How To Stretch Your Exhibition Budget – Plan Ahead

The average business exhibition is no cheap affair and most companies realise this fact as soon as the bills for things like exhibition displays and marketing materials start coming in. Very few businesses enjoy unlimited budgets when it comes to exhibitions and most have a very specific figure in mind with regard to how much exactly they can spent. Expectations are nevertheless exceeded all the time.

There is some good news in all that however and it’s that there are many ways and means by which exhibition budgets can be stretched significantly and the overall costs minimised. Some suggestions will be less workable than others, but bear in mind the 10 examples below and chances are your appearance at the next exhibition you plan to attend will be far less expensive:

1. First up, don’t just blindly attend every single exhibition within 150 miles, but think instead where and how you can focus your efforts on a more select contingency of exhibitions. Expenses will be vastly reduced, money saved and most importantly every exhibition you attend will get your undivided attention.
2. Next up – try to invest in high-quality hardware from the start, rather than wasting money on the kinds of banners, posters and other such materials that will need to be replaced on a regular basis. First-class hardware doesn’t come cheap but will save you a fortune in long term.
3. Don’t make the mistake of assuming that the most expensive and illustrious exhibitions on the business calendar represent the best exhibitions for your company. Not only do they tend to be the hardest to pull of, but your business will also face the toughest competition.
4. Be open to invest in modular hardware which is flexible enough to be used in a myriad of different ways and can adapt to the needs of the different exhibitions the business is planning to attend.
5. Think also about buying the kind of hardware that is designed to be supremely portable and as easy to transport as possible. Not only will that save you a fortune when you don’t have to hire vans and trucks every time your business is attending an exhibition, but it will also make it possible and easy to appear at any given event without worrying about the logistics.
6. Remember that snatching the most prestigious and most expensive plot within the exhibition hall is no guarantee for success. It’s true that some locations will always attract more attention than others and therefore will be in higher demand, but there is absolutely nothing to say that on the day of the show you cannot leave your stand and do some manual customer hunting.
7. Exercise a lot of caution when it comes to selecting your exhibition staff as it can be nothing less than catastrophic to line up too many or too few staff. Professionalism and competence will always be more important than just numbers so think along these lines.
8. A rather obvious and a bit silly suggestion is of course to get out of the habit of drinking and eating from the kiosks and stalls around the exhibition hall. You will save a small fortune if you simply bring along enough essentials and refreshmens to keep you going for the whole event.
9. Remember to factor into the exhibition budget one rather sizeable expense which is namely the cost of accommodation for the staff travelling to the event. As such, don’t simply assume you’ll be able to get away with it and try to have the exhibition team return home right after the event by way of trade service or overnight coach.
10. Last but certainly not least, maybe the single most significant thing you can do when you’re looking to make savings on exhibition attendances in the future is to think exactly what you did and spent last time and the things that didn’t work out which could be either modified significantly or removed from the equation altogether. From free gifts nobody wanted to ineffective marketing materials and right through to leaflets and brochures that turned out to be pointless, there is a variety of ways and means to budget better.