Establishing a solid trade show presence is an important part of the marketing plan for many companies. Trade shows can provide a great arena to promote your products, both existing and new. Attending trade shows can also help you learn about new industry trends, increase your sales, and create new contacts with important industry players.

But before you attend your first trade show, you need to have a display. It is typical for most companies to allot almost a third of their marketing budge to creating their trade show presence, which includes renting or buy a trade show display. But how much does it cost to rent a display? Could it be a better plan for your business?

What Makes a Great Trade Show Exhibit?

The best trade show exhibits give potential customers a memorable and positive view of the company. In addition, they attract potential customers and make it easier to achieve sales, while still controlling traffic to your booth and presenting a positive view of your company. Additionally a great trade show exhibit needs to stay within your budget.

Cost to Buy a Display

Before evaluating the cost of trade show display rental, you need to know what it would cost to buy a display. Custom trade show displays can retail in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $20,000 and can take about six weeks to be created. Prices are lower for simpler displays, such as about $1,000 for a simple table-top version. This upfront investment is a hardship for many new business or smaller companies and can handicap the marketing efforts of the company.

Trade Show Exhibit Rental Costs

Renting a trade show display can be a great solution for small businesses, those who have not exhibited in the past, and those who attend only a few trade shows a year. Additionally, renting a trade show display is a smart move for businesses that have double bookings, since it is only possible to have your display at one trade show at a time.

The cost of renting a trade show exhibit is about 30-40 percent the cost of owning an exhibit. So for a very basic table-top display, you could pay as little as $300. This is a significant cost savings over purchasing a display.

Other Advantages of Rental

There are several other advantages to renting a trade show display, rather than making the large initial investment of purchasing one:

- Renting provides flexibility. Renting a trade show display gives you the option to change your mind about how you want to represent your company. Perhaps you initial trade show exhibit design failed to impress customers at a recent show. If you are renting, you can make changes and end up with a better result. If you own your display, you are stuck with what you have.

- There's less commitment associated with renting a display. Maybe you don't know if you want to keep going to trade shows. You may find that they are not the best way for your company to market itself. If trade shows end up not being for you, you can stop renting your display. If you own your display, you are stuck with it.

- Renting may also make more sense if you are an infrequent attendant at trade shows. Some companies go to trade shows all the time, but others simply attend once or twice a year. If you are not a frequent trade show attendant, renting may be the best way for you to spend your trade show marketing budget.