August 24, 2012in Hybrid Displays 0 Likes

Why a Modular Display Makes Sense For a Trade Show Circuit

If you are committed to growing your business into a successful one that is competitive in markets across the country, you will probably need to attend several trade shows every year.  Conventions or trade shows create a special and valuable situation for anyone starting out in an industry.  The largest buyers, investors, and people of influence, gather together to investigate the newest developments in their industry at these yearly or sometimes, quarterly events.  For many large industries, there are regional conventions that take place throughout the year.  If you want your company to be competitive in several different markets, you will need to arrange to exhibit at more than one event each year.

Keeping your brands image consistent at every event, will help you create a buzz that spreads throughout the industry.  The business world is smaller than you might think, so if you have a successful show in one region, it is likely that people will talk about your product and booth to their colleges in other regions.  Make it easy for people to find you at a convention, by keep your booth design consistent throughout the year.

One of the best ways to stay consistent, but be able to adapt to changing booth placement and other factors that are out of your control, is to travel with a modular trade show booth display.  The images and overall design of your booth will remain the same, but with a modular booth, you can reposition any element of your booth to create the most efficient layout in each convention location.

Modular booths also give you the freedom of easily breaking your booth down into small shipping cases for easy transport.  Whether you are shipping your booth with a carrier, or packing it up and checking it on a flight as luggage, you will need your cases to be lightweight or of average shipping size to avoid costly charges for oversized packages.

August 17, 2012in Banner Stands 0 Likes

Ways Outdoor Signage Can Help Your Business

Are you opening a new business?  Will you have a store front that you need to attract people to?  Investing in high quality signage that you can display outdoors near your new location may help you to draw new customers to your location.  Outdoor signage is similar to any banner or display you would use indoors except that it is made with materials that can hold up in outdoor weather conditions.  Most outdoor signs can withstand rain or extreme sun exposure without fading.  In addition to having an outdoor ready banner or sign, you will also need a banner stand that is designed for the outdoors.  Even the smallest winds can send a banner stand designed for indoor use toppling over.  Not only will this make your sign ineffective, you run the risk that your sign could injure a potential customer or passerby.

You can avoid any troubles by ordering an outdoor sign for your business.   Over time you may find several different uses for your outdoor signs.  Use them to promote a business location, advertise outside of a convention or trade show, or even set up at an outdoor festival.  Every business has different marketing needs and targets different types of clients but being able to advertise outdoors near public spaces will increase your brands exposure.

There are three basic categories that most outdoor signs fit in.  The first is flags.  Flags offer you a way to advertise your product in an expansive outdoor area and ensure you logo will be seen from great distances.  Perhaps the most common type of outdoor signs is banners.  Banners can be easily displayed in a number of ways.  You can hang them over the door of your business, along a fence at a sporting event, or use them to hang on the front of a table at an outdoor registration for a fair or other community event.  Finally, if you exhibit your products or sponsor outdoor events regularly, it may be worth the investment to order a customized tent canopy with your company’s graphics printed on it.

August 10, 2012in Trade Show Advice 0 Likes

Trade Show Booth Tips That Will Draw In Everyone

When you are designing a convention display, you should have two goals, to draw people in, and then quickly communicate the highlights of your product in a way that will make it impossible for them to forget the experience.  Including several different forms of communication in your boots design is one of the best ways to reach these goals in an effective and unforgettable way.  Different people retain information in many different ways, so having a convention booth that will reach all types of people is very important.

For visual people, and people who are in a hurry trying to visit as many booths as possible at a crowded convention, visual images that communicate the most important aspects of your company are imperative.  There are a number of different banners and banner stands that can be ordered and included in your booth design to help you make a powerful visual statement with your booth.  Your budget and other needs will help you narrow the wide variety of banner stand choices available.  Low cost highly portable displays are perfect for a company who is just starting out with a small budget and aggressively hitting the trade show circuit.

High tech displays can help you create powerful graphic images to draw people in and also provide you with an interactive experience.  Some digital banner stands can hold touch screen displays that will make is easy for people visiting your booth to explore your product in a more in depth way.  You can also use these digital displays as a visual aid to help you in a presentation.

