Using Portable Trade Show Displays To Sell Your Ideas
Before I retired at the end of last year, I used to manage the marketing division of a mid sized flooring company. One of the main functions of our division was to go to about 20 trade shows a year. We had two portable trade show displays that we would take with us on this six month long adventure. The reason we had two portable tradeshow displays was that some of the shows we attended would have dates that overlapped. It's hard to be in two places at the same time. Our displays were made to set up in a 10 x 10 booth at a show and when used together, they could fill a 10 x20 booth. What made them so portable was the fact that they would each break down into 3 rolling cases. The cases were roughly 24 inches wide by 48 inches tall and 10 inches thick. The aluminum pieces that made up the frame of the exhibit broke apart into sections small enough to fit in the cases. The fabric panels and laminated graphics rolled up and fit in their own case. We had gone through about three versions of these portable trade show displays before we settled on the ones we ended up using.
Taking these portable exhibits on the road allowed us to attend as many shows as we could. The ease of their install & dismantle at shows meant that we did not have to send a large contingent of people to the shows. This saved us money that would go toward then expenses of attending more shows. In our industry, exposure is a key element in marketing strategy. Using portable displays at all the shows we attended got us that exposure. In addition to print advertising, word of mouth was a big way to attract business. Being at a tradeshow with our portable trade show display, allowed us to the ability to talk with other companies and vendors who had a use for our services and products. Flooring is a big part of the trade show exhibit business, our portable trade show displays, that we took to these shows, made a selling point of our trade show flooring products. This attracted a lot of other companies at the shows who wanted to enhance their booths and explore other flooring options. The season for these 20 + shows lasted almost 6 months and about 26,000 miles. |
