The average attendee spends roughly 9 hours perusing trade show displays at a single exhibition. This is ample time to connect with prospects, introduce your products, and gather the necessary contact info. However, before establishing a relationship with your visitors, you first need to lure them to your booth. Displays today are flashy, gimmicky, and littered with one-upmanship. In other words, modern displays overstimulate attendees, which makes it hard to stand out from the rest of the crowd. This is why we have compiled this list of 12 methods you can employ to make your display stand out.
1.) Use 3 Bright Colors to Help Your Display Stand Out
Vibrant colors can quickly set the mood of your display. They can make your brand stand out instantly to visitors. You can apply high-contrast colors in your design to showcase certain elements and highlight important messaging.
If you don’t use enough colors, your display will come across as boring. If you use too many, you run the risk of confusing or overwhelming attendees. When selecting colors to make your display stand out, you should follow the 60-30-10% design rule.
60-30-10% Rule
- 60% of your space should feature your primary color. This will unify the various elements of your display.
- 30% of your space should showcase your secondary color. This will create contrast and help to establish visual interest.
- 10% of your space should incorporate your accent color. This will help emphasize important elements, graphics, and/or text.
Select the Right Colors to Make Your Display Stand Out
When selecting your three primary colors, follow these tips:
- Consider the age, gender, and culture of your target audience. For instance, most adults prefer cooler colors such as blues and greens. Furthermore, men find achromatic colors such as black, white, and gray exceptionally appealing.
- Consider what your colors signify. Remember that different colors convey different feelings and emotions. For instance, yellow conveys optimism and positivity, whereas blue symbolizes dependability and strength.
- Stay on brand. Whatever you do, do not choose display colors that go against your brand and its aesthetic. This will only work to confuse your visitors.
2.) Incorporate Empty Space Into Your Display to Make it Stand Out
When designing your trade show display, you need to consider how to maximize your space to your advantage. Keep in mind that you don’t need to fill every inch of your display with graphics, furniture, and other doodads. Sometimes, actually, most of the time, less is more.
This is why it’s important to seriously consider the proportions of your display. A good rule of thumb is to ensure that 40% of your display is empty space.
3.) Integrate One Clear Theme Throughout All of Your Messaging
A great way to develop a united display is to weave a single message throughout all of your messaging. While it’s tempting to highlight every feature of your new product/service, this typically confuses your visitors and delivers conflicting messages.
You can make your display stand out by highlighting your unique selling proposition (USP). Your USP is the singular element that makes your brand unique. It’s the one thing that you can do far better than the rest of the competition.
In order to identify your USP (if you haven’t done so already), you need to answer the following questions:
- What problem does your product solve?
- How do you solve the problem better than anyone else?
- What makes your product unique?
Once you are satisfied with your answers to the above questions, you then need to ensure that all of your important graphics and visuals communicate this to your visitors.
4.) Share Your Brand’s Unique Story to Make Your Display Stand Out
One way to stand out amongst the crowd at a trade show is to effectively share your brand’s story. Just about every booth will feature a large header, company logo, and branded graphics. However, most fail to explain their story convincingly, encouraging potential customers to take action.
Prospects will likely not convert unless they feel that they can trust your brand. And they’ll never trust your brand until they get to know it first.
So, put on your story-telling hats and ask yourself:
- Why did our founder create our business in the first place? What problem did they hope to solve?
- Why should customers trust us? What expertise or authority do we provide to our industry?
- Why do we do what we do? What drives our work?
- Why should customers go with our product over a competitor’s?
Once you’ve identified the “why” that fuels your business, it’s time to brainstorm ways to convey this intangible concept via your booth. In order to do so, you should consider how you can incorporate your story into your layouts, graphics, messaging, brochures, and overall design.
5.) Incorporate Your Products into Your Display in an Original Way
If you’re like most trade show exhibitors, you participate in trade shows to raise awareness of your company and its products. One of the most effective ways to do this is to integrate your products into your display. In doing so, you ensure that no one else on the floor has a display exactly like yours!
6.) Don’t Be Afraid to Invest in Your Trade Show Booth Design
When it comes to the design of your trade show display, don’t be afraid to go the route of a custom-made booth. There are a number of benefits to hiring a custom trade show display company to design your display from the ground up.
A trade show display design firm will sit down with you and take the time to get to know your brand. From there, they will take your initial idea and develop it into a high-end concept, all while ensuring that they maintain your brand messaging and aesthetic throughout. The best part is that they’ll bring their extensive experience to the table to design a unique display that’ll attract attention and deliver your message in a one-of-a-kind way.
