Northwest Displays Blog

In Portland, Oregon, exhibitors try to present a BIG image with expectations of drawing more people to their booth. Another approach would be to create smaller less expensive displays that have a concise message that speaks directly to your target audience.

From my experience, I find business owners are afraid to identify and go after their target market because they fear losing business. The idea being, if I narrow my message to much, then I’ll exclude people who would otherwise be interested in buying from me. Let me first qualify the statement, I’m not saying you need to design your display for left-handed women who like to wear blue pants and sing Barry Manalow song’s. The first rule for any presentation is know your audience. If you sell tractors and you exhibit at an agriculture show, don’t dress in a suit and tie and present bar charts and financial information in your booth. It isn’t that the tractor buyer doesn’t want this info, but the farmer is first interested in what the tractor will do for them in their fields.

When networking at Chamber events, I often ask those I talk with, “who is your ideal prospect?” When ever I hear “everyone” I am reminded of an event from my youth.

Back some 30 years ago, vacuum sales men still went door to door selling vacuum cleaners. While my mom was a very intelligent women, she was born and raised on a farm and even when she and my dad moved to the big city they remained farmers at heart.

One afternoon we heard a knock on the door and when my mom opened the door she was greeted by a well dressed man holding a Kirby vacuum. It was this salesman’s lucky day because my mom and dad were talking about getting a new vacuum. My mom invited the man inside and offered him a cup of coffee.

After a short exchange of pleasantries, the man began his presentation. He pullout attachment after attachment, he talked about motor horse power and he talked about filtration effectiveness. The man went on for about ten minutes before my mom interrupted him and asked, “does it vacuum carpet and hardwood floors?”

All too often we forget that our customers have needs and they come to us to solve specific problems. In the excitement of the sale, as sales professionals, we feel obligated to tell the prospect standing before us everything we know. We do a massive data dump right there on the show floor, when in the case of the tractor show, the farmer was only interested in if the tractor would plow his fields.

Our non verbal communications usually follow suit with our verbal style. That is to say, if you have a tendency to data dump–verbally–then you’ll more than likely want to data dump visually too. In all honesty, how many words will you read at any particular booth you visit at the trade show your attend? Are you going to study a bar graph or pie chart while standing on a show floor with over a hundred other exhibitors you want to see? The answer is NO, you are going to talk to those exhibitors who peek your interest in the shortest amount of time.

If you visit a display that divided into five or six categories, what is the likelihood that YOU will go from station to station reading everything on the display? Very low to non-existent in my case. If I come to a display that has more than one inviting message, I move on.

Ok, so what does this have to do with Pop-up Displays? If you are faced with a need to attract more business from your trade show program and your company offers several different types of services, then here is an alternative exhibiting strategy. Don’t buy the $10,000 exhibit that said it all, buy three $2,500 printed popup displays and use the rest of your budget to rent two more booth spaces. Scatter you companies prescience around the show floor.

If asked, it is ok to tell about the other services you business offers at each of the displays, you can even have literature for all you do at each of the exhibits. But if you have multiple things to say to your various target audiences, then create a display for each of your messages and put it in a different space.

Put another way, the basic marketing rule is to get recognized by the general public you need to make seven impressions. Which is more effective, having your company name placed once in a big booth space or three times in different booth spaces? If you do a pre-show mailer, buy some sponsor space in the show program and place some area signs around the exhibit, by the time the show attendees gets to your third space they already have six or more visual hits. The best part is you haven’t spent any more money than you would have in the first place.

Ed Bejarana
Zenith Exhibits, Inc.

As trade show exhibiting costs increase, exhibitors are faced with the need to get more for their trade show dollar.  Consider extending your in-booth give-a-ways to a special web page.  Here is how the concept works…

We already know that popular prizes draws more people to your display, but most are there just for the prize; does that matter?  Not really, what matters more is the sales presentation in the environment around the booth visitor.  Show attendees go to shows that interest them, so they are already a potential customer.  There is another type of show attendee that you should consider, those searching for the show on the web.

