Author: Exhibition Stands

Why is it Important to Find out About your Competitors Before a Trade Show?

Why is it Important to Find out About your Competitors Before a Trade Show?

In any industry no matter how big or small, there are going to be other companies that you’ll be competing with for awareness, customers and market share.

Competitor research should form a key part of your marketing strategy, alongside your own market research.

This shouldn’t be any different when it comes to exhibitions and tradeshows.

What is a Competitor Analysis?

This is a structural analysis of the competing companies in your industry on a similar level to you. This will help you understand what their strengths and weaknesses are to help benefit your own business.

Identifying these areas, especially their weaknesses, opens the door to opportunities for your business to effectively try and perform well in the areas that they perhaps don’t as much.

Analysing other companies identifies their unique selling point (USP), and how this compares to your own business.

In effect, competition analysis provides you with business development ideas, allowing you to fill the gaps in your marketing and brand visibility.

What Should you Include in your Analysis?

In order to conduct an effective survey, there are a few prime areas to focus on, and these are relatively easy to assess. Here are some of the key areas for analysis:

  • Products and services – How are these different to what your company offer, and do the company have any specialities or best-selling products? An important area to consider is pricing and how this relates to your pricing strategy.
  • Marketing – What are their marketing and advertising methods? This will help you identify if they’re up to date with the latest marketing trends and whether they have any strengths or weaknesses.
  • Customers – Who are their target audience, and is this the same as yours? If they’re aiming their services towards a slightly different demographic, this gives room for opportunity for your company.
  • Location – Where is the company based, and are they close to you? If they’re located close to you, this could prove more of a challenge as you’re effectively competing for a similar group of prospects and clients. If you have a physical store, this is particularly crucial as you want to draw in customers to your shop, over others.
  • Unique selling point – What makes the company stand out in the crowd? Every brand has a focused area of branding or marketing that’s different to everyone else, so finding this out will show their company strength.

How Can this Help Before an Exhibition?

Having an exhibition stand is all about visually representing what your brand is about, expressing why you’re different from other companies, and why visitors should choose to invest in you.

Your competitors will have similar concepts in mind, in terms of their stand and promotion, so this will help you come to a decision of how you’re going to set up your stand for success and what you’re going to promote to draw attendees to the stand.

Whether you’re intending on having a stand at an event or going along as a visitor, you’ll be able to talk directly with competitors and asked questions based on what you’ve found in your analysis.

Are you going to run competitions? Or maybe you’re looking to offer limited-time offers and discounts for the event only. These are just a couple of the promotional strategies that will make visitors want to come to your stand, over the many others.

Goals and Objectives

It’s important to set goals and achievements that are going to be achieved realistically.

Instead of trying to transform all your weaknesses in one day, at one exhibition, create a strategy in your team of what can be accomplished the best through exhibitions and events.

When comparing your company to others in the industry, highlight your key weaknesses and work on these first.

Segment your strategy into stages to help breakdown how you’re going to best achieve your goals. Your objectives will all be achievable on a different timescale, so determine the time frame for each area and when you’d like to start seeing improvements by.

Considering the geographical aspects of your goals is important as the location of customers, potential marketing events and product manufacturing will all contribute to the outcome.

A financial structure should also be laid out to discuss what effect your strategy is going to have on your budget and how much this is going to increase.

 

Are you looking to ensure your exhibition stand is one step above the rest? 200m2 would be happy to help! You can contact our team of our experts here.

 

 

 

 

How Can Instagram Help You at Your Next Exhibition?

How Can Instagram Help You at Your Next Exhibition?

Instagram is increasingly becoming one of the key social media platforms for businesses alongside Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Previously there has been a question mark over Instagram in terms of how useful it actually is for businesses, but with new features like on-app shopping and swipe links, it’s one to watch.

So, how and why should you be using Instagram for your next exhibition? We have the complete run-down for before, during and after the show to ensure you’re getting the most out of your stand.

Before the Event

There is so much to do and organise before you attend an exhibition, so social media may be the last thing on your list, but it’s actually one of the first things that you should be doing.

Little things like announcing your attendance can make all the difference and help raise awareness of the event to your audience. Remember, your social audience isn’t just your clients and you may have a prospect ready to buy amongst your followers.

Use Instagram stories to help encourage people to buy tickets, you can add a swipe up link directly to the event page. Stories work really well because it’s bitesize information which makes it so much more digestible for consumers and therefore more effective.

The event organisers will likely have set up and be using a hashtag to promote the event, jump on this and start tagging your posts and stories with this. This will help you reach a wider audience of attendees and other exhibitors before you’ve even step foot through the door.