If you are lucky enough to have the budget for large scale booth displays, consider a modular or pop up display that will help you create a mini store inside your booth.  The more in control of your booths environment you are, the more you will be able to bring people into your company’s world and make them feel like they are a part of something special.

August 3, 2012in Trade Show Advice 0 Likes

Top Ways to Make Your Convention Booth Unique

If you have ever walked the isles of a trade show or convention hall you have probably experienced the overwhelming sensation that comes with trying to take it all in.  Many attendees at trade shows arrive with a schedule of meetings and products they want to interact with over the course of the event.  This greatly narrows the amount of time important buyers and investors have to explore the booths of companies whose products they did not know about ahead of time.  In order to ensure that your companies booth is one of the stops people make during those unscheduled times, and also to make sure you have a long list of appointments the next time you attend a convention, you will need a booth design that is unique.

Using visual aids to help you draw people to your booth from far away is the first step toward creating an eye catching set up for your convention booth.  Invest in large scale pop up displays, digital displays, or banners that can be hung high up in your booth.  High quality graphic images that can be seen from far away will bring people to your booth.

Creating a buzz around the convention is also a great way to bring people to your booth.  Plan a cocktail party in your booth, or just spread the word that you will be handing out treats at the end of the day.  As word spreads about your gathering, people will likely stop by for the free stuff.  This will give you an opportunity to quickly talk about your products and greatly increase the traffic to your booth.

Another great way to get people to your booth is to offer a giveaway or create a fun game for people to play in your booth.  As word spreads about the company with the most fun booth experience, people will become aware of your products and your brand will be the talk of all the night time events.

July 31, 2012in Banner Stands 0 Likes

Digital Banner Stand Kits

Whether you are planning a trade show booth, product launch, or in store marketing campaign, including a digital banner as part of your campaign will draw people’s attention and give your brand a state of the art look.  Traditional signage is still an effective way to market a product, but digital technology will give you the flexibility to keep up with a rapidly changing marketplace.

Digital banner stands come in a number of sizes and can offer you several options for promoting your project.  You can choose a monitor that displays both images and video to give your marketing team an arsenal of multimedia tools.  With a digital banner stand you can display a loop of images set to music, video testimonials, product information videos and professional commercials.  A digital banner stand will keep people engaged many times longer than a traditional banner.

For most people, the best choice when buying a digital banner is to buy a kit.  Digital banner stand kits provide a company with everything they need to start advertising their products right away.  These kits usually include the stand, which ensures you monitor is secured and looks great at all times.  They also include built in speakers to allow you to not only show video but also project sound as well.  Sound coming from you booth will help you get that attention of people walking by.  Many kits also come with the wires needed to connect your system and some even have memory sticks that will make it easy to transfer media from your home or office computer into the digital banner.

A remote control is another useful tool that often comes with a digital banner stand.  A remote will allow you to change the image on your screen from anywhere in your booth.  It will also help you to work with the banner even if it is mounted out of your reach.  Finally, digital banner stand kits usually come with a sturdy case that will keep your system is great shape as you ship it to and from trade shows or other exhibit locations.

July 28, 2012in Banner Stands 0 Likes

Digital Banner Stands Help You Keep Up With Current Trends

 

When you are exhibiting at a trade show, you are confronted with challenges that are not often present in other marketing situations.  You are competing with hundreds or thousands of other exhibitors who are selling similar products to yours.  Even if you have a unique product, you are competing with all of the other exhibitors to try to bring the most influential people in the industry to your booth.  It will not matter how amazing your product is, if no one stops by your booth to check it out.  In order to be competitive on a crowded convention center floor, you need to have an up to date, state of the art booth design.

Part of meeting the demands for cutting edge convention marketing, is including a digital display and digital banner stand in your booth design.  These displays allow you to create a constantly changing, multimedia presentation that will draw people to your booth.  With a digital banner stand, you will be able to display images of your very latest projects.  Have a last minute idea for a layout?  Did you recently get an amazing review for your company that you want to display at a coming tradeshow?  With a digital banner stand, changing the image on your digital banner is easier than uploading a photo on a social networking site.

Another advantage a digital banner stand has over printed banners is your company’s ability to display several images with just one stand.  While there are many portable options for traditional banner stands, the size of your booth may limit that amount of signage you can room for.  Having a banner that you can frequently rotate to display all of the benefits of your product will give you greater diversity in a smaller space.
Upgrading the look of your convention or trade show booth with a digital banner stand is one of the best ways you can give your company a current feel and adapt easily to rapidly changing market trends.

