Is your personal taste damaging your chances of exhibition success?

Imagine that red is your favourite colour. Spiderman is your favourite superhero, cherries are your favourite fruit, Ferrari is your sports car of choice, and Animal your preferred Muppet. It makes sense, therefore, that when it comes to designing your latest exhibition stand, you’d be drawn to the colour of energy, passion, and action.

The problem is – you work in the renewable energy sector – and your market research tells you that your potential customers associate red with danger, blood, and emergencies. Not quite the image you want to create.

Therefore, when forging your latest campaign, do you carry on regardless, stubbornly clinging to your love of all things crimson? Or, instead, do you listen to what the experts tell you and go with a compelling shade of green?*

When it comes to exhibition stand design, the unfortunate truth is that too many exhibitors are still swayed by their own personal tastes. And, while your likes and dislikes matter, without adopting a more strategic approach, these preferences could actually hinder your exhibition success.

Just think about it, if you purchased a buy-to-let property, you wouldn’t furnish it the same way you would your own home (there’s a reason magnolia walls are so popular with landlords and property developers!). Likewise, when buying a new boiler, rather than choosing the one you like the look of, the chances are you’d listen to your heating engineer to help pick the one that will work best for you.

In the same respect, in today’s competitive exhibition environment, making decisions based on nothing more than personal taste is a bad idea. And, with exhibitions representing a significant level of investment – not just in terms of the financial cost but also time spent – it’s a mistake you can’t afford to make. Delivering that all important ROI is crucial.

Of course, your exhibition stand must appeal to you on some level, and with the right designers it can be both beautiful and practical. But if the research and strategy tell you one thing, and your personal preferences another, it pays to be logical.

Having a stand that sells your business successfully, is not necessarily the same as having one you like the look of, and whatever your exhibition objectives are– be these raising brand awareness and/or fuelling your sales pipeline – your presence simply must help you to achieve them.

The simple truth is that, as proud as you are of your business, no-one will buy from you if they don’t know why they need you in the first place. The path to a successful exhibition stand begins, therefore, not with looking internally, but instead by focusing on your customers, and what they want from you. The right designer will work with you to fight personal bias and offer the subjective reasoning needed to help you achieve this.

If you’re planning on exhibiting, contact us today to find out more about how Apex can help you get under the skin of your customers, stand out from the crowd, generate footfall, and – importantly – initiate relevant conversations with your target audience.

Apex creates award-winning modular and custom built exhibition stands that look fantastic, and are created specifically around your objectives. Click here to find out more or give us a call today on + 44 (0)1625 429370 to discuss your requirements in more depth.

*We’re not saying that you can’t use red in the renewable energy market, and in many cases defying conventional wisdom can lead to much-needed brand differentiation. We do however contend that Animal is the pick of the bunch when it comes to The Muppets.