It all starts with material knowledge

When you want to design a sustainable exhibition stand, as a client, you play an invaluable role in the design process. To achieve a sustainable end result, you need not only a designer with thorough knowledge of materials. You will soon realize that throughout the decision-making process, you also need to be conscious of the properties of the materials you choose. The designers at Aktual have the necessary expertise and are eager to make a difference together with you.

Curious about the most environmentally friendly material options for your stand? Or perhaps you want to go further and develop a complete vision around the sustainability of your exhibition stand, including material origins, quality, and possible reuse options? Our designers are ready for the challenge! Together, we make conscious choices, explore how to minimize waste, and make your exhibition stand the epitome of sustainability at the trade show. Request a design here.

More sustainable initiatives at Aktual

Whether it’s minimizing our ecological impact, protecting our planet for future generations, or striving for innovative solutions, at Aktual, we are committed to a greener future. Read here about other actions we take at the corporate level and how we contribute to a more sustainable world.

Are you familiar with the concept of the Marketing Parthenon? This philosophy emphasizes that achieving all your goals requires a multitude of actions and tactics, akin to the cooperation of various pillars collectively bearing colossal weight. During Aktual’s ‘Boost Your Trade Show Sales!‘ seminar, Yves Roelens, sales trainer, referred to this principle while sharing an array of pre-show marketing actions. Here’s an overview:

3. Send Physical Invitations and Brochures

Announce your exhibition participation to selected target groups by sending them invitations and possibly additional promotional materials by mail. A tangible invitation piques curiosity and adds a personal touch.

4. Personally Contact Key Relationships

Call your most important customers, prospects, or leads in your database to personally invite them to the exhibition. Explain the exhibition theme, the innovations you’ll bring, and why it would be interesting for them to visit.

7. Engage in Content Marketing

Publish valuable and relevant content on your website, blog, or social media that aligns with your audience’s interests. This could include industry trends, problem-solving solutions, or tips and advice. Naturally, refer to the exhibition so potential customers are aware you’ll be there to assist them.

8. Associate an Attractive Benefit with Pre-Registrations

Offer visitors the opportunity to pre-register for the exhibition, where they receive a special discount, exclusive access to certain activities, or free goodies. This encourages early engagement.

9. Launch Press Releases and Generate Media Attention

Send press releases to relevant media to draw attention to your participation, new product launches, and announcements. Positive media coverage increases your visibility.

By combining these diverse strategies and resources, you increase the visibility of your trade show booth and attract a broader audience. Last but not least, don’t forget to invest in an attractive and creative booth design to pique the curiosity of passersby and convince them of your offering even before you say a word. Request a design here.

Bringing together all these elements results in guaranteed success!

1. Promote Your Trade Show Participation

A successful trade show depends on the number of people who actually visit your trade show booth. Don’t leave this solely to the efforts of the trade show organizer. After you’ve selected the right trade show, chosen a trade show theme, set your trade show goals, and developed a booth concept with stopping power, an important task remains… promoting your trade show participation.

Promoting the trade show booth is a task often overlooked by many companies. However, the lead-up period to the trade show is a crucial phase in which you can take various actions to attract more people to your booth. You can mention your trade show participation in your newsletters and email signature, post on your key social media channels, create a landing page on your website explaining the trade show theme, announce a contest, and so on.

Also, don’t forget to invite your existing customers to the trade show. It’s an ideal opportunity to maintain and strengthen your connection with them.

3. Bring Structure to Your Trade Show Conversations

As a trade show salesperson, you are first and foremost a host who ensures that visitors feel comfortable at your booth. The art lies in not focusing too much on direct sales because most trade shows, especially B2B trade shows, are primarily about networking. Create a relaxed atmosphere in which visitors feel at ease.

Asking questions and filtering visitors (qualifying and disqualifying) are some of the core skills of a good trade show salesperson. Look for a reason to do business or not to do business with prospects. This way, you can spend the right amount of time with the right people. Wrap up conversations quickly with visitors who you discover will never become your customers. This creates time to talk to as many people as possible and get the most out of your trade show participation. Also, being able to conclude smoothly after a productive chat so that you can make time for the next one is an important core skill.

Want to get started on your briefing right away? Scroll down now! You’ll find a download of 21 concrete questions when ordering your exhibition stand. Highly recommended for those who want to give the perfect briefing

1. What is your corporate identity?

To begin with, we’d like to get to know your company. We’ll ask you to briefly describe your activities. What are your products and services? What is your your house style? And something that’s especially important to know: What do you stand for? And what sets you apart from others?

Based on your input, our designers form an image of the personality of your company. They then express this in the design of the exhibition stand.