July 26, 2012in Exhibit Deal News 0 Likes

exhibitDEAL Discount During the 2012 Summer Olympics

To show our support for Team USA at the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games, exhibitDEAL is running a promotion from the start of the Games through the month of August.

When you buy a display or graphics from exhibitDEAL, you will receive a percentage discount that is equal to the number of medals awarded to Team USA on the previous day! So if Team USA wins 3 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze medals on Tuesday, then you can get a 6% discount all day Wednesday. This promotion begins on Sunday, July 29, 2012 based on the medal totals from Saturday, July 28 and is good for up to 10% off your order.

So everyone can see how successful Team USA is, we will show the medal count on our website to track the team’s progress and the daily discount.  And this promotion does not end with the closing ceremonies. Our customers will still have access to a percentage discount, based on the final average of all the daily medal totals, through the end of August.

The Olympics discount applies to our most popular lines of exhibitDEAL as well as graphics so now is a good time to update an outdated display with your company’s new logo or latest product offering.

If you’d like to place an order using this promotion, call exhibitDEAL’s experts at 1-866-577-3325 or email us at sales(at)exhibitdeal.com.

Watch the Team USA medal count and save!

July 12, 2012in Trade Show Displays 0 Likes

Energy Curved Fabric Displays and Other Cost Saving Fabric Trade Show Options

Many small business owners struggle with the overwhelming costs of exhibiting at a large convention or trade show.  Many business owners do not think they cannot afford the money to create a professional booth layout so they choose not to attend the show at all.  Remember, you cannot grow your business without connecting with other people in your industry, and conventions and trade shows are a vital part of making those connections.

When you break down the costs of exhibiting at a trade show you will find that while there are some costs that cannot be reduced, like booth fees and basic travel costs, you booth design costs can vary greatly and with a little planning you can create a booth layout that is both engaging and cost effective.  Many larger companies bring in construction crews and spend thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars building solid walled units in their booths.  Obviously a small business on a budget cannot afford that kind of expenditure for every trade show or convention.  Large scale fabric displays are the perfect alternative to solid construction.

A fabric display will help you create a banded professional look in your convention booth for less money.  These fabric systems are easy to set up and usually do not require you to hire any additional help setting up or taking them down.  In addition to the labor costs being reduced, fabric displays are lightweight and fit in easy to transport travel cases.

The energy curved fabric displays off you the opportunity to create solid walls in your booth with their state of the art tension fabric design.  You can choose to print graphics on every panel or leave some solid to allow your products to shine in front of one of the many eye pleasing color options.

June 4, 2012in Displays Lighting 0 Likes

Why is Trade Show Display Halogen Lighting Being Replaced with LED Light Bulbs

There is a growing trend towards upgrading older, halogen lighting with LED lighting for trade show display stands. Lighting is a key component of any trade show exhibit design for creating ambiance and enhancing visibility, but it is a frequently misused and misunderstood trade show accessory. That said, why is an LED lighting upgrade being done with halogen lighting being discarded?

The first advantage LED lighting has is life span – a typical LED bulb will be rated to last for longer than 50,000 hours, whereas a comparable halogen bulb will last for only a tenth of that time (around five to six thousand hours). This more than makes up for the price discrepancy between the two types of lighting, with LED light bulbs costing considerably more.

Another major trade show advantage of LED lighting over halogen bulbs is that they do not generate a lot of heat. Heat generation can be a major issue in many trade show venues, so minimizing heat given off from lighting is crucial. A halogen bulb converts 90% of the energy it consumes in the form of heat, but an LED light converts the bulk of the electricity it consumes into light, generating much less heat. For this reason, LED lighting is also highly efficient when it comes to power consumption, and they are a greener form of lighting your display stand.

Both halogen and LED trade show lighting provide comparable light (measured in lumens). Halogen lighting does have one advantage over LED lighting in that they are more controllable when it comes to dimming the light. After dimming an LED light by 20% or more, the LED will start to flicker, which means they are more effectively used for display lighting in high visibility areas, such as back display highlighting.

