Your Guide to Exhibiting at Trade Shows to Build Your Brand

Exhibiting at trade shows is a great way to boost your visibility among your target market, and establish your presence among your competitors, suppliers and potential collaborators. Events and trade shows provide your business with the opportunity to meet potential customers in person, demonstrate your products, generate leads and build lasting relationships.

Making the most of trade shows, however, requires a good deal of thought and planning. How will you make your booth stand out among your many fellow exhibitors? What promotional materials should you include? How can you design a great booth while keeping within your budget and making sure that your brand identity shines through as best as it possibly can?

Red Iron Brand Solutions specializes in supplying all the materials you need to create a beautiful trade show booth that effectively promotes your brand. In this article, we will provide a comprehensive guide to building your brand at trade shows, from aesthetic considerations to practical challenges. The guide includes answers to questions like:

How do you select the perfect trade show display?
How do you choose the perfect, made-to-measure table covers for your tables?
What are the benefits of pop-up canopy tents?
Why do you need promotional materials and how do you select them?

Are You Ready to Exhibit at an Event or Trade Show?

Before we get started guiding you through these points, how do you know if you are ready to exhibit at a trade show? Here are a few points to consider before you book your space at that upcoming trade show:

Is your business prepared for a trade show? Ensure that your products are ready to be marketed at a trade show, and that you have a well-developed marketing plan. Your trade show booth should form an integral part of that marketing plan and should be pursued in line with your marketing goals.
Have you chosen the right trade show? Before you commit, ensure that the show you are considering is the right one for your business. Research the show and its target market. Speak to the show organizers to see if you are a good fit. You need to know that the show will be attended by people with demographics that match your ideal prospect or customer.
Do you have the budget to exhibit? While events and trade shows can be among the most cost-effective marketing and advertising avenues, the costs can add up pretty quickly, so make sure you have a budget set in place, and that you stick to it.
Do you have a plan in place to promote your business before the show starts? Remember to create some buzz before the show starts, so that your customers know that they can find you there. Use all the channels that are at your disposal: email, social media, blogs, etc.
Do you have a plan in place to promote your business after the event? Collecting business cards at an event is a useless exercise if you don’t follow up with your prospects after the event. This is a critical path. How will you follow up? Will you create a database of all the names and numbers you collected at the event and send a broadcast email? Will you send personalized emails? Do you have a sales staff in place to make follow-up phone calls?

With all those essential tasks checked off, let’s take a look at what you need to create the perfect trade show booth.

Selecting the Perfect Trade Show Display for Your Brand

The first thing you need to do is choose or design the perfect trade show display. There are so many elements that go into a booth or stall, but before you get wrapped up in the details, take the following basics into account:

The color scheme of your trade show booth
Effective use of space
A unifying theme
A backdrop that tells your brand’s story

Bright colors are always the best choice for your trade booth. High-contrasting colors that connect to your brand identity will accentuate your booth and brand, while highlighting the most important aspects of your messaging. One reliable approach is to select three colors in a 60% – 30% – 10% arrangement. Choose one primary color and apply it to 60% of your space. Then, choose a secondary color that you can apply to 30% of the remaining space. The leftover 10% should include an accent color that will complement your two main colors and emphasize important elements such as graphics and text.

When it comes to space, you need to consider how to maximize the available area to your advantage. As a rule of thumb, you will want to ensure that about 40% of your exhibit is empty space.

The theme of the booth will depend on your brand and marketing objectives. Ask yourself how you can embody your unique selling point in a single, imaginative and compelling theme.

Improve Brand Awareness with Branded 10×10 Tents

A branded custom-printed 10×10 canopy tent is the ideal setting and frame for your trade show booth, especially if the event is taking place outside. Branded durable tents, canopies and backdrops can provide ongoing marketing benefits for several years. The primary benefit is they serve a dual purpose: they provide shelter for your staff and visitors while they provide powerful, eye-catching branding that will grab people’s attention from quite a long way off. If you have well-designed branding on your tent, you can create an immediate impression that will last.