Hashtags are also a really good way to scope out who will be there, this could be other exhibitors (remember these people are also business owners and could be looking for your service), or people attending. You can start interacting with like-minded people, or companies who are in your target market.

During the Event

You’re going to be busy at the exhibition, but make sure you bring a good team of people with you to help with this. However, just because you’re busy, doesn’t mean you should forget about Instagram.

You’ve been working hard to raise awareness and get involved in the event community so don’t miss out on the opportunity to reap the rewards of this work.

Keep your followers updated with stories throughout the day, they will take you minutes to create but using the right hashtags could double the footfall at your stand. If you have any competitions, exciting news or even just a really good USP, make sure you’re posting all about it.

Encourage the people who visit your stand to follow your Instagram to behind the scenes content and top tips from your expert team. You could even announce the competition winner or provide VIP access to a new product for your Instagram followers.

After the Event

The hard work must be over now, right? Well, not quite, there is still more that can be done!

If you’ve attended your fair share of exhibitions in the past, you may have heard the phrase “follow up is key”, and it’s true. However, following up with prospects and clients from the event doesn’t have to mean a phone call.

You may want to phone the leads who are ‘hot’ and you want to get a meeting in the diary, but actually following everybody on Instagram and sending them a DM can be useful as well.

You’ll be likely to get a follow returned, so even if they’re not ready to buy now, you’ve got a ticket into their newsfeed. So, when they’re ready to make the purchase, who’s going to come to mind? You, the company that they see on their Instagram every week, who they trust.

 

It may be time to start your business Instagram account if you haven’t already, and if you’re still looking for a show-stopping stand, contact our team of stand experts.

Make yourself at Home with Exhibition Stand Furnishing

Make yourself at Home with Exhibition Stand Furnishing

So, you are attending an Exhibition; you’ve chosen a theme, organised a stand and picked your team. What’s next? Well, something that many people can often overlook is furnishing your exhibition stand.

Having a beautiful, eye-catching stand is an ideal way to grab people’s attention, especially if you are surrounded by the generic. Nowadays we are seeing more and more people upping their game when it comes to stand design. So, if you want to increase footfall and engage as many people as possible – considering what you are offering them within your stand is not something to overlook.

What Furniture Should I Use?

The furnishings that you use (or don’t use) within your stand should be centred around making your visitors feel as comfortable and as ‘at home’ as possible.

When considering what type of furnishing would be best for you, take a look at the theme of your stand and choose things that will help bring that concept to life. Your aim is to engage and be remembered by your visitors, so don’t worry about being too ‘out there’, if something works with your theme, then give it a go.

If you are using your stand to promote your spa hotel, for example, then consider the use of mood lighting and a cocktail bar. For those that are promoting software, then PC stations and plasma screens may be the right choice. There is really no limit to what you can include, especially with 200m2 determination to source anything a client might need!

What are the Benefits of Using Furniture?

There are many obvious benefits to use furniture as a way of customising your stand and encouraging visitors to come over to your spot at an exhibition or event. These include:

  • The more at ease a person feels, the more open and communicative they will be towards your company and the services you’re offering to them.
  • Using brand colours within your furniture and props that your customers and prospects will recognise is even more likely to encourage engagement.
  • Have you got a new product or offer coming out soon? Advertise this alongside furniture to make your promotions seem as natural and encouraging as possible. This is a great way to spread awareness and encourage sales.

What Furniture Do We Offer at 200m2?

200m2 have a range of exhibition stand furnishing and anything we don’t have; we can get!

All our solutions are lightweight and easy to assemble, which makes them extremely easy to transport. We also put an emphasis on cost-effectiveness so can ensure that we have something for any budget, whether you wish to purchase outright or just rent for an occasion.

If you’re looking for furniture as an addition to your stand and would like to know some of the main products we offer, here are a few of our best-selling pieces:

  • Promotional counters
  • Workstations
  • Tables and chairs

 

We also supply a vast range of flooring for your exhibition stand, to make your visitors feel even more at home. We give our customers the choice to choose from, vinyl, wood effect and carpet, depending on the look and feel you’re going for to promote your brand.

Much of our furniture is hired out on request as we take pride in offering furniture solutions for any business type or purpose.

 

To add a finishing touch to your stand or to enquire about our range of furnishing and flooring, please contact our team today.

 

 

Measuring Exhibition Team Success

Measuring Exhibition Team Success

Attending an exhibition is a big investment to make, so it’s important to ensure that you have the right team on-hand to produce maximum results. 

So, how can you measure exhibition success from your team?

What are the Different Ways You Can Measure Success?

