As you know, every business goes through different stages of its life cycle.
Some of these stages don’t lend themselves to marketing-related investments due to changing internal priorities and a lack of clarity over the business’s offering.
However, some stages represent a prime time in which to get the proverbial checkbook out and start spending money on getting your name out there.
For instance, if your business has just launched fresh branding, a new product, or celebrated an important milestone, you’d be remiss not to make a song and dance about it.
While songwriting and choreography aren’t in our wheelhouse, we can help you tell the world your story through a captivating trade show exhibit.
In this article, we’ll explore the seven best moments in which to build a custom exhibit for a trade show.
1. Following a rebrand
If you’ve ever worked for a company that’s undergone a rebrand, or you’re currently in the process of managing a rebrand project, you know what an arduous, time-consuming task it can be.
You know that a rebrand isn’t just a subtle change in color scheme or an update to the company logo. It’s a complete identity shift across the board, comprising everything from vision and values to tone and typography.
That’s why it’s best to wait until you’re clear on your business’s identity before you decide to build a custom trade show exhibit.
This exhibit adds another dimension to your rebrand, turning it from visuals on a computer or tablet into a holistic, physical, and immersive experience.
It also reinforces a business’s evolution, consolidating trust and recognition among both prospects and existing clients.
2. Following a merger and acquisition
Mergers and acquisitions are on the rise again at the time of writing, and they represent a significant step change in a company’s structure, culture, and core offerings.
When such a change occurs, it’s critical that you communicate it to your ideal clients at the earliest opportunity.
Failing to get them on board with your new direction could see them gravitate toward your competitors—and could see you lose out on huge sums of money.
Consistent brand messaging across all touchpoints can increase brand revenue by up to 23%, according to a report from McKinsey & Company. We don’t know how much 23% additional revenue is worth to your business, but we imagine it’s at least six figures.
A custom trade show exhibit is a pivotal touchpoint in communicating post-M&A brand messaging to your ideal clients and visualizing the value proposition of the merged company.
Most importantly, it allows you to reintroduce your company to the market, solidify relationships with existing clients, and establish connections with new prospects under the unified brand.
3. The launch of a new product, service, or division
A typical product launch can span months or even years and is a painstaking process, as you well may know.
The same is true for the launch of a new service or division—it doesn’t happen overnight and your business is taking a big risk in pivoting in this way.
You don’t want all this hard work and sacrifice to count for next to nothing because you haven’t communicated this development to current and potential clients.
A custom trade show exhibit provides an ideal setting to generate buzz and excitement around your new product, service, or division.
It allows for dynamic demonstrations, hands-on experiences, and direct engagement, enabling attendees to fully grasp the essence of your latest innovation.
As we state in a video from our YouTube channel, your customers want experiences, not just products.
By creating an experience-led environment tailored to your new offering, you grab people's attention and facilitate meaningful conversations in ways that aren’t possible through other marketing channels.
These conversations could lead to immediate sales opportunities and the chance to gather feedback that enables you to refine your offer.
4. Celebrating an anniversary
Two-thirds of startups don’t last ten years—so if your business has made it this far, it’s one of the 33% that did.
If it’s made it to 20 years or longer, it’s one of the lucky 20%.
These are serious numbers.
Not only does such longevity demonstrate a legacy in your industry, but it also represents a journey with plenty of learnings and achievements along the way.
A custom trade show exhibit can capture all of the details, big and small, that represent your business’s journey while further reinforcing trust and credibility among clients and partners.
Whether it’s the evolution of your branding through the years, client testimonials, or before-and-after shots of your building, a custom trade show exhibit will bring your journey—and anniversary—to life.
It’ll also provide you with a platform to unveil new initiatives and future plans.
5. When you’re looking to secure funding
We don’t need to preach to you the importance of funding for a business, but here are a couple of stats to hammer the point home:
· Companies that start with at least $1 million in funding have a 25% higher probability of success.
· 68% of small businesses say access to financing is the most important factor in their growth.
Attracting the right investors and convincing them to provide funding is clearly a game-changing moment for any business.
But this isn’t easy, to put it mildly, if you’re only relying on one or two routes to get in front of these investors. Attending networking events and signing up for a few platforms will only get you so far.
