hear about the chemist that accidentally discovered a new blue a couple of years ago?

7 Simple Steps to Totally Rocking Your Tradeshow Graphics

Tradeshow graphics should be easy. But they’re not always as easy as you think. So let’s take a look at 7 simple steps that will totally rock your tradeshow graphics.

  1. Bigger is better. Yeah, even with a 10’ inline booth, the bigger the better. Face it, you’re competing for eyeballs. Make them jump out at visitors.
  2. Bright colors are eye-catching. It doesn’t mean that all of your graphics have to have reds and bright blues or greens. If it fits, use it. If bright colors don’t match your brand, not to worry. There’s more to look at.

  3. Simple is best: bold images and limited text. Think of a tradeshow graphic as a billboard that people can spend about three seconds on. If you can’t communicate a message in three seconds, you probably put too much on it.
  4. Back lit graphics are the rage these days, for a reason. LED-powered light boxes grab attention. Have you noticed? Even if most others are doing it is no reason to try and be different. These items do grab eyeballs.
  5. People notice quality. Or rather, they notice when its lacking. You may not think so, but if you notice that the printing is second-rate, others will. Graphics aren’t cheap any way you look at it, so spending an extra few bucks to use the printer that has the latest and greatest isn’t going to cost that much more. And people will notice.
  6. Professionally designed graphics are worth it. Yeah, Jimmy in accounting may be a good guy and is looking for a job as a graphic designer, and may have some chops. But designing graphics for large-size printing is more than just a good layout. It’s the highest resolution possible, and understanding how people perceive message at that scale and trying to absorb the message in just a few seconds.
  7. Change the graphics when necessary. A lot of the same people go to the same shows and see the same exhibitors. And they’ll notice when you haven’t refreshed your graphics in the past half-decade. So keep ‘em fresh.

Follow these seven steps and your tradeshow graphics will be rockin’!

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