Exhibition Stand Design – How to Tell Your Story

Exhibitions and trade shows are events that celebrate specific industries, or events around the year. Brands set up their own stand for potential customers to come and find out what product or service they offer. Brands set out to answer the customers core questions through the visual exhibition stand design; who they are, what they do and how their product and service benefits their customers. Exhibition stands give brands the opportunity to connect with potential customers, as well as strengthening relationships with existing customers; there is also the opportunity for brands to meet and interact with other companies who they can start professional relationships. Exhibition and trade shows are also great ways to quickly build your database and to speak directly to your target market. Why not look around and see what your competitors are up to at their stands? This is a great way to discover what strategies your competitors have taken, and whether they are using the exhibition/trade show to launch a new product.

The design of your exhibition stand is the most important aspect. If you do not have an eye-catching, visually pleasing stand, you will find that most potential customers will walk on to your competitors without giving your brand a second thought. You must decide what your goals are for the exhibition stand, are you wanting to reach out to new potential customers? Engage with your existing customer base? Bring your product/service to a new segment of customer? The goals will be unique to your brand, and help you start the planning of your design. Remember that not every exhibition or trade show should use the same designed stand. Depending on the event, should depend on the design of your stand. You may be wanting to tell your potential customers your story in different ways depending on the event. It is strongly advised that per event you start from the beginning of the planning process; setting out your goals.

The next step of the design is the planning of your stand. Consider the goals you have set out and your target audience who will be seeing your stand. You want to make sure that the brand is speaking to the customer through its visual aspect, whilst also sticking to the brand image and values. Your exhibition stand should shout out what your brand is about, what you do and how the brand will benefit the customer; this should all be told to the customer before they come and talk to any staff at the stand. The aspects you present to the customer will gain their awareness and interest, before your staff look to convert them. If customers don’t understand what your brand is about, you fall at the first hurdle. Using lighting, colours and different materials throughout the design will get customers attention. Attracting the customer is key, then interesting them with what you are selling is the next step.

You need your exhibition stand design to tell the customer the brands story. However, don’t put too much text throughout your stand; customers will not stand and read a lengthy story about the brand, you need to keep it short and sweet, and use other elements to tell a story, such as your products or services being displayed and trailed throughout the stand. Knowing how to tell your brand story is key to your stands design. How you decide to do this is up to you, but you need to take into consideration what your customer wants to know. Depending on the kind of segment you are targeting will determine how you present the brands story. You can add other elements to your stand to tell the story, for example, a TV with your brands video being played on loop. This will give customers the whole story all in one, whilst giving them some time to watch something and have a minute out of the madness of the exhibition. Having your logo and tag line at the centre of your stand will also show the customer that your brand values are at the heart of what you do; showing your brand identity will tell your customer the story of who you are quickly and concisely.

When looking at your next exhibition stand design, remember that the visual story telling is important for attracting and interesting the customer, the stand staff can then do their work to convert and add the customer to your database for continual nurture. If your brand is struggling at where to start, professional exhibition stand companies can help you to create innovative, cost-effective designs for your exhibition stand.