What Are the Best Hacks for Saving Money on Trade Show Booths

Getting your products out into the world can be a difficult task, especially with all competition in virtually every industry. There isn’t a single one which makes it easy for someone to make it big, and you need to seriously put your head down and think of a unique angle to approach your business with in order to make it successful. Even if you think you’ve found a niche, there’s a good chance that you won’t be able to make a breakthrough brand that can last more than a couple of months. The cold hard fact is that most business owners simply don’t understand how much work and effort it really takes to run a successful business, and there’s also an element of luck that cannot be overlooked or underestimated.

Trade shows are one of the few underestimated ways to really get your product out there. It’s all about showing your products to people and letting them actually try it out. Whether it’s a physical product they can try, such as a kitchen appliance, or even a service that they can test, it’s a brilliant way for people to get up close and personal. It’s also a fantastic way to network with other business owners and potentially connect with future clients and customers.

However, trade shows aren’t free. There are many expenses to consider, such as any registration or hire fees, but we believe that the most important thing to spend money on is actually your trade show booth. There are many reasons to consider the expenses of your trade show display, such as giving off a good first impression with high-quality production or ensuring that your products are given enough space, and in this article, we’re going to explain a couple of the best money-saving hacks for trade show booths.

Considering Renting a Trade Show Booth

Renting an exhibit is a great way to get started. When you don’t have the capital to straight up purchase a display, renting can be a viable option especially if you plan on changing the size of the exhibit from show to show. Also, you won’t have all the costs associated with owning an exhibit. (Storage cost, refurbishment cost and much more.)

Also, signing up for multiple shows can allow you to have better-negotiating power and repurpose graphics from show to show.

Plan in Advance

As with most things in the world of business, planning in advance can help you save a lot of money. If you’re going to invest in a custom trade show booth, then rushing a last-minute order is going to cost extra money. Instead, what you should do is contact a company as early as possible to give them ample time to help you design the right booth.

This will give you more options at a lower price instead of having the constraint of time making it difficult and more expensive.

Consider a Modular Display

A modular display is all about giving you flexibility when it comes to a custom trade show booth. It allows you to shape the design of your booth based on the constraints you’re given by the trade show managers, and it also means you can easily interchange parts which you do or don’t need.

It saves you a lot of money because these reusable trade show booths are less expensive, they can be assembled and dismantled quickly, and their design elements can easily be swapped out whenever you need to advertise a different product. Modular display booths are an exciting development in the world of trade show exhibits, and it’s an option that can save you a lot of money if you’re willing to invest and adapt to the way they work.

Plan to Preview Your Exhibit Before the Show

While you may not like the idea of having to assemble the booth twice––in your own shop and then again on the trade show floor, this trade show planning step is a great cost-cutting measure. When you know exactly what to expect at the show in terms of how to set up your booth, you will save time and prevent any nasty surprises. As any trade show veteran knows, any time there’s an issue on the show floor, it is painfully expensive to fix, and there are no cheap solutions. Whether it’s overnighting graphics or getting a spare part over the weekend, everything is going to be more costly––and stressful. Make sure everything is right before you ship your booth to the show. Having your booth only partially assembled on the day the show opens is as bad as not arriving at all.

Plan to Ship Your Exhibit to Advanced Warehouse

There are two main ways to ship your booth to a show. One is called Advance Warehouse, and the other is called Direct-to-Show. While Direct-to-Show shipping appears cheaper, shipping to the Advance Warehouse may actually save you money. When you ship your booth to the Advance Warehouse––sometimes months ahead of time––you have less to worry about as you get closer to the show. When the show dates get closer, everything in the Advance Warehouse will get sent directly to the venue. If you ship it Direct-to-Show, however, you may experience delays, and it’s difficult to predict and arrange your labor when you don’t know when your booth is going to arrive. In most cases, your freight driver is sitting in the marshaling area waiting to unload, which means you’re paying for that wait time.