How do you know that you have achieved success? Well, as with any type of undertaking, the only way to know if it has been a success is to measure it. To do this, you need to set out a goal, or targets, that indicate what you want your team to achieve. These could be things such as:

  • Stand footfall
  • Competition entries
  • Email Sign-ups
  • Conversions e.g. appointments or meetings created.

 

Once you have your goals decided, it’s time to put in place how you will measure this throughout the event. Ensure you have a system in place to keep track of competition entries and conversions, this may be in note form or recorded digitally.

If you want people to be able to use a tablet to sign up to your newsletter right then and there, make sure to add tags to their details in your email software to keep track of exactly who came through the event.

Measuring stand footfall is much more reliant on your exhibition team and there does need to be a level of trust that they will measure this accurately for you. It may involve using a clicker system to count conversations and individuals who show interest in your stand.

These key performance indicators (KPIs) can then be collected and examined after the exhibition to see how close to the set target they came. These can also be done as a team or on an individual basis.

Teamwork

There are, of course, other factors to consider when measuring the success of your team, other than hard data. Getting sign-ups and conversions are all well and good, but a lot of work goes into the background of an exhibition. It is equally important to ensure that the team can work together as a cohesive unit.

Setting up a strategy to examine what has been achieved by your staff, in a way that the whole team can contribute is a great start. This may influence your decision for your next exhibition team, which undoubtedly will impact your KPI results.

This would help you review which goals were met during the exhibition and give an idea of what could be changed for next time if they weren’t. This will help you get a plan in place for your next event or exhibition and understand which staff members are best in different areas, for next time.

A strategic plan will help you measure if the team worked well together, or if there were areas in which some struggled. It may be that in future you would need to change certain roles within your exhibition team, or perhaps remove some team members entirely – not everyone is suited to fronting an exhibition stand, and that is ok.

Success is a process, not an instant result!

Set a Schedule

Setting and keeping to a schedule is another good way of measuring team success, along with problem-solving. Did those within the teamwork together cohesively? Was everything managed on time and to schedule? If any problems arose; were they dealt with efficiently and calmly?

Visitor Feedback

Finally, a real indicator of how successful a team is at an exhibition is the feedback from visitors. A team that works together knows what their goals are and how to achieve them and will display a confident and capable appearance to visitors.

Use feedback sheets or simply ask how their experience was to measure how comfortable your team were making visitors feel.

 

If you would like to know more about how to measure the success of your exhibition team or want any other tips on exhibiting, contact 200m2 and speak to one of our experts today.

 

 

 

 

Using Truss and Gantry Stands for your Exhibition in the New Year

Using Truss and Gantry Stands for your Exhibition in the New Year

New Year, new exhibition stand!

Switch up your exhibition displays and catch the attention of new leads for your business with the right stand this year.

What are Truss and Gantry Stands?

A truss system refers to the triangular structure of the exhibition stand. The interconnected metal elements create a criss-cross structure to provide additional support and contributes to its longer-lasting quality. We offer different sizes of truss structures for our exhibition stands that each offer strength and efficiency in different ways.

This type of stand structure is available in all shapes and sizes, giving you more flexibility for choice. The rigid framework is suitable for temporary uses due to its portability and can be displayed outside during summer events.

This flexibility provides a solution for setting up your stand for numerous trade shows and events and is great value for money compared to some of the other models available.

What are the Benefits?

Lightweight and Durable

These stands are lightweight and durable for repeated usage, making it easy for transportation. This is also a benefit when considering the storage of the stand when not in use.

Our stand is lined with plastic and internally made from aluminium for hidden strength and longer-lasting quality. This strong design allows the stand to be compatible with other accessories and components like screens, lighting and furniture.

Adaptability

In terms of the structure’s adaptability, they are specifically designed to fit any space or location as different lengths of trussing can be used in our modular stands.

We understand that everyone has different preferences in terms of the stand’s dimensions. We offer three sizes of trussing to choose from, and each design caters for additional components to be added and bolted on with no tools required. 

The Types of Truss We Offer

  • X-20 Trusswire: A foldable stand which can be adapted to fit any floor space and height. This is recommended for stands that need to fit a larger space.
  • X-145 Expowire: Made from aluminium and composite, this stand is suitable for those who would like a smaller exhibition stand.
  • X-10 Crosswire: This is the most portable stand design as it’s extremely light-weight and easy to build.

 

At 200m2 our mission is to provide simple and easy to use designs for our customers that display the correct vision of your business.

For more information on these designs and how you can hire or buy your own stand for your next exhibition, get in touch with us at 200m2 here. One of our experts would be happy to discuss which exhibition stand is best suited for you.