Build your trade show web page three or four months in advance of your show and then be sure to blog about the page.  The goal is to get links to this page on the search engines.  When building your show page, make sure to pick your key words carefully.  Search engines prioritize pages based on relevancy to the search.

Put the show name along with your company name in the page title.  Put the industry category for the show, and three or four of your key word phrases booth exhibitors would be most interest in.  Put another way, the 12 to 15 words you put on your back wall that communicate what you do that draw people to your booth should go in your key word section of your web page.

Next, be sure to write a clear and concise page description that ties the show subject and your product or service together in an action statement.

Lastly, write the first two paragraphs of text and add any bullet points.  It is not important yet to have the entire page formated, pictures filler text or even give-a-way info; all that data can be added later.  What is important is to get the page on the net where the search engine spiders can find it at least three to four months in advance of the show.

Coordinate your pre-show mailer with the publication of your show web-page.  Put the address on your pre-show mailer and send an announcement to your existing customer based.  Print two sided business cards for the show.  On the front put your usual info, on the back-side put your give-a-way info and the show web page address.  Lastly, put a unique code on the card.  Web page visitors will enter this info for an extra chance to win.

It is not necessary to have a flash page or java scripted interface, a standard bounce back form page will work just fine.  The important consideration for web page format is make sure to put the form fields below the first two paragraphs but still visible without scrolling your page.  This allows the search engine spiders to find what they want at the top of the web page and your visitors to see that you have a place for them to enter the on-line raffle.  The last field of your form show be a show promo code (printed on your business cards).    I suggest my clients send something to everyone who enters that promo code.  A gift box of truffles is a great conversation starter!

Now, at the show, when some one stops by to drop off their business card to win the iPod, offer them a business card for a second chance to win.  You’ll get a second chance at the prospect because they will see your info again (second marketing hit) and they will once again enter information into your system along with the promo code.  You’ll send them a gift and they will feel like a winner (a third marketing hit).  You’ll follow-up with a phone call and a thank you post card (forth and fifth marketing hits).

Now the best part!  Not only will show attendees find your web page, but because you planned a head and put in out for the search engines to find, so will everyone else who searches for your keywords.  If 2,000 people attend a show, there are probably tens of thousands who didn’t but are still interested.

Ed Bejarana
Zenith Exhibits, Inc

Zenith Exhibits, Inc. is a full service, internet based trade show solutions provider.  If you would like more information about how to build your next trade show exhibit for less money, call (503) 709-1454 or eMail us today.

Choosing a Show and Selecting Booth Space

So, you want to exhibit at a show? How do you decide which one? Well, start with your customers. They will tell you which shows they like to attend. Trade publications publish industry calendars that list every show of importance and the factors to consider, such as number of attendees, dates, locations, etc. Your vendors are helpful with ideas also. Most industries have at least two major shows that everyone attends.

Questions to consider when searching for that perfect show are:

• How many people will attend, who are they and what do they buy?
• Does the show’s attendee base match my target market?
• How many of these attendees matter to me?
• How much will it cost to reach them?

Compare shows and make informed decisions based on these factors.

Space? How much should I have? That depends on a number of factors.

First, how many salespeople will be working the booth? Typically, each salesperson is given 25 to 50 square feet of space. Next, how much product will you be displaying? Will you need room for a conference area, demos, and storage? Finally, how many clients and prospective customers do you expect? The ultimate goal when choosing exhibit space is to have room for all visitors without too much additional space.

Example: If you expect 100 visitors per day at your booth, and the show runs for 5 hours each day, this calculates to 20 visitors per hour. Assuming each salesperson can serve 5 people each hour, you will need 4 salespeople in the booth at peak hours. This means you will need 100 to 200 square feet of space plus space for products, demos, conference and storage.

