How to Showcase Products at a Trade Show for More Sales

If you’re a product-based business, you understand the draw of attending trade shows. Exhibiting for you is powerful because it enables potential leads to experience something physical by, well, being physically there in-person with it.

However, many companies make mistakes when it comes to product exhibit booths. That’s why we are sharing specific trade show tips for products.

• 1. Talk out the benefits.

  • As obvious as this may sound, it’s surprising to see how often products are put out and left to fend for themselves. Trade show attendees walking by do not intuitively know your product is better; they need to be taught. Tell them why your product is the best and why it will serve their audience better than your competitors.

• 2. Do not overwhelm.

  • As humans, we like variety but we do not like to be overwhelmed. A table crowded with products and stacks on stacks of boxes looks cheap and uninviting. If you have a wide variety of products, only choose the top 3 or 4 to showcase, that may be the company’s newest products or most popular items.
  • Or, if you have products readily available for purchase or take home, put some out and keep the rest behind the booth or in another location. Then, as products dwindle throughout the show, you can replenish them as needed. It makes for a cleaner, more inviting look.

• 3. Lighting, lighting, lighting.

  • Many major retail stores put serious time and thought into the design of dressing rooms; one of the key points is often lighting. Why? Because the right lighting can highlight a product – like clothing – in its best possible form and present the highest aesthetic quality. This in mind, I recommend:.
    • Adding extra lighting around the products, in order to draw attention to them.
    • Manipulate the lighting, trying a variety of tested methods, to ensure the products are displayed in the most aesthetic way possible.

• 4. Get creative with your display.

  • If you have a very small product, think of ways to make sure it’s boosted visually. For example, this could involve having a large screen with magnified images of it. For larger products, a potential customer may not be able to pick it up and try it out, so experiment with ways to make it more interactive.
  • Set the ideal setting. First, think about the product and its purpose. Then, imagine how you can truly immerse trade show attendees in that experience. If you sell camping equipment, how about a forest-like booth that looks like a campground? If you offer great kitchen appliances, how about a booth that looks like a kitchen – perhaps with real cookies baking?

• 5. Demonstrate strategically.

  • The factor that brings all of these elements together is the demonstration. The way a product is demonstrated and showcased will make or break how someone will see it. It’s critical to have a speaker who can make the product appear dynamic and interesting, yet not be presented so salesy that people walk right on by. The individual talking about the product also must be able to intertwine the brand’s unique messaging so that the brand itself is remembered well.

If your firm is unsure of the best present trade show presentation techniques, or who may execute the demonstration best, there’s a solution: Hiring a professional trade show presenter. (One backed by successful trade show metrics.)