Overall, LED lighting displays are more efficient, work out cheaper over the longer term and require less replacement and maintenance than their halogen equivalents. On balance, you ought to move to an LED lighting rig for your trade show display as soon as convenient.

November 4, 2011in Trade Show Display Rentals 0 Likes

Renting Your Trade Show Exhibit

Creating an exhibit for a trade show is expensive and time consuming. If your company does not attend more than four shows a year it may be more cost effective to rent your exhibit. There are six things you should consider when looking into an exhibit rental company.

Experience is an obvious area of concern. Be sure to inquire about the experience of each person, from each department that will be handing the creation of your exhibit; especially if you are using their graphics department. Check out client reviews and don’t be afraid to ask for three referrals with contact information.

Exhibition halls each have their own set of rules for exhibits, as do the individual shows. You will want a rental company that can offer a wide variety of package options. Chose a company that can provide different styles, sizes and setups to accommodate any show you might choose to attend. Be specific with your questions and be clear about what you need, be prepared for the unexpected and double check their support policies. Each package will have it’s own level of support and you need to make sure the support you need is included with the package you choose.

Along with their variety, do they offer flexibility? If your show has a requirement that isn’t spelled out in one of their packages are they able to work out a custom solution? Flexibility is a much appreciated characteristic of a great Exhibit Rental Company.

Since we are a society that loves visual stimulation you will want to pay close attention to the expertise of their graphics department. Ask for photographs of work completed by the current in-house team. You will want high-impact, easy to read designs of the highest quality. Get details on the process of design, the time constraints, and how the company handles the creative collaboration with you.

The final concern is that of logistics. Will the rental company transport the exhibit to and from the hall for you (for a fee)? Will they install it as well? If not, then is the exhibit something you, and your staff, can assemble with ease?

You want a company offering quality and value and it may take time to find the right match for your needs. The time spent now will save you much grief in the future.

October 5, 2011in Business advice 0 Likes

Delivering Competitive Advantage with Mobility, Speed and Agility

Everything in our lives is being delivered at ever faster speeds – consumer goods, personal communications, pizza and anything else you may think of. In the business environment, speed is essential, however it is a double-edged sword: on the one hand the ability to deliver information, customer orders and products is a boon, but on the other, if you are moving in the wrong direction to begin with, having speed simply means you are digging yourself into a deeper hole that much faster.

The challenge is to manage and implement the new technology which is delivering such business agility, speed and mobility effectively.

The technology which allows for workers to be mobile and to carry their desktop tools and communications around with them wherever they may be has come a long, long way over the last 25 years. In the 1980’s, email was unheard of and when it was widely introduced in the 1990’s the business reaction was to ban or restrict it. Today, email is mission critical for almost any business you can think of – today, Instant Messaging is going through the same process of widespread adoption, but there is the clue – email may be fast, but Instant Messaging is simply now.

The technology has gotten faster yet again.

But there is even more to come: we now have a mobile ability which is based upon two recent, major developments: the development of a fast Internet backbone for the mobile Internet and the development of handheld devices which are truly mobile, for instance your smart phone or tablet PC.

You can walk on any trade show floor in the country and see a variety of handheld mobile devices at work, but it is not simply the technology we can see which counts but how companies actually manage mobile resources which determines their success.

For most companies (and I include most of the Fortune 500 in this) they are simply not capable of managing the mobile environment effectively – this falls outside the area of their core competencies and strengths. Fortunately, there are solutions available, notably based on the SaaS model (Software as a Service) who provide mobile management solutions which allow you to focus on how to use the technology effectively to deliver business objectives, rather than worrying about what the technology is.

Mobile management SaaS solutions also provide a high degree of customization for how you do business. Every company is different, with differing trade show processes for collecting prospect information, generating quotes and estimates as well as taking a sales order – this becomes ever more important when you are performing these customer facing tasks with the customer facing you at the event itself! You need robust systems which can be delivered in real-time when you need them and wherever you are, and you also need a partner who understands your business and how to best manage mobile resources for maximum business impact.

