Trade Show Sign Success Tips

Your trade show sign components must be carefully designed to bring your booth the targeted traffic you're looking for. The signage at your exhibit is one of the most important elements for getting the right customers to stop and take a closer look at your display.

The exhibit hall at any event is overloaded with signs, all trying hard to catch the attention of the same passersby. How do you make yours stand out amid the visual overload?

Put yourself in the weary shoes of the people walking through the show. What do they want? What's in all this for them? What can your booth sign say that will resonate with them?

Here are some great tips for writing and designing effective signage:

As your potential customers make their way through the trade show floor, the primary question in their minds is, "What's in it for me?"

At many booths there's no readily apparent answer to that question - so the customer keeps moving on.

Don't be one of those booths! Every sign in your exhibit should tell potential customers exactly "what's in it for them."

Unfortunately, talking up your company doesn't answer that question.

Every trade show sign needs to speak plainly in terms of how the customer benefits by using the company's products or services.

Your choice of wording can make a tremendous difference here. For example, saying "you" and "your" engages the customer one-on-one.

After that, what catches most people's attention? Anything that solves a problem. Companies and individuals have problems, and need solutions. Use your signs to position your company as a provider of a specific solution to a specific problem.

Try words like:

Free, secret, easy, discover, now, fast, solve, find, get rid of, fix, relief, remove, increase ... you get the idea.

Combine one or more of these attention-grabbing, solution-providing words with a strong benefit for your customer. For example:

"Get rid of termites now."

You've got their attention, and they know exactly what problem you can solve for them. If they have termites, they'll stop walking and come right on up to your booth for more information.

Once you've worded your message just right, think about the other elements of your main booth sign.

Amid all the visual overload in a trade show, what kind of sign design would strike your customer as something he or she can relate to?

What colors do you associate with your product? What fonts? What size, shape, and type of sign? What pictures or graphics?

When you combine analytical and creative thinking, you'll design a trade show sign that calls out irresistibly to your targeted customers.