Keep the following points in mind when planning the design of your 10×10 tents:

Go for a bold, but simple design: Don’t let the branding get too busy or cluttered. Choose a few key colors and visual elements that will represent your brand simply and clearly.
Give your logo pride of place: Ensure that the design places your logo in a position where it is prominently displayed. Let it be the first thing that people see.
Don’t cut corners when it comes to materials: A 10×10 tent should be tough and durable, and its quality should be a reflection of your brand. Invest in good quality materials, and you will get better value for your money. It will also boost your business’s image as a company that insists on the best.
Be detail-oriented: In addition to focusing on the minutiae of your design, pay attention to small physical details as well, such as stitching, and the look and feel of the material itself.

Custom Printed Table Cover Sizing Guide for Your Event

To make the best first impression with your potential customers, you will need branded tablecloths to cover the tables at your trade show. We can design any color and design you could desire. The most important thing we need at first is the correct measurements. Accurate measurements are essential to get the perfect fit.

Trade show table covers are made to measure for a variety of standard and non-standard trade show tables. In order to ensure that your tablecloths fit your trade show tables, your first step will be to know the exact size of the tables you will be using. Generally speaking, trade shows use tables in standard 4’, 6’ and 8’ lengths. The complete measurements of these tables are usually as follows:

24” wide by 48” long by 29” tall for 4ft tables
30” wide by 72” long by 29” tall for 6ft tables
30” wide by 96” long by 29” tall for 8ft tables

It is possible that your tables are not made to these standard dimensions. Try to get access to your tables beforehand (if you are not supplying your own) and measure them. Let us know which table size you are working with, and we will provide custom-printed tablecloths to suit you.

Choosing a Wind-Resistant Canopy Tent for Your Event

Planning outdoor marketing and corporate events is a little more complex than putting together an indoor one. For one thing, you have no control over the weather. All you can do is ensure that your booth is protected from the elements as best as possible. The best way to do this (assuming that moving indoors is absolutely not an option) is to use a wind-resistant canopy tent.

Wind-resistant tents have the following vital features:

Heavy Duty Frames: You will need your tent to have heavy-duty frames, made from sturdy, durable metal that will not be at the mercy of the windy conditions.
Wind Vents: Choose a tent that has a vent at the top, which allows air to flow through, reducing the chances of your tent being caught up by the wind like a sail and being carried off.
Sidewalls: Tent sidewalls add extra protection for the people and items being sheltered under your tents. Whether full tent walls that can create a stunning background or half walls that define the space buy don’t limit accessibility to your prospective customers, walls can provide branding opportunities and practical
Tight Weave Fabric: The type of material used to make your tent is particularly important. The best option is a high-quality tight weave fabric that is wind-resistant, water-resistant, and UV-protected.
Anchoring system: No matter how sturdy your frame might be, you will still need an excellent anchoring system to offer extra security against the wind. Use stakes, guy lines, and weights to keep your tent strong against the wind.

As long as you pay close attention to these parts and features, you have all you need to find a wind-resistant canopy tent that will protect your booth through multiple outdoor trade shows for many years.

Understanding Why Promotional Products Are Important

Should your trade show booth include promotional gift items? The answer is a definite yes. The products you give away at your trade events play a pivotal role in influencing the choices and behavior of your customers. Branded gifts help you promote our brand while forging lasting relationships with your current and prospective customers. While there are several reasons for this, the main one to remember is something called the reciprocity principle.

First described by psychologist Robert Cialdini as one of his six principles of influence, the principle of reciprocity rests on the simple fact that when you do something for, or give something to somebody, that person feels compelled to give back to you somehow. When you give a gift to a customer or potential customer, they are likely to feel a sense of obligation to do something in return, whether that is signing up for your mailing list, listening to your pitch, or even choosing your product over a competitor’s. Through corporate gifting, you invoke the reciprocity principle and foster a positive association with your brand. There are other reasons why promotional products like custom branded rinkware and tote bags are important, including their ability to foster brand recognition and loyalty, and to create emotional connections and to spread your brand recognition beyond the recipient. However, their effectiveness really comes down to this one simple principle of human behavior.

Be sure to choose quality products that your target audience finds useful and that reflect your brand.

Choose Red Iron Brand Solutions for Your Trade Show Materials

At Red Iron Brand Solutions, we take pride in handling our clients with special care. Our 30 years of experience in the industry allows us to offer great ideas to our clients. With our expertise, you will be well prepared for exhibiting at trade shows. Make us your one-stop shop for banners, tents, promotional products, and more. Contact us for more information if you are planning on using promotional products at your next event.