A vital marketing tool for numerous companies, trade shows are a reliable method for increasing prospects, bringing in new customers, and making sales. The problem is that many companies focus too much on the fun stuff (trade show contests and giveaways), and ignore the primary goal of making a return on investment from a Chicago trade show display.

Keep the following tips in mind when setting up your Chicago trade show display to ensure success and a whopping return on investment.

Good Design And Construction Will Attract More Visitors

The most crucial area your marketing team should focus on is the design and construction of your Chicago trade show display. Good design and construction can make your trade show booth stand out from the rest, thereby attracting more visitors.

You can put together a well designed Chicago trade show display, whether custom built from scratch or even when building it using a simple pop-up stand, truss display, or panel system.

Use Color To Attract And Communicate

People are visual and color can both attract attention and communicate or convey a mood or feeling. For example, yellow is known as an energetic and attention getting color that stimulates hunger. Red puts forth a warm feeling, full of strength, fast excitement, and desire. Just as McDonalds uses yellow (food, hunger) and red (desire, fast excitement) as their company colors, the color you use on your Chicago trade show display can communicate to your prospective customers by conveying an emotion along with your message which will attract visitors and help you get the desired results from them.

Use People To Attract People

When viewing advertisements, people are automatically attracted to the ones featuring people. People naturally want to look at people and by including them in the design of your Chicago trade show display, you will attract people, engaging them in communication. Images of people will help your booth visitors understand your product or message and it will convey an emotion to them. By incorporating people in the design of your Chicago trade show display, your booth will be more effective and more profitable because it will attract more people.

For example, iPods are advertised using silhouettes of people dancing, listening to music, and having a great time. When consumers look at these iPod silhouettes, they see and understand how much fun they will have and how good they will feel if they will purchase an iPod. This is much more effective than if iPod had not used the dancing silhouettes and had just gone with a slogan like "iPods are fun."

Traffic Flow And Layout Are Crucial To A Chicago Trade Show Display

The last factor to consider in achieving a maximum return on investment from your Chicago trade show display is the traffic flow and layout of your booth. Before designing or building your booth, consult the exhibition hall to determine the all of the ways a visitor can best approach your booth. Consider whether your booth rests against a wall, how many sides of the booth can be seen, how visitors will approach your booth, and the direction of traffic flow. By determining the best layout for the traffic flow, you will be able to place your most important messages in the most profitable locations. By simply using traffic flow and layout, you can attract numerous visitors to your booth that may have otherwise not found you.

Many times, companies do not fully utilize the rear or the sides of their trade show booth. For example, a visitor may pass by plain side panels, but properly utilized side panels may peak interest and keep passersby from visiting your neighbor's booth. By taking advantage of posting your message on your booth's back panels, you can get visitors, even from the opposite direction.

Before your next trade show display, take the time to maximize your return on investment by incorporating good design and construction using color, people, traffic flow, and layout.