Just as a well-designed booth can help attract visitors, a poorly designed exhibit can discourage visitors and ultimately negatively impact your brand. Here are 4 trade show display design fails you should avoid and what you should try to achieve instead.
Cluttered or Unstructured Layout
A common mistake is to think that more is more! If your company has many different products or services, it is tempting to try to showcase every single one. However, this can create a messy environment that is difficult to navigate.
Instead, you should ensure that your booth is easy to access, and visitors should be able to engage without feeling crowded. The best idea is to have plenty of open space, even if this means only highlighting a few handpicked products or services.
Outdated Technology
One of the key reasons to be involved in a trade show is to emphasize the latest technology and innovations your company offers. Your booth from five years ago may already lack the ability to engage your audience with its outdated technology.
Investing in the latest technology, such as high-definition digital displays and VR experiences, is well worth it to engage your visitors in a meaningful brand encounter.
Understaffed Booths
Having insufficient staff operating your booth equates to missed opportunities to engage with potential clients. Make sure to have enough people on hand to deal with all inquiries in a friendly and engaging manner. Where necessary, conduct staff training before the trade show to ensure that everyone is apprised of the ins and outs of your offerings.
Overusing the Written Word
While it is essential to communicate your brand’s message clearly, there is a tendency to overuse text, which can overwhelm visitors. For example, too much text on infographics, brochures, and handouts that are excessively wordy and a general overuse of text information on display in the booth.
Instead, stick to concise, impactful messages that cleanly convey the key concepts. Remember that the purpose is to hook potential customers with your display, and then you can “fill in the blanks” with additional promotional materials. Or you can speak to the visitor to provide more information or offer to demonstrate how the product is used.
Get in touch with Salient Design & Exhibits today to find out how to avoid trade-show display design fails and how our experience and execution can contribute to your trade-show success. We have got you covered from design to construction, set-up to dismantling to storage and everything in between.