2. Who are your competitors?

Which competitors do we need to consider? Will they also be at the trade fair? What do they do better? Where will your competitor’s stand be?

This information helps us to set your stand apart from the competition.

3. Who is your target group?

Which exhibition visitors are relevant for your company and your brand? Do they already know your company, activities or brand? Or not quite everything?

On this basis, we create a concept that appeals to your target group. With the right visuals and keywords, we ensure that your stand is attractive and stands out. That’s what we call stopping power.

4. What story do you want to tell at the trade fair?

Determine in advance a clear message or story that appeals to the aforementioned potentially interested visitors. What products or services do you want to promote? A potential customer always wants to know: “What’s in it for me?” So, what do you offer your ideal customer? Why should people choose your company or brand?

This information helps us to make the most of your offer and your brand story at the exhibition stand. Some products are best promoted through a display, others through a digital experience. Some products need a lot of framing, others are better off in a sober atmosphere. This is how we create a concept that really works.

5. What are your goals and how will you measure them?

When you take part in a trade fair, you want to achieve something. You can set one goal first, such as collecting new leads. But of course there can be more than one goal. For example: greater awareness of a new product, strengthening your image as a market leader and collecting new leads.

It’s important that you can actually measure the results. This will enable you to determine whether you’ve achieved your goals after the trade fair. It can sometimes be useful to use a registration software.

6. What’s your budget?

For the goals you’re seeking to achieve there is, of course, always a marketing budget. To give you an idea: companies spend on average 40% of the total exhibition budget on the design and construction of the stand. The remaining 60% is spent on other costs such as rental of the stand, manning the stand and promotion.

Once our designers have an idea of your budget, they can better assess how far they can go in their design and where they may need to opt for budget solutions.

7. What practical matters should be taken into account?

Once you have booked your stand, you already have a lot of useful information for your stand builder. How big will your stand be and what are the exact dimensions? Which sides are open? What is the location of your stand in the exhibition hall?

Based on this, we can estimate visitor flows and convert the available floor area into an optimal design.

1. Involve your interior designer at the building shell stage

2. Get your brand identity and branding right

Whether you have one shop in the city or different buildings and spaces across the country, when it comes to business premises, consistency is always important. Don’t have a clear corporate identity yet? Or is your brand ready for a rebranding? Get it done before you get started! This is the basis for your ‘interior branding’ or brand perception in your interior. Your interior designer applies the same rules as your graphic designer. Company colours and logo must be reflected in the design, everything must form a uniform whole.

3. Brief your interior designer on the ‘why’ of your corporate interior

Tell your interior designer in detail about your mission and vision and what role your corporate interior plays in that. Why is a specific space there? Who will use it? From there, your interior designer can determine a design that connects the user (prospects, customers, employees, etc.) with the purpose of the space.

For example, suppose you are a distributor of electrical installation material and you want to set up a training centre where you regularly give workshops and product demonstrations to installers. That same space should also serve as a flexible workspace for your salespeople at other times. So in that space you want to create an experience around your brand, make users feel good and inspire them. Indirectly, therefore, the space will also have to contribute to better results.

Based on this important information, your interior designer will make specific choices in terms of materials and design. Think of easy to maintain materials because of the intensive use and a spacious kitchen for providing visitors with food and drinks in a pleasant environment. Also consider additional technology such as WiFi, LED screens, sufficient electrical connection points. And of course, there will also need to be strong ‘branding’ in the space. Think of screening advertisements on the LED screens, furniture in your brand colours, etc

4. Give your interior designer creative freedom when designing your corporate interior

Creative freedom is of great importance when coming up with innovative concepts. So, try not to take into account restrictions such as your budget or the size of the space during the briefing itself. Sometimes you don’t dare to mention certain things that you’d love to have because you think they won’t fit into your budget. But this is how important information for your interior designer can be lost. He or she may be able to come up with a way of fitting it into your budget.

For example, if you want to set up an experience room where you show your products to your public, then for budgetary reasons you might not spontaneously think of decorating your entrance hall. But including the entrance in the design could be interesting for the overall picture. Then your visitor really gets an experience from the time they enter your premises to when they leave. And another good tip: Give your interior designer the freedom to add a touch of authenticity. A striking detail, such as a grand piano, a shiny old-timer or any other item that ties in with your brand story, will always stay with your visitor.

Once again, there’s no need to make a sketch in advance. All you and your team need to do is dream. Just tell us what the purpose of the space is and what your budget is. That’s it! A (good) interior architect always knows how to turn this into a feasible design. So have faith. It’ll all work out.

As a company you can make the difference by (continuing to) invest in professional COVID 19 prevention materials. In this article we list some useful products that will certainly make a strong impression on customers, business contacts and employees. Your brand perception will undoubtedly be enhanced.

