A Checklist for Everything You Need to Think About Before Hiring an Exhibition Stand

Hosting a stand at an exhibition is a great way to get to know your target audience, get feedback for your product or service, and, crucially, generate sales and leads. It gives you a great opportunity to show off what you do best while you're up close and personal with hundreds, or thousands, of visitors. As there will be loads of other exhibitors from your niche attending, it also allows you to make new contacts and get to know what your competitors are up to.

If you're planning to host a stand, there are a few important things to consider before you begin the process to hire the stand itself. Here's our roundup of all the things you need to think about before you start planning.

What are your exhibition objectives?
Having a clear idea of what you want to get out of the event can make sure you get the best ROI possible. Are you just trying to create awareness of your brand? You'll want to focus on drawing people in, promoting your website and social media channels and creating a memorable experience for visitors of your stand. Trying to sell as many products as possible? You'll need displays that highlight the product, demonstrations, offers, and of course storage for your stock. Want to collect leads to follow up with? You'll need a stand design that attracts attention and cultivates conversation, with strategies for getting details and areas to sit down and chat.

Who is your audience?
Your audience should be at the forefront of your mind when planning any element of your exhibition appearance. Do your research on the event - who will be attending? Can you find statistics from previous events? What are their main interests? Are they businesses or consumers? This will influence everything from the design of the stand, to the offers you put on, and which of your products or services you decide to focus on.

What size is your plot?
The layout and dimensions of your plot are crucial to planning the design of the stand. This influences how much room you have for products, what furniture you can fit in, and if you'll have space for a storage room.

Where is your stand located?
The position of your stand in the venue will have a huge impact on your stand. Make sure you get hold of a map and consider where visitors will be approaching from, how close you are to break areas, and which sides of your stand are against other stands. You want the most eye-catching components of your stand to be in the eye-line of passers-by, and will need to know which sides can be open and which sides you'll need walls on.

What's your exhibition budget?
It goes without saying that knowing your budget is crucial, it's not just the cost of hiring the stand that you need to think about, you also need to factor in the cost of marketing materials such as business cards and flyers, any freebies and offers you plan to give out, and any marketing you do in the runup to the event to promote your attendance. You can easily a quote for the stand production to help you formulate your budget.

Who's your competition?
To get the most out of the event, you need to make sure you stand out among the competition. Find out who you'll be competing with at the event and research their websites and social media channels to see what they've done in the past - you can use this information to give yourself a competitive edge when hiring and planning your stand.

Will you be running any competitions?
If you plan on running a competition during the event, this needs to be highlighted on the stand to compel visitors to join in. Whether it's an activity that they can compete in on the day, or entering their names to win a prize, shout about it to have people seeking out your stand.

What exhibition stand styles do you like?
It's good to have some idea of the sort of stand design you want before you begin talking with a stand provider. They'll help to create a bespoke design, but it's helpful to know what you do and don't like before starting the process. Browsing the internet for design will give you a head start.

Make sure you've considered all of the above to ensure you get the most out of your display stand hire and exhibition attendance.


Article kindly provided by modexuk.com