5 Ways to Reduce your Trade Show Budget Costs

Worried about escalating trade show expenses? This quick guide with five tips on how to optimize your trade show marketing costs may help with just that. 

Use a Modular Exhibition System

Invest in a modular exhibition system for your trade show booth that allows rebuilding in size and format whenever you want.

This way, you can use all of your exhibition system for an event, or change your design and use only part of the system, while using other parts for a second event held at another location.

Modular exhibition systems i.e., Clever Frame and beMatrix are perfect in the sense that they can be reused and customized to achieve ultimate flexibility. You can:

  • Build
  • Re-build
  • Scale up
  • Scale down
  • Transport the elements and easily store them in a very tight space

More Tech, Less Print

Consider choosing an exhibition system for your trade show booth, where you can easily change your messages with new skins i.e., panels, textiles, and LED screens instead of roll-ups. 

You can also add apps and screens for: 

  • Registration
  • Lead generation
  • Competitions and other activities 


Instead of printing brochures, consider e-mailing them to your prospects. It is both more cost-effective and great for the environment. 

Reuse your Exhibition Booth at your Domicile

If you invest in a trade show booth, make sure to use your exhibition system all the time. Even when it is not used for an event, an exhibition, or a trade show.

We really recommend placing your exhibition system (almost) anywhere else than the basement. Instead, rescale and show off your beautiful design in your showroom, reception, cantina, lobby – the possibilities are endless. 

This way you maximize the use of your exhibition system as well as your investment in the trade show booth.

Why Choose a Reusable Trade Show Booth?

A beautifully designed trade show booth doesn’t have to crush your marketing budget. If you invest in a reusable exhibition system that can be used when it is not on display and reused at your next event or trade show, you will be able to reduce your trade show costs significantly. Also, a reusable system will allow you to change the design of the booth giving you full flexibility. If you choose a modular system this will benefit you tremendously.

Rent/Purchase Combination

If your trade show budget and marketing strategy isn’t cut out for investing in a completely new trade show booth, you may consider giving your basic set-up a facelift with rented add-ons.

A mix and match solution. 

This secures you attending your event with the right hardware, instead of going with just what you have. 

You can use vendors and suppliers as a warehouse facility, where you pick and choose. This may be an effective solution to considerably reduce your trade show costs.

Start your Trade Show Planning Well Ahead of Time

The closer we get to an event or trade show, the more prices spike. 

Especially for elements such as your trade show booth (also rentals), graphics, accommodation.

Our recommendation will be that you start your planning in a couple of months in advance for best possible savings. You might even be able to get a hold of early bird tickets for booth space.

the-trade-show-academy_trade_show_booth
the-trade-show-academy_trade_show_booth_down_scale

Make it easy to keep your promises ...

With explicit goals and a well-defined target group, motivated staff, and systematic (and digital) collection of leads, the follow-up will be piece of cake. The only thing it requires is that you have complete control over these 5 areas: 

1. Hot leads

Which leads do you need to take home to achieve your goals – what characterizes a good, hot lead for you?  

2. Ask the right thing

What information do you need to collect about your guests/leads, in order to be able to follow up purposefully – what do you need to remember to get answers to and permission for?

3. Packed and ready

What will you follow up with and how will you send out the material? Have brochures, prices, pdfs, etc. ready before you leave.

4. Collect (digital) business cards

How do you collect leads to streamlining the following-up process – do you have the right (digital) tools available?

5. From lead to a sale

Who does what, when? How do you easily and quickly get your leads into your CRM so that they are part of the existing sales process?  

Easy and targeted follow-up starts before the fair. Mindset, ownership, internship, and time in the calendar must be aligned and fine-tuned so that your promises do not become unmanageable to keep when you return from the fair. 

And just to return to my friend from the Euro Shop – my path to becoming a customer with him, could have been much smoother if he had been completely focused on the above 5 areas – and had he kept what he promised … 

Related Articles

Dos and Don’ts on the Trade Show Floor

Find out how to increase your trade show performance

Give Your Guests a Reason to Visit Your Trade Show Booth!

Find out why you should prepare thoroughly before the fair.

8 Remarkable Ways to ways to Improve Your Exhibition Attendance

It’s often the small things which you can do that will have a huge impact. 

Explore our Course on Exhibition Stand Design

How to Design
the Perfect Stand

– With value creation and WOW-factor

In a sea of exhibitors it can be hard to differentiate yourself and stand out from the crowd. So how do you design an exhibition stand that stand out AND create value? That's exactly what we dive into in this course.

You'll gain the knowledge and skills needed to design exhibition stands that meet your objectives and make a lasting impression on your target audience.