So you’re planning for your next trade show exhibition but you want to find ways to cut costs and help maximize your ROI? Well, besides the obvious tips of staying at less luxurious digs and cutting down on those expensive mini-bar charges, a great way to save and also impress your boss (and show attendees) is to utilize technology to save yourself some coin while upping your ‘high-tech’ reputation.
CC Image courtesy of Swipespot on FlickrThere are a number of amazing technologies that can really help you set yourself apart from the crowd and also save money at the same time. Today, we’re going to take a look at just a few ideas that could be applied to many different situations to improve exhibit design and make sure that you don’t break the bank while still getting all of the advantages of your impressive custom displays (no doubt designed by Blazer Exhibits).
Cut Shipping Costs With Innovative Use Of Computer Kiosks
We’ve talked a fair amount about saving money while exhibiting on this blog. One thing that keeps coming up again and again is the high cost of shipping and drayage charges for exhibitors. When you are shipping parts for your custom displays, you want to make sure that they utilize the newest lightweight and durable materials. That’s why it’s a good idea to speak with a representative here at Blazer Exhibits for advice on exhibit design that can maintain the ‘wow’ factor while limiting weight and unnecessary bulk.
But, innovative uses of tech can also save your considerably depending on your situation. Notably, you can utilize computer or iPad kiosks in order to replace product demonstrations for large and bulky products. If you can commission and have designed an effective app for demonstrating the features of your products, you can allow attendees to easily understand the advantages of each model without necessarily having to ship and transport each one. This could save you big time on shipping costs, since a couple iPad kiosks would only way a few dozen pounds as opposed to hundreds if you have heavy or bulky products that you were planning on moving.
Depending on the weight of your largest and bulkiest products, you could save hundreds just by doing this. Of course, the cost of developing an effective virtual demonstration would need to be factored in. But, the good news is that these development costs would likely be a one-time cost (with additional tweaks and upgrades later costing much less if needed).
Integrate Cost-Efficient Lighting And Electronics Into Exhibit Design
This should be pretty obvious, but there are still many vendors and companies who are not taking full advantage of LED lighting, energy-efficient television displays and other means of cutting electricity costs. This technology can potentially save you big and it’s also important to factor in the potential marketing benefits of showing off your ‘green’ credentials to environmentally-conscious consumers.
Factoring in this additional benefit from the marketing boost is not always a straightforward thing, but it should definitely be part of the equation. Still, there are other ways to save money by using newer technology and if the newest LED lights don’t work for you, then you can still use fluorescents. Just make sure that you ditch those incandescent light bulbs. Hardly anyone uses them these days because they are energy hogs and don’t last as long as fluorescent or LED lights.
Virtual Exhibitions And Beyond
There are other technologies that you could take advantage of to maximize your trade show ROI. One that seems to be popular is the use of QR codes. QR, which stands for ‘quick response’ is a type of barcode (which looks a bit like a square dot matrix).
The idea is that it helps attendees easily engage with online content through your custom displays and other trade show booths. The jury is out on how often these are actually utilized, however. Some studies have shown that attendees prefer cards, brochures or other handouts with info and website address on them. But, reducing these materials could also save you money so the decision could go either way.
On the cutting edge, there are even some companies which are starting to put more investment into online demonstrations and exhibitions of new technologies as opposed to the old fashioned real-world trade shows. Although these can be useful they definitely don’t offer all of the advantages of a real-world trade shows. Still, they can provide unique experiences for customers and should be researched if your company has an inclination to go that direction.