Interior branding is… creating an experience

You don’t have to be an accomplished marketing expert to realise that branding doesn’t stop when your logo is on your window or when your website is online. We live in an ‘experience’ economy. The range of products and services on offer today is enormous and ‘a good product alone’ is no longer enough to convince leads. The feeling that your customers have when visiting your shop, showroom or office determines the choices they will make. Your brand comes to life in your interior and (hopefully!) creates an emotional bond with your customers.

Interior branding is… responding to the senses

More quality leads

You can be sure that in these times of crisis there are proportionally more quality leads walking around at a trade fair than there were before the crisis. All potential trade fair visitors now ask themselves the critical question as to whether a visit to that particular trade fair is really necessary. An effective trade fair visitor visits the fair for a very good reason. He or she is looking for a solution to a problem, wants to have a personal conversation with a sales person, wants to receive personal advice, wants to compare, experience, try out the product, etc.

The figures from exhibition halls and trade fair organisers also confirm this. For example, Messe Dusseldorf reported that the 2020 edition of Caravan Salon -despite a large drop in visitors- had already exceeded the 2019 sales figure four days before closing. And Technimat also had a very successful edition. This trade fair in the field of construction and infrastructure took place in October 2020. 84% of exhibitors indicated that they would definitely register for the next edition.

More time for to the point conversations

A quiet trade fair also has its advantages. Expect an atmosphere of: “I” (the customer) am here now, “they” (my suppliers) are here now too. Let’s work together to make this meeting a success. There is time for in-depth conversations that are to the point. As an exhibitor, you can pay more attention to concrete questions such as budget, planning or whatever is relevant. Make good use of the extra time!

On the website of Kortrijk Xpo you’ll find testimonials from companies who did not let Corona stop them from participating in the Tools for Schools fair, including one of our customers, educational publisher Pelckmans Kortrijk Xpo : COVID-proof fairs

A few more tips

In short, as an exhibitor you now have much more opportunity to screen and follow up your visitors in depth. Under the motto ‘preparation is the key to success’, here are a few more tips:

• Think carefully about your initial goal when you decided to exhibit. Generate leads? Branding? Product introduction? Relationship management? Determine your focus.
• Make sure you have sufficient promotion around your participation and invite your target group (personally).
• Make it clear what protective measures the trade fair organiser and you as an exhibitor will be taking.
• To measure is to know. Provide a (Corona proof) solution for capturing visitor data. There are some handy analysis tools and apps that do this.
• Go through all the steps beforehand: strategy, practical plan, preparing your team and follow up. The success of your trade fair participation depends on a good overall plan.

So, don’t miss any opportunities as an exhibitor. Don’t stay home because of Corona. Go to the trade fair and make meaningful connections!

Extra contact with your audience

Through a virtual tour, your customers enter your company from any location, using any device. It offers your visitors the opportunity to look around quietly and move around your space as if they were actually there. You can add sounds and use multifunctional hotspots and clickable objects to enable your visitors to discover all sorts of things: videos, photos, information sheets, etc. Even spaces that are not physically available can be made digitally accessible through photos or a 3D design. Your company’s exhibition stand becomes permanently accessible.

New sales opportunities

A second undeniable advantage, and as far as we are concerned an important condition for success, is that with a virtual tour you can respond to the information needs of your audience reasonably early on in the sales process. Suppose you invest in a new showroom or in a top-notch exhibition stand. A kitchen builder, for example, can make information sheets or price lists available in a virtual tour via icons (‘hotspots’) for kitchen appliances or worktops. Potential customers can then download, print or email that information to themselves at home. They can then take these with them to the showroom or keep the information for later in the purchase process. This leads to new sales opportunities!

More engagement on your website

A click to your website is valuable. However, you’ll only be successful if you manage to attract the visitor’s attention for long enough! A virtual tour is a good example of engaging content’, or content that increases engagement. It’s interactive, fun to do and makes your website more attractive. With a virtual tour you leave a lasting impression on your visitors and encourage them to take action: fill a shopping basket, watch a video, ask a question via your chat box, etc.

Increased customer trust

For many companies, having a virtual tour that comes up in a Google search has become vital. This is especially true for hotels, restaurants and companies with showrooms. If people have the opportunity to look directly into your company via Google Maps or via the Google search engine, it inspires confidence. If the virtual tour is convincing, people will be more likely to book a hotel room, a table or make the trip to your showroom.

Virtual tour: fun option or indispensable?

Honestly? At Aktual we find that once you’ve decorated a beautiful space or you have a 3D design, most of the work has actually been done. A virtual tour is one more small step that can be taken quickly and will certainly pay off.