With only 3 seconds to capture the attention of the potential customers walking by your trade show display, you may feel the urge to include as much info as possible on your graphics in order to further explain what products or services you offer. However, this tactic will actually hurt your chances of getting their attention. The two words that should describe your trade show display graphics should be “simple and bold”.

Simple Images vs. Complex Images

Did you find some impressive ways to edit your pictures? Maybe you found a tool in Photoshop that will allow you to make your image look mysterious. Those images should be saved for another time, not for trade shows. Simple, bold images should be used. They get straight to the point and won’t confuse you like some over-the-top graphics may do. Single images are much more effective than multiple images because if too much is going on in the graphics, you will overwhelm your potential customers.

Easy to Remember Headlines

With the hundreds of people who will be walking by your booth at the convention, a persuasive headline may be just what they need to see in order to consider stopping by your display system. This headline must be short because you don’t want an excessive amount of wording on your trade show booth graphics. A short headline will give you more space to increase the size of it. Also, use simple, easy-to-read font, like Arial. If the font is too fancy, it may be difficult to read thus losing their interest.

The Message Should be Short and Sweet

You are sabotaging your chance to meet potential customers by having an overabundance of wording. They will end up getting bored and won’t want to take the time to read a paragraph. Bullet points are a great way to organize your text, but the wording should still be very minimal. Don’t use technical terms in your graphics because most people probably won’t have the slightest idea what it is you are talking about. Instead, pretend you are explaining your products or services to a six-year-old. Use simple words that everyone will be able to understand.

Your graphics are the most important marketing tool you will use at trade shows. Therefore, I can’t stress enough the importance of having simple and bold graphics. You may feel like you need to create graphics that are over-the-top if you want to gain more visitors, but you need to resist that urge. Base your graphics on simple images, and an easy to remember headline, and try to keep your message short and sweet.  This will use the most of the 3 seconds you have to capture the attention of the soon-to-be customer.

About the Author:

Kristin Hovde works in the marketing department for Smash Hit Displays. We sell a large variety of trade show displays and graphic packages.