However, you don’t have to hand over total control to the design firm. Your design team should keep you in the loop throughout the entire process and provide you with all of the information you need to make the big decisions.
Some design firms will even accompany you to the show to troubleshoot any potential issues.
7.) Use Different Types of Trade Show Display Lighting to Light Up Your Display
There are literally thousands of ways to light up your display. The right lighting can be subtle or something along the lines that Clark Griswold would produce. When done correctly, it can make your booth more appealing by highlighting the intricate details throughout your display. It can also accentuate the visibility of your products and graphics and bring important messaging to the forefront.
Here are a few types of lighting to consider:
- Spotlights: You can employ spotlights in an array of colors to develop a dramatic effect to highlight a specific product, such as a bestseller. Spotlights can be incandescent, fluorescent, or halogen.
- Strobe and Gobo Lights: Strobe and gobo lights can help create interesting visual effects. You can use them to cast your company name, logo, or slogan on the floor or wall of your booth.
- Hanging Lights: Hanging lights are a great way to illuminate your booth and attract the attention of the casual passerby.
- Accent Lighting: You can use accent lighting to add texture to your graphics.
- Ambient Lighting: Ambient lighting provides a great way to add dimension to your display. Lamps, for example, can help set the mood you’re going for or create a specific ambiance.
8.) Design Your Meeting Space to Reflect Your Brand’s Image & Stimulate Engaging Conversation
When it comes to designing your meeting space, you can make it just right with any number of furniture options. A few of the more fun options include:
- Portable counters, tables, and display cases
- Illuminated LED furniture
- Inflatable furniture is a great way to add your logo throughout your display!
However, you need to remember that you should approach the use of furniture with a minimalist mindset since space is usually a limited resource.
9.) Host an Interactive Product Demonstration to Make Your Display Stand Out
Many trade show exhibitors weave a product demo into their displays in some way. However, the greater majority typically fail to include an “it” factor that not only draws visitors in but also maintains their attention. Your job as an exhibitor is to create a display that sets your booth apart from the rest. The more people who pause to view your demonstration, the more chances you have to convert prospects into leads.
Remember that an exhibit creates less of an impact if it only tells visitors about your product. You need to show, not tell your visitors why your product is freaking awesome. Furthermore, visitors want to be engaged. They want to interact with you and your product.
10.) Draw Attention to Your Display with Unique Interactive Elements
Interactive touchscreens, games, and activities are phenomenal ways to add a unique element to your display. They can help you attract attendees to your booth and ignite interactions between you and future customers. Once you open the door and kickoff that initial conversation, you can start learning more about your audience and maybe even collect their contact information!
Here are a few ideas for interactive booth technologies and activities:
- Surveys and quizzes
- Educational seminars
- interactive video walls
- Carnival-style games or trivia
- Scavenger hunts
- Photo booths
- Virtual reality
While interactive elements are great, you need to make sure that you abide by the following best practices:
- Ensure that all activities are on point with your brand
- Ensure all activities will help you achieve your goals
- Add a unique spin that only you can offer
- Reward visitors for the time they spend at your booth
11.) Think Outside the Box When It Comes to Promotional Items and Giveaway Prizes
It’s really easy to mass-produce promotional items like lanyards and pens that feature your brand. However, you can set your brand apart from the crowd by handing out promotional items that your prospects actually desire!
If your promotional products and prizes are useful, your leads will likely use them on a regular basis. This means that they’ll see your brand on a regular basis as well. Heck, they may even tell others about you! That being said, don’t go with the cheapest item you can find in the catalog. Instead, select an item that provides value and helps prospects remember your brand.
You also want to make sure that your promo items are high quality. They cannot feel or look cheap or break easily. Furthermore, you want to ensure that there’s a clear connection between your promotional items and your product or service.
Lastly, make sure your giveaway items maintain your brand’s images and beliefs. For instance, if your company is about helping the environment, you shouldn’t hand out single-use water bottles wrapped in excessive plastic.
12.) Grab Attendees’ Attention with One-of-a-Kind Displays and Creative Stunts
When you invest in a custom display, you have the luxury of designing a truly unique display. One that is capable of enticing attendees to stop and visit for a while…something that makes an indelible impression.
Don’t limit yourself to what you’ve already seen before. Don’t be afraid to venture outside the box and try something new. Trust us, you’ll be glad you pushed the limits!
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