Trade Shows and the Attention Economy: Prioritize Attention With Your Trade Show Booth Design
Trade show booth design is all about attracting attention. You want your booth to draw people in, and you want them to remember it. But attention is a scarce commodity, and there's plenty of competition at a trade show.
One way to optimize results at a trade show is to consider the attention economy. Prioritize attention and recognize its scarcity. You can hand out one thousand promotional stress balls with your logo as a prominent focal point, but it must be different and exciting to succeed in an attention economy.
Your booth at the trade show is at risk of blending in if you don't prioritize attention, and you do this by telling your story. This story doesn't have to be a chronological or historical account of your business. It should be the story you want your target market to hear, and it should be memorable.
What story are you trying to sell?
When you develop a story to tell your trade show prospects, you tell your story through booth design. The design is like your house, storefront or website homepage, but it's more exciting because there is more creative license. Trade show booths are a good way to make your business stand out.
If you imagine your house looking like a barn, beach house, or colonial estate, it can become a reality. Too many trade show booths look like airport check-in counters for a commuter flight. They're sterile and boring. The worst part is that nobody remembers them.
The best trade show booth has a clear focal point that draws in prospects. It has either a bold personality or a feature that trade show visitors can't ignore. It attracts their attention.
How to Make Your Trade Show Booth Memorable Through Design
There are countless ways to make your trade show booth memorable, and you don't have to be so unique that your risk becoming an oddity. Instead, memorable trade show booths can use the following elements to increase leave a lasting impression:
Custom Lighting: Trade show booth designers often recommend lighting to make your booth pop. Without lighting, bright colors might not be enough to attract attention to your booth. Backlit graphics and lit displays are popular because they catch your eye.
Height: If you want your display to stand out, make it tall. You don't want to blend into a sea of 8 ft. tall booths. Wise Owl will guide and advise on the height restrictions with your booth.
Visual Stimulation: Enhance your booth with bright or bold colors, unique materials, and high-quality graphics. Textures add an element of interest that can complement branding and create an experience for the customer. Catch their eye and curiosity may be the rope that pulls them into your space with a desire to find out more.
Focal Points: Draw prospects into your booth by creating a focal point so they don't walk by without stopping. This could be a motorized backlit hanging sign, a custom sculpture, or product demo.
Originality and Simplicity: Finally, try to stand out by being different. Stick to your branding but find a unique way to display your brand. Remember, complex booths can create a lot of attention, but too much might add to confusion and then ultimately lost interest. Sometimes simple is better.
Trade show booth design is about representing your brand while attracting attention. The booth should delight your prospects, so they go home with at least part of their attention still aimed at your business.
Wise Owl Knows How to Attract Attention
A well-designed trade show booth can attract potential customers, create a memorable brand experience, and generate leads and sales. Investing in the design of trade show booths is essential for businesses to stand out from competitors and maximize their return on investment.