Remember, the goal is to accommodate all visitors without waiting and without over crowding, but too much space can make it look like nothing’s going on in there!

How do you choose your exhibit space at a show?

First determine what is available to your company. It is important to know that show management gives priority to repeat exhibitors and larger exhibitors, so a smaller, new company may have limited booth space choices.

Go over the floor plan carefully, keeping in mind the following desirable locations:

• Near the center of the hall
• Near industry leaders
• Near rest rooms and restaurants
• On aisles leading to meeting rooms

Areas to avoid include:

• Behind barriers such as walls and columns
• Areas with low light
• Dead-end aisles
• Near freight entrances and utility sources
• Extreme corners of the exhibit hall
• Aisles farthest from the center

Highlight your three most desirable spaces, check availability and book your space now!

Do you need more customers? Recession or not, most every business wants to attract more new customers. Tradeshow, industry conventions and regional events are an excellent way to get out and be seen by qualified (and interested) buyers. But, you’ve heard all that justification stuff. You are ready to exhibit and you need to find places to go.

First stop is ExhibitorOnline.com, based on the Exhibitor Magazine, this site is a good resource to get you started. Enter the city, state and country you wish to exhibit in, chose an industry and search. While this database is not an exhaustive list of exhibiting possibilities, the process does start you down the path of thinking about your industry and your customers.

Your next stop is tsnn.com. These database are very similar, but you will find some data in TSNN and not ExhibitorOnline and visa versa: so it is in your interest to check out both sites.

Yet another source is: Conventions.net which is filled with venue selections and event data.

You still have more home work to do! Now that you have a few event ideas you need to find out more about the show and make sure it fits your business objectives. Visit the event site (if they have one) and read the exhibitor prospectus. That said, EVERY public event wants you to invest in a booth space rental, so the event producers prospectus is going to be bias. Look up some of the exhibitors and call them. Ask them what sort of turn out they’ve experienced in recent years, how they would rate the show attendees buying intentions and who the major exhibitors are.

Tradeshow Marketing can be a daunting and expensive venture. Doing do diligence is very important. It may be that you need assistance from a third party to help narrow down the list of potential exhibiting opportunities or it may be that you need to just pick one and give it a try. If you are going to try the second route, I suggest you try a local Chamber of Commerce event first, or maybe a smaller trade fair, so as to control costs and get a better idea of what motivates the show attendee.

When picking a show the exhibit at, ask yourself these three questions (as a starting point):

1. Do I have a clear statement of differentiation from my competition?
2. How many customers do I need to gain to cover my costs for exhibiting?
3. How much is too much?

Ok, these might not be the questions you were expecting, but lets take them one at a time and you’ll see why I’m asking them.

“Do I have a clear statement of differentiation from my competition?” If any particular show is a good fit for you, then more than likely it will also be a good fit for your competition. It is not uncommon to have six or more direct competitors at any public tradeshow or expo. Avoiding the event is not a good idea because every show attendee is a potential customer. If you competition has more face time, then they have the advantage. Why are you different? Why should someone choose you over the ABC company down the block? Basic marketing question, but all too often over looked. Presenting a clear, concise differentiation statement will go MUCH further than really expensive flashing graphics or lights.

“How many customers do I need to gain to cover my costs for exhibiting?” This question seems obvious, but it may be the most important question to consider when designing your exhibit. If you sell a $5 widget and your are exhibiting in a $650 booth space with a $2000 exhibit 1000 miles from home for three days; you probably need to sell over 920 widgets to break even. If, however, you sell a $499 widget; now you may only need 10 new customers. This is important to know if the show can support your ROI and what type of booth you need to build.

