Last updated on March 31st, 2016 at 12:57 pm

As a small business, in the past we have exhibited at business to business (B2B) exhibitions and have also attended many SEO and Internet marketing related exhibitions.  One thing has always struck us and that’s how to make sure that you get value when showing at an exhibition (ours have ranged from a small local exhibitions with a simple table to regional shows where we have been provided with a “shell” that allows you to put your own items out).

Listed below are seven simple tips for exhibition stands that will make your space stand out and hopefully will increase the number of visitors to your stand and let you either gain new customers or at the very least give you new prospects that you can market to in the future.

Some of these tips can be applied to any exhibition space that you my have, regardless of whether it is just a table top or is a proper shell, while others you can only really do if you have a shell or can talk to the organisers.

1. Be prepared – your exhibition stand is your office for the duration of the show.  If you have a sloppy or ill thought-out / prepared stand that will reflect on your businesses image and put off visitors.
2. You have as little as 10 seconds to catch visitors attention as they walk by your stand so make the display as eye catching as possible.  In the past we have even used a 42 inch screen (hired for the day) to display live searches to passers by.
3. One way to make your display eye-catching is to have large wall graphics to cover a standard shell (these are often either grey or blue).  Remember that these graphics need to be read from outside the shell area so make them as large as possible (A1 or A0 as a minimum), keep the text as short as possible – bullet points are ideal – and as large a font size as possible.
4. If you can’t afford large wall graphics then an alternative is to use a pop-up display with some eye catching images or text on them.  The author has seen these advertised for around £100 and your local Prontaprint, sign maker or high street print shop should be able to quote you a price for them or you could go to a specialist like Just Displays in London
5. Using lighting effectively can make your stand bright and attractive – although you may want to remember that having lots of lights shining on you can make you warm by the end of the day.
6. If you can try to have a raised floor or a different colour carpet in the stand, although it sounds odd this is a good way of making people come into your area.
7. Height helps – we have a stand-up display stand that we can use on a table top for the smaller exhibitions where all you are allocated is a tabletop rather than a stand.  By placing this on the table we not only have extra space to put posters but it often means that our table stands out from everyone else that only has leaflets etc on the table.  In the past we have also borrowed a display stand that can  stand on the floor and have been known to replace the table with the floor standing unit (again it makes the display look different to everyone else’s and attracts attention).

And finally…

As with any marketing exercise make sure that you are prepared and that you follow up any leads, our  page on marketing your new business covers this in a little more detail.