Creating an engaging custom exhibit, on the other hand, provides potential suitors with another touchpoint (as we stated above) and adheres to the golden rule of selling—show, don’t tell.
Rather than sending a pitch deck to an angel investor, just like most other businesses out there, you’re showing them your:
- Products
- Services
- Results
- Vision
- Values
In a nutshell, you’re providing tangible proof of your company's capabilities and market traction.
You’re also showcasing your ability to think outside the box and explore new solutions to a problem, which reaffirms your business’s viability as an investment opportunity.
6. When you receive a new round of funding
We’re clearly demonstrating an element of bias in making this point, but we mean it sincerely. When you secure a new round of funding, you could do a lot worse than investing it in creating a custom trade show exhibit.
You’re no doubt familiar with the saying ‘Strike while the iron is hot.’ This saying absolutely applies to exhibiting at trade shows, particularly if, like many other businesses, you’ve recently struggled with cashflow.
We’re not going to beat around the bush—investing in a trade show exhibit, especially a custom one, is not a low-ticket investment. It requires a particular outlay in accordance with the huge long-term rewards at stake for your business.
When you have access to sums of money you didn’t previously and are in the position to invest in your brand, you need to make this investment count.
A custom trade show exhibit shows prospective clients how serious you are about leveraging momentum and investing in your business’s future.
7. When you’re trying to outdo your competitors
Let’s face it—seeing your competitors steal your thunder at a trade show is pretty humbling.
When you see them go all out with a large custom exhibit and leave a lasting impression on the people who could’ve spent money with your business instead, that’s gotta hurt.
And if you don’t try to keep pace with their activity as a bare minimum, they’ll just keep eating away at your market share.
But this scenario doesn’t have to happen.
By reaching out to a strategic trade show partner like us, you’re taking the first step towards creating a unique, memorable brand experience.
This experience doesn’t just allow you to keep pace with your competitors. It completely sets you apart from them.
With your own custom exhibit, you’ll have an added presence in your marketplace, outstrip rival companies, and remain at the forefront of your industry.
Key considerations when building a custom trade show exhibit
We can talk about the benefits of building a custom trade show exhibit until the cows come home.
But before you consider doing so, you need to consider various factors, some of which we’ve referenced already.
Budget
Some businesses that come to us wanting to build a trade show exhibit simply don’t have the budget to turn their vision into reality.
They might come to us with grand ideas or strong desires but only have around $5,000 to spend.
This kind of sum isn’t going to make a dent in your marketplace if you’re looking to stand out at your industry’s next big trade show. We can’t do justice to your vision with this kind of outlay.
Timescales
We’ve all been there when someone wants something yesterday, and it’s never an easy conversation when you have to manage their expectations.
Now try to imagine this conversation from our perspective.
A lot of people who contact us don’t understand just how much time they need to allocate for a given project, so we’re open about projected timeframes from the get-go.
We need to make sure we’re covering all bases and not cutting any corners. As we wrote above, creating a custom trade show exhibit is a major investment, and not one that should be taken lightly.
Project timelines vary significantly depending on the project size, but here are some ballpark numbers:
Small inline exhibits (10ftx10ft or 10ftx20ft floor space)
- One to two weeks for design
- As short as six weeks for a build
- Could be ready as a kit immediately
Large, complex exhibits (20ftx20ft and multi-story booths)
- Can take months for design
- Can take months for fabrication
- Might require multiple tractor-trailer trucks to transport
Exact timeframes depend on the project's complexity, scale, and specific client requirements.
However, these examples give you an idea of what to expect if you decide to create a custom exhibit for your business.
Brand identity
In the below clip, Mike Graziani, our Vice President of Design, explains why brand-related aspirations need to be front of mind when creating a custom trade show exhibit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyJ2dEWxR4g
Start telling your story today
At The Trade Group, we’ve helped businesses like yours create cutting-edge custom trade show exhibits since 1986.
We possess the perfect mix of agility and experience, having witnessed many developments across the trade show industry over the last 40 years.
Our team comprises veteran designers and young team members, each with their own unique outlook and ways of doing things.
Whatever type of exhibit you’re looking for and whatever goal you’re looking to achieve, our expert team is all ears.
We’re not trying to put our fingerprints on the design—we’re going to leave yours on it.
Call us today at 800-343-2005 to get the ball rolling.
