How to Determine Your Trade Show Budget

How to Determine Your Trade Show Budget

Participating in a trade show or marketing event has a lot of variables in order to properly determine your budget. Not only do you want to make sure that your budget is within your spending means, but that it is also going to be yield a return on your investment. In order to determine what your spending range should be, consider the following costs and decide how much emphasis you want to place on them:

Registration

Some events are more expensive than others, but you’ll usually find that the shows with large crowds are the ones that cost the most to get into. That being said, this portion of the cost depends on how much you have to spend. Remember to register early too! Space runs out quick in most cases.

Marketing Displays

If you want to stand out to your audience, you’re going to want to have proper signage that represents your company/product well. Be sure to measure the size of your allotted space in order to know how much coverage you’ll need. If you have a larger space, then banner walls might make more sense, but if it is a smaller space then simple banner stands might be a better choice.

Also, keep in mind the surrounding environment that you’ll be setting up in. If you’re going to be outside, you’ll probably want to consider outdoor banner stands rather than indoor banner stands. If you’ve participated in shows before, you may already have these essentials and you’ll be able to save on this part of  your costs.

Rentals

Odds are you probably don’t have everything on hand that you’re going to need for your exhibit. Depending on what those items are, you may decide that it a good long term investment to purchase the item(s). That won’t always be the case though and you may want to consider renting certain items that you don’t foresee a long-term value in owning them. 

Staff

In order to pull off a successful show, you’re going to need people that not only know your business, but that are very outgoing and enjoy talking to people. These individuals aren’t typically your low hourly wage people if you’re looking to make a great profit at the event.

Travel

If the event your exhibiting at isn’t a local event, you’ll need to consider all of the travel and lodging costs for the exhibit crew for the duration of the event. This is also a good time to consider easily transportable equipment, like portable banner stands. In some cases you’ll have no choice but to ship your exhibit materials and you’ll have to consider shipping costs.

Giveaways

In order to make a lasting impression on your audience, you’re going to want to have ways for them to easily engage with you and your brand.  Whether you’re giving away branded chott skies, food or encouraging people to enter their information for a chance to win something really big, you’ll want to consider the costs of all the different avenues. 

While this list of expenses is not all inclusive, this will get you started down the right track to determining and managing your trade show budget.