In a visual marketing bazaar such as trade fairs and conventions, every visit to your trade show booth leads to a build up of pre-conceived notion. That notion is carried on to every subsequent encounter that your clients might have with your products and/or your services.  Be very purposeful as to how you want your brand to be perceived.  If you walk into a trade show exhibit of clutter, confusion and the mundane, the products and services will be perceived as such.  On the other hand, if you walk into a space of elegance, simplicity and controlled light,  you are in a perceptual space of high technology and smart efficiency.  You see, simplicity and complexity are mutually dependent.  Because technology only continues to grow more complex, there is a massive economic and emotional advantage to present it in a simple and humanized space.

Be Aware!

Your brand elements like logos, tag lines, trademarks, packaging and your trade show display might be yours; but the reality is, it is owned by your customers and your prospects.  It is their perception of your company that impacts your bottom line and ultimately your survival.  We live in a 24 hour connected world.  Be aware of the savvy planetary word-of-mouth.  Be aware, even before you get to pitch about your brand uniqueness, you might be encountering prospects that have formed perceptions about your brand.  If it is positive, your brand achieves victory, if it is negative, you shift to the mind-set of damage control. Triumphant lesson from Avis: When Avis (the # 2 car rental behind Hertz) anchored in “We try harder,” all of a sudden the brand gained momentum to aspire for something bigger.  Being #2 is positive and goal oriented.

Propagating the Positive Perception

Start with how you want your customers and prospects to think, feel, remember, and experience your exhibiting space.  The over arching goal should be positive memory retention.  Have the courage to be different and make memorable limbic connections with your visitors. Focus on white space.  It is your strategic weapon.  Let it be.  Do no cover every surface with your story.  Remember, we live in an overwhelming, information grinding, digital age.  Your exhibiting environment should be all about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.  Architectural elements and textures should work towards empowering your brand style and image.

For more reasons why trade shows are so important to your marketing message, read The Value Of Trade Shows white paper.  This special report reveals how exhibitors and attendees find significant value in trade shows, and expect to for many years ahead.  Click here to request your free copy that will help justify and enhance your trade show program!

Lounges have tremendous momentum in the design of trade show exhibit spaces and special events. Dedicated sitting spaces are now an integral part of design directives.  These areas are resolute in providing a communicative approach to information exchange and information gathering.  In today’s era of viral marketing and virtual interacting, it is a featured highlight of face-to-face marketing.

It only makes sense to promote the right kind of atmospheric conditions that foster conversation when 46% of executive decision makers make purchase decisions while attending a show, 51% of executive decision makers request that a sales representative visit their company after the show and, get this, 95% of the executive decision makers meet with their current suppliers at a trade show.   And a lounge does exactly that.  It is a luxurious conclave ground where the talent meets the target.

If you have a smaller trade show booth space (20′x20′ or so) and if you find the above statistics valuable, you might want to think about a club design layout. However, if you have a larger space you might want to pledge a portion of it to an elegant setting with flamboyant and interesting furniture that speaks to the sensuality of the limbic system. The lounge inside your space is a grand setting for showcasing your latest innovation.  50% of trade show attendees want to see “What’s New” in products and services. 90% of the trade show attendees have not been called upon (face-to-face) by any company exhibiting at the show in the 12 months prior to the event.

Why not make the experience delightful?

Research from Cap, Gemini, Ernst and Young states that “Consumers don’t differentiate retailers by their value propositions.”  This means brands don’t distinguish themselves by having unique products or services as much as they do by the experience they present.  A memorable experience is one that thrills or excites customers and prospects.  As kids we thrived on thrills.  We remember our first touch down.  We remember our first voyage on Pirates of the Caribbean.  We remember our first Festival of Colors.  As adults, we continue to seek thrills in our professional and personal worlds.  ”We want the thrill of getting high response rates to a direct marketing campaign; the thrill of exceeding our sales quotas; of earning that next job promotion in record time.  Businesses that understand what excites their customers are those that stand to gain higher levels of customer loyalty, no matter the challenges their markets face.”  Jeanette McMurtry, MBA

Lounging in cappuccino and hot pink is all about the ideal setting that piques the thrill of what’s new and exciting in a monotonous day-to-day survival.  Next time as you plan your space, think about the ways that you can distinguish yourself in those precious moments of interaction that we call face-to-face marketing in the hyper-competitive marketing world of business-to-business.

Want more great ideas on creating the best exhibiting space? Read the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper.  This 32-page book has almost 100 tips, including exhibit design as well as budgeting, promotions, measuring ROI and more.  Click here to request your free copy.   

In an age when board rooms are no longer the birthing cavity for brands and when Facebook and Twitter seem to be establishing and expanding, or diminishing, the brand perception, trade shows and specialized venues seem to hold the secret to your brand experience.

Today, a brand is defined as your reputation built from your promise to your customers and the sum of all of their experiences with you.  Trade shows happen to be a unique arena where your prospects get to touch, feel, breathe and explore your brand.  For this, you need to be bold and dauntless.  This is one place that your brand must stand out from the noise of the crowd.  The strategy that you embark upon is the key.  It is the only “SureStep” way to your brand victory.

“All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.” Chinese Military General Sun Tzu

SureStep has done exactly that.  Designer Greg Mathieson has incorporated the strategy of adventurous creativity and established the brand on high grounds.  A company with patents for children with low muscle tone who have trouble with stability due to pronation provides bracing for normal movement and function.  In an effort to paint a picture of a child’s normal life using SureStep, the booth stand design was anchored in the center field by a conceptual tree house.  It is bold.  It is defining.  It is purposeful.  The purpose of this messaging is not about the product.  It is about bringing fun and adventure in a child’s life.  The brand has now secured victory.

Design is one of many key parts of better trade show marketing. You’ll get insights and find much more in the What’s Working In Exhibiting white paper. Request your free, 32-page copy by clicking here.