“How much is too much?” For this question you need to attend the event at least once before exhibiting. Some industry events require more “eye candy” than others to draw people to your exhibit. At Zenith Exhibits, we like to focus on your benefit statement and present it in an inviting manner, but your industry may require a High-Tech look and feel or a rich mahogany style to match what your ideal customer desires. When it comes to creating a buyers environment for for your portable exhibit, a good place to start is your show room. Model after what you’ve already invested time and money in the create. If you don’t have a show room, then building a trade show display could be the beginning steps in creating one.

Zenith Exhibits, Inc. is an internet based trade show consulting firm. We are never more than a phone call away!

Ed Bejarana

When you speak to a prospect face-to-face or via a trade show display, you are making a sales presentation.

Your target customer is land blasted everyday with dozens of sales pitches, great ideas, and ways to spend their hard earned dollar; how does your presentation help you stand out? Below I have included an article written by Jeff Schneider with Schneider Training Solutions LLC that talks about how to re-phrase your sales message. I would like to talk about how to utilize the same approach in your trade show exhibit.

All to often I witness exhibitors using their trade show exhibit as a lecture board, filled with great information about their company that does nothing to advance the sale. At Zenith Exhibits our question to EVERY design is how does this advance the sale? No matter if your are exhibiting for a non-profit business, a social club or a fortune 500 company–every trade show presentation is a sales presentation. Jeff’s article highlights my point that every sales message should be “YOU” focused, not “ME” focused.

What do I mean by “YOU” focused? By rephrasing a message to be solutions based, you take away the feeling of a statement that only helps the seller and presents one that helps your client. For example, if you sell tractors, a solutions based statement might be, “Tractor operator fatigue decreases productivity by 15%. Our tractors have comfortable air-conditioned operator compartments to maintain optimal operating conditions no matter what Mother Nature throws at you.” This is opposed to the typical sales message, “We sell tractors with in cab air conditioning.”

Now I bet you are saying, “that’s obvious.” But nobody is going to read that on a trade show display, how do we put solutions based sales messages on a trade show display. Pictures are worth a 1,000 words and the good news is in our example we only need to imply 28 words. A picture of a hot dry corn field with a brand new tractor, an operator sitting in the cab smiling and drinking from a cup of coffee while plowing the fields with a message that said, “improved operator productivity!”

In a trade show display, our goal is to draw the interested party into a conversation. Booths don’t sell, people do. Create a solutions based pictorially focused tabletop exhibit or full size trade show display and you will attract more qualified buyers. Ed Bejarana Zenith Exhibits, Inc.

For more information about Zenith Exhibits and the consultive based approach we take to trade show exhibit design, please call (503) 709-1454 or eMail us today.

Jeff’s article

Is Your Solution Your Biggest Problem?

If you ask most salespeople what they do, they would most likely describe the solutions–products and services–they provide for their customers. Some examples are:

• I sell lawn maintenance services.
• We design point-of-sale solutions for multi-store retail operations.
• We provide accounting services for the hospitality industry.
• We custom design and fabricate outdoor signs.
• We sell and service large format document scanners.
• I sell advertising specialties.

What’s wrong with that?

The problem is that after awhile, all the descriptions start to sound the same. Not literally, but conceptually. The answers focus on the salesperson (or his company) and the product or service–not the needs or problems of potential customers.

By discussing solutions before identifying the need for a solution–a goal to be accomplished, a problem to be solved, or a challenging situation to be addressed–you fail to capture the prospects’ interest. Alternatively, if you bring the need to the forefront before discussing solutions, you elicit a different reaction. Rather than instinctively tuning out as soon as they hear “I sell…” or “We provide…,” potential prospects will at least listen to the description of the situation that your product or service addresses. Then, they are in a position to decide if they currently have a need for your product or service.

What should you do?

Preface your answer to “What do you do?” types of questions with a question or statement that focuses on the problem your product or service addresses. Here are some examples:

• You may be aware that large retail operations must keep a minute-by-minute account of their inventory to facilitate the coordination of purchasing and distribution in order to avoid out-of-stock situations. We design, install, and service point-of-sale inventory systems that allow them to do that.
• Have you ever wondered how people who need to scan or copy large documents like 2 ft. by 3 ft. blueprints do so? We sell and service the equipment that allows them to perform a one-pass scan of those large documents.

