The Trade Show Marketing Industry

Trade show marketing is becoming increasingly popular for businesses of any size and brand to draw in more customer interest. These events are also lucrative opportunities to network with others who work in the same area and learn about new trends. Many industries see immediate increases in their average profits soon after participation in a trade show. The demand for eye-catching displays has created an entirely new and separate industry for trade show design. Businesses enlist the services of professional designers to create unique trade show exhibits for them. Creating displays for a trade show has become a competitive field, and business owners have plenty to choose from when it comes to custom-made exhibits. Exhibit rentals are also widely available as an alternative to buying the more expensive parts for portable exhibits.

Exhibition Basics

A successful exhibit often includes all or part of a rented display along with the company's own display materials. These can be combinations of pipe and drape displays , tabletop displays, panel displays, or other types of custom displays. Displays are actually the core of trade show events, allowing companies to showcase their products and services. As opposed to a pre-made rental display, completely custom exhibits give an exhibition designer a greater amount of freedom to create a booth entirely around a company's philosophy, selling approach, and goals.

Pipe and drape displays are among the most basic options for an exhibit. These are made from fabric attached to frames usually made from steel pipes. The drawback for these is that exhibitors are usually not allowed able to hang anything on backdrops provided by the show decorator.

The need for easily portable exhibits usually includes the use of pop-up exhibits. Pop-ups are a bit sturdier and more versatile; they are popular with designers for their accordion shape that can be arranged in a variety of ways. The walls of pop-up exhibits usually form the walls of a booth for a trade show exhibit. Panel displays are another alternative to pop-ups; these are typically made from heavier material such as plastic that can support added weight.

When putting together displays for a trade show, a smaller component for some companies can be a tabletop display or a briefcase display. Both are similar size and simple to set up on a standard table. A briefcase display has the added bonus of being quick and easy to fold up. Both of these types of tabletop displays come in sizes that can range from six inches to several feet tall.

Budget-Friendly Booth Displays

First-time event participants are often surprised at how quickly the cost of custom trade show exhibits can add up. Buying large volumes of high-quality materials for booth displays is often outside the budgets of smaller, newer companies. For this reason, there is a widely-available market for exhibit rentals at significantly lower prices. Some business owners prefer to purchase inexpensive basics such as fabric for backdrops, tables, and pedestals for their products. This rented display option allows for more investment in other components of custom trade show exhibits such as printed banner graphics or video presentations. Even a plain booth wall can quickly draw visual interest with some well-designed banners or decals.

Other company owners take more of an all-in-one approach to using a rental exhibit. Pop-up display rental exhibits are some of the most economical choices. They can typically be rented for about 50% of the purchase price. Some rental companies for trade shows even have the option for business owners to later purchase the pop-ups if they like them enough, with the 50% rental fee already applied to the total price.

Usually the biggest part of any trade show exhibit budget is the cost of graphics to be added to a booth wall, a tabletop display, or any other chosen area of a rental exhibit. Graphics are what grab viewers' attention the most, and the quality of the artwork can often make or break trade show exhibits. These often incorporate a company's logo into other dynamic designs and can be silk screen printed for a high-end look.

Choosing an Exhibit Rental Company

A simple web search will yield a plethora of choices for exhibit rental companies that specialize in trade shows. Some have wider selections and sizes of pop-up display rental exhibits that come with extras such as podiums or pedestals for companies who plan to have live presentations. Other rental businesses employ consultants who can help their business customers choose products to put together their own custom-made exhibits.

The experience of the consultants at a rental business can make a big difference in the success of an event participant. Some of these companies employ in-house design teams and offer options for custom exhibits while others only focus on renting the basic materials. In any case, the quality of these materials needs to be the best that any given business owner can afford.

Additional Considerations

Custom displays offer more flexibility for a unique look, and they also have plenty of flexibility in terms of construction choices. It is possible to put together a good display with rented materials that are of good quality. Designers can be hired from a rental company or on a freelance basis, and their fees often depend on their levels of expertise.

Some types of displays are more expensive than others, particularly in the case of pipe and drape displays versus sturdier panel displays. If a certain company does several trade shows per year in different locations, renting exhibition materials locally beforehand for each venue can save time and money on packing and shipping the same exhibit several times.

Trade show marketing has grown such a great deal as an industry that renters and vendors have started putting together their own trade show exhibit presentations. For owners with a relatively new business, putting together portable exhibits can seem to be a daunting task. Visiting a few conventions for the rented display business can give a good idea of all available choices. Trade show exhibits are a vital marketing component across industries, and options will continue to expand due to technology and other areas of innovation.