August 12, 2011in Trade Show Advice 0 Likes

Trade Shows Require Pre-Planning

Trade Shows Require Pre-Planning

Many companies are forgoing trade shows and other marketing efforts in light of a bad economy that seems to get worse. Trade shows can be costly to attend – you have to think about the cost of your booth, your promotional materials, staffing your booth, travel, hotel, and incidentals. However, a trade show can be a great way to generate leads, increase sales, and gain exposure in your industry. If you do plan to exhibit at a trade show, there are some things to think about several months in advance. Here is a handy guide to planning for your trade show participation.

In the three to six months before the trade show, make sure you have a clear goal in mind. If you want to make sales on the floor, make sure you are equipped to do so by coming up with a way to accept credit cards, equipping your booth with your product, or having an easy way to sell your service. Making a sale is the honey pot in the trade show world, so if it is your goal to do so, make sure you are prepared.

In that same time period, set a goal for how many contacts you want to make – whether they are sales leads, investors, good industry contacts, or potential employees. It is not good to go into a trade show with no clear goals in mind. Having a plan and executing that plan result in a higher ROI. If you set goals and achieve them, you feel that you’ve accomplished something real, rather than waiting until the end and trying to figure out what you may have accomplished.

Also several months prior to the trade show, schedule some meetings. Schedule lunches with industry leaders, vendor presentations that are pre-set with invitations issued, and meetings with potential customers. Scheduled events and meetings take the guesswork out of who you will impact with your trade show message.

Speaking of the trade show message, make sure you know what your primary message should be. This is what your booth and all your marketing materials will reflect, so to make sure your materials and setup send the right message, figure out what that message is.

Once you’ve done all that, it’s time to get your booth, design your handouts and promotional materials, and plan your trade show exhibit. Book plane tickets and hotel rooms far enough in advance to take advantage of any promotional prices, and make sure you have your staff sorted out so that all your preparation will pay off.

July 21, 2011in Trade Show Marketing 0 Likes

4 Tips to Increase Your Trade Show Leads By Changing How You Select Trade Shows

Trade shows generate billions of dollars of sales and are one of the very best ways to gain marketing and sales traction in almost any market. As the economy recovers from the worst recession in over 60 years, now is the time to start looking at how you can maximize the potential of trade show exhibiting.

A major decision is where will you exhibit?

Selecting your trade show venues to attend is crucial, because the demographics of trade show events varies widely. With many companies having withdrawn from exhibiting during the downturn, the green shoots of recovery are now attracting exhibitors back to the marketing channel and a host of newcomers too.

The deal is not to repeat what worked in the past, but to start looking at what will work even better. You will quickly find that there is a wealth of low-hanging fruit for you to tackle as well as some major improvements in results to be gained over the long term by looking at some simple changes in how you assess and select trade shows to attend.

Check out these hints to get more business leads in from improving how you select trade show venues.

Go Outside Your Home Region

Many companies attend trade shows which are on their doorstep, but this is frequently a case of preaching to the converted. You can get more bang for your trade show buck by taking your company and product to new territories which are beyond the traditional range of your business.
There are hordes of new customers out there who have never heard of you and your product or service, but they are going to love you – give them a chance!

Evaluate Trade Shows Based on Market Verticals

Look at your customer base now and extract the market verticals you see. Are you selling to doctors and dentists more than lawyers? Are trucking companies the major consumer of your service rather than electronics firms?

Once you have identified the major verticals, think outside the box and instead of expecting these businesses to send a rep to a generic trade show, go and attend their own type of trade show.

For instance, you make widgets and lawyers are your major consumers. Don’t attend a widget trade show – go attend a lawyer exhibition where there will be stacks of them.

Increase Individual Trade Show Effort but Reduce the Overall Number of Events Attended

Some companies have spread themselves too thin and packed a challenging exhibition schedule into a too tight calendar. Look at shedding trade show venues which have not been productive and focus your efforts on maximizing revenues and results form a smaller number of them. Good areas to focus on is to improve the trade show display; increase and accentuate booth staff training, and improve lead follow up after every event.

Adjust Trade Show Selection Criteria to Reflect Changes in Underlying Target Markets

Look at the target markets with fresh eyes because no-one and nothing stands still for long. Just as your own industry will undergo changes, so does the market within which your customers are operating. Amend and re-assess your trade show selection criteria to reflect underlying customer and vertical market changes in line with your own business expectations.