You can introduce “needs” with other phrases such as, “Do you know how…,” “You probably haven’t thought about…,” or “Would you be surprised to find out…”

To get your prospects’ attention and arouse their curiosity, first focus on their challenges, then introduce your solution. -Jeff Schneider, Schneider Training Solutions LLC

Are economic times got to stop you from exhibiting at the bigger tradeshow?  For those who have experienced the value of trade show market, the answer is NO!  Tougher economic times, in many cases, mean businesses  seek more marketing opportunities like trade shows and expos.   It may be that your company avoids the expensive trips to Vegas or Orlando this next year, but having full access to the highly qualified trade show audience is just too good to pass up.

Historically, when economic times are tough, business scales back the trade show expense line item–often asking Sales Managers to do more with less.  In this week’s article I would like to suggest you sales mangers and trade show coordinators consider something new.  Your local Chamber of Commerce or Community Business Development representative have a vested interest in seeing your business succeed and thrive!

Are you a member of your local Chamber?  Need to find out how to reach your local Chamber of Commerce?  Visit the Chamber of Commerce Directory and lookup the chamber in your city or region.  You can also search on Google or Yahoo for a chamber near you or call your local Small Business Development Center for assistance.

Get involved in your local Chamber.  Zenith Exhibits, Inc is a proud member of the East Portland and Gresham Chamber of Commerces.  A chamber of commerce is your connection to the local political and business resources–often giving you direct access to those in charge of taxing you and your business.  Getting involved gives you a voice in the process.  Your Chamber of Commerce will also host business development events where you can exhibit your company and promote what you do.  Remember that a chamber is a relationship building tool, not a sales rep–go to the meetings and get known, don’t go to the meetings expecting people to immediately write you checks.  Build a relationship with everyone in the chamber, be known as a trusted business person and referrals will follow.

Tabletop Displays and Retractable Banner Displays are perfect marketing tools for chamber events.  Built from lightweight materials, these exhibits can be setup in seconds and they make you and your business look great.

Ed Bejarana
Zenith Exhibits, Inc
(503) 709-1454

Are you tired of paying high fuel surcharges and unbelievable drayage costs?

You are not alone. Transportation costs are the number one reason our customers switch to ultra portable displays for most (if not all) of their tradeshow marketing programs.

Built from lightweight, sturdy aluminum housings and high impact full color graphics, a retractable banner stand usually lasts longer than your message. When you’re ready, rather than buying new hardware, we can change out your graphic–saving you hundreds of dollars.

Complete back wall banner stand display packages start at $1,199 and include three banner stands and canvas carry bags and a hardshell shipper and full color anti-curl graphics with Free FedEx ground shipping anywhere in the continental United States.

Image in the blink of an eye also comes in small, affordable packages.

Tabletop Displays are the ultimate in portable exhibits. These two sided tabletop exhibits are available in standard straight panels designs as well as eye catching SHAPED top displays. Choose one color for both sides or different colors for each side and top.

Limitless Efficiency
Fast, efficient, lightweight, cost-effective…all without compromise. Choose your header design…fabric color…panel height. Add backlit headers, lights, or graphics on both sides. Your budget may be limited, but not your options.

Features & Benefits
Exhibiting has never been easier! Ship to the show or carry with you. Set up in less than five minutes using no tools. Add graphics, lights and shelves. Save your energy to promote your product or service. Ambassador© is the ultimate budget-conscious solution for your ten foot and tabletop exhibit program.

• Timeless value
• Economically priced
• Lightweight construction
• Choice of fabrics in multiple colors
• Reversible panels
• Ship UPS™ or FedEx™
• Accessories include backlit header, lights, shelves, freestanding counters, and easy to apply graphics.