June 15, 2011in Trade Show Marketing 0 Likes

Positioning Your Booth – Trade Show Strategy

When you’re exhibiting at a trade show, one thing is very important to consider. Just like regular real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. Choosing the position of your booth can be the ticket to a great trade show experience, otherwise you’re counting proverbial tumbleweeds. So which spots are the prime real estate on the trade show floor.

Corners are great spots. Not only do you get double the traffic, but you have more room to spread out your stuff. Similarly, the end of a row can be good, since there is less congestion and more room to move.

Near the main entrance is a good spot, but not the first space next to the entrance. Also, studies have shown that the right side of the entrance aisle gets more traffic than the left side, so think about that when choosing your spot.

Other high traffic areas, like aisles that lead to seminar rooms or performance areas, are great for those attendees who are stalling before a seminar presentation, or for people who wander out early. Additionally, a spot near the restroom is not as bad as you think. Everybody has to visit the facilities at some point, so odds are everybody in the place is sure to see you, and if you’re booking later, there is a chance those spaces will not be filled.

If it’s possible, try to figure out who your neighbors are going to be. If someone is going to be blasting house music, or a constant loop of their TV spot, your staff is going to have a hard time being heard over the din. Also, try to avoid being next to a company with a much bigger, more professional trade show display booth than you. You don’t want to be upstaged.

May 21, 2011in Trade Show Advice 0 Likes

Trade Show Logistics & Organization

Trade exhibitions generate a lot of sales revenue and are an excellent tool for branding your business and cementing the company in the minds of potential buyers and business partners. A lot of effort goes into creating trade show success, and you need to well organized and be able to manage the disparate aspects of the show so you meet your objectives.

Before the exhibition date, have your team rehearse their roles on the day. Do this several times because this will help make practices second-nature to them. It is a lot easier to meet and greet if you have been practicing doing it for several sessions beforehand for instance.

Your trade show booth and collateral will also have to be transported to the venue and set up. Practice setup for real and then have other staffers look at the show layout and display and let them give their thoughts on the impact and how to improve it. This is all good stuff to find out well in advance so you are not improvising on the day.

That said, the trade show itself will probably always have an issue which requires you to think on your feet. You can minimize these instances by performing some advance planning and research. For instance, where is the best food for the booth team to be found? How about where you will provide post-show entertaining if you hook up with prospects who want to spend time with you after the show? How about finding out where you can source items you may need if you have a breakage with your equipment or collateral?

By rehearsing and planning for the worst, you are more likely to have an incident free trade show, which will allow you to focus on the reason you are there – meeting people and generating sales interest.

February 15, 2008in Banner Stands 0 Likes

ExhibitDEAL To Be Featured By “Eye On America”

Leading Trade Show Displays company recognized for going Green

Santa Monica, CA – (PRWeb) – February 15, 2008 – ExhibitDEAL, a leading provider of trade show exhibits and accessories, is proud to announce their appearance on the NBC series “Eye on America”.

The episode, which focuses on companies with Green and Sustainable practices, will show how ExhibitDEAL has continued to be an industry leader while lowering their carbon emissions through selling their products online and recycling the few natural resources they do use such as office supplies and ink cartridges.  ExhibitDEAL’s feature on “Eye on America” will air in April.  Check your local listing for exact dates and times.

“We’re very proud to be recognized for doing our part for the environment,” Mat Kelly, president of ExhibitDEAL said.  “It’s good to know that what we’re doing is making a difference and we hope that other companies will take notice and follow suit.”

Aside from selling their products online and recycling, ExhibitDEAL also offers a line of Green Trade Show Flooring.  Most of their employees ride bicycles to work, and instead of disposable cups and coffee stirrers, they use travel or ceramic mugs and silverware.  All of this, coupled with their online practice of their transactions, set-up instructions, and artwork specifications all being digital, have produced a company that continues to grow without continuing to take a toll on the environment.

About ExhibitDEAL

ExhibitDEAL is a Santa Monica based trade show exhibit company.  They offer environmentally friendly Point of Purchase Displays and flooring, as well as literature racks and banner stands.  A pioneer in going green in the trade show display industry, they can be found online at:  https://exhibitdeal.com/ .

Contact

Mat Kelly

https://exhibitdeal.com/

866-577-3325

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George R Perry

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