Does your company regularly attend or host trade shows? Are you looking to stand out in the sea of trade show exhibits? Do you want to attract a plethora of new customers but don’t feel like spending the cash to own and maintain your own exhibits?
If so, it may be the right time to consider a trade show exhibits rental. Your trade show booth is vitally important to your success–and when it comes to trade shows–there is the potential for an enormous amount of profitability.
According to statista.com, the value of the B2B trade show market is projected to grow to a staggering 14.5 billion dollars by 2024.
This estimation confirms that there is a lot on the table in regards to the trade show market.
But in order to get a piece of that pie, you are going to have to separate yourself from the competition who are also salivating over that same slice.
And the best way to do that is through your trade show displays. Whether your industry is food, communications, medical, software, technology, pharma, or anything in between–your exhibit will be a contributing factor to your success or failure.
This article will cover all of the advantages of trade show exhibit rentals, why you should consider them for your next trade show, as well as the different types of exhibits that are available to you.
1. Saves Time
Especially if you do a lot of traveling out of state, unexpected trade shows can pop onto your radar at the last minute, and when this is the case–renting is a great option. It will save you a lot of frustrations, but above all, it will save your most precious and valuable resource, your time.
If you opt to buy a trade show booth, you are–by default–adding a lot more time to the preparation process for the trade show.
It’s a costly time investment to conjure up an exhibit outline, get started on the production, as well as planning out and managing the logistics of it all when trying to buy your exhibit.
Renting, however, helps you to circumvent this process. Now, granted, it doesn’t give you a free pass entirely when it comes to your time expenditure, but it does help to speed up the process by making it shorter than it would have been otherwise.
When you rent, you don’t have to spend a single second on setting up the exhibit, doing any repairs, or handling anything else associated with owning one. It is all taken care of and managed for you.
This frees up your valuable time to focus on other things that are of greater importance such as networking, following up, etc.
2. Can Easily Fit Your Budget
Renting a trade show exhibit can be very cost-effective. Since you don’t have to worry about the expenses that are associated with owning (storage space, regular upkeep, refurbishing, etc), you will end up saving quite a bit in the long term. You can completely sidestep all of the unexpected fees.
Maintenance, storage charges, and other expenses can really eat into your bottom line when you own an exhibit.
However, this problem is pretty much nonexistent when you decide to rent.
Renting is the superior option for saving money (especially if you have a small or startup business), as it will help you create quantifiable results for your company at a snippet of the cost of owning.
Be sure to search until you find a rental company with a large catalog that you can rent from.
This allows you to gain access to all of the best features and trimmings without stepping outside of the amount of money you have earmarked for this purchase.
Staying within your budget while simultaneously putting on a spectacle with your trade show booth should be your main objective. And when you rent, you can easily accomplish this goal.
3. Good for Unexpected Trade Show Opportunities
Many times, unexpected opportunities can present themselves from what seems to be out of nowhere. When these serendipitous moments occur, you got to take advantage of them–and renting your trade show exhibits allows you to do that.
Because it is a simple process to call, divulge your needs and place your order.
The product then arrives at the scheduled time at the predetermined location and you’re good to go.
No worries, no stress, no muss and fuss of having to pull out your own exhibit from storage, and go through the arduous (and time-consuming) process of transportation and set up.
All of that can be a headache, but it can also be avoidable if you select to rent for your upcoming exhibit.
4. More Flexibility
Especially if you’re a new exhibitor, you don’t attend trade shows regularly, or you are frequently changing your look and style, renting can be a great option for flexibility in that regard. It gives you more freedom.
You also got more flexibility and wiggle room for different sizes. When you own an exhibit–it is what it is, the size is the size. There’s not much you can do in terms of changing it to match the requirements of different events.
However, when you rent, you now have the flexibility to go small or big depending on the needs of the particular trade show you’re attending.
You can make additions to or take away from your exhibit as much or as little as you see fit.
Renting also provides you with the freedom to try new marketing and branding ideas. This is an absolute game-changer if you want to make adjustments and are not ready to commit to anything quite yet.
You can try out an idea or a concept on your rental, and if the results are favorable, you can consider buying an exhibit outright and continue with the novel idea. And if it isn’t fruitful and doesn’t produce positive results, you can ditch the notion and move on.
5. Custom Designs
Rental booths can sometimes have the notoriety of being a bit banal compared to their owned outright counterparts. But truth be told, this can actually work to your advantage.
Renting gives you the ability to add custom designs to your booth; making a cheap or bland exhibit look like an attractively appealing display that hooks and dazzles the attention of observers.
You can add custom accessories, movable placards, and even present chairs, seats, couches, etc for comfortability to your prospective customers.
This will ensure that you stand out from the crowd and allow you to attract a greater number of potential buyers. The devil really is in the details.
But that’s not all, custom designs are also incredibly helpful because you can tailor each design to the particular trade show you happen to be attending.
Whether you’re at a communications event, a marketing event, or taking part in a virtual trade show, you can tailor each exhibit to meet the specific needs of the event.
This is a feature that is lost if you decide to buy a trade show exhibit.
6. Convenience
Renting allows you to simply pick and choose what you want. Designs, graphics, accessories, installation/setup, etc. All the heavy lifting is done by others, you don’t have to do anything besides place the order.
Once the order has been placed, you simply show up to the trade show and enjoy your beautifully designed, custom-made exhibit.
You can also be at ease when it comes to transporting the exhibit. When as if you owned it outright, the transportation of it would be your responsibility.
But opting for the rent option provides the added convenience of not having to worry about the delivery of the exhibit to and from the event.
This will give you a level of comfort that will ensure your attention can be put to where it needs to be, on the potential prospects at the trade show.
And not only that, but you also get the added benefit of being able to attend multiple trade shows at the same time.
You can become omnipresent by renting a myriad of exhibits that allow for the attendance of more shows which can bring more customers that will ultimately bolster your bottom line.
7. Low Barrier to Entry
Since renting a trade show booth drastically lowers the costs involved in participating in a trade show, the barrier to entry is lowered. This makes it easier for startups and small businesses to get in on the action.
So if you’re company is in those initial stages of getting started, and you don’t have a whole lot of money to invest at this point, then renting instead of buying can be a massively cost-effective approach.
Especially if your business is a startup, renting can oftentimes be the make-or-break factor that determines whether or not you are able to even attend the event.
8. Damages
This is another cost-effective benefit that can be immensely advantageous (provided you purchase insurance beforehand). When you own your exhibit, a major drawback is having to fork out money for the damages that will inevitably occur (no product is exempt from wear and tear).
If your rented trade show exhibit happens to get damaged, disfigured, impaired, etc, in any way–again, provided you purchased insurance–you can remain worry-free knowing that you’re covered and won’t be held liable.
9. Install and Dismantle Services
If you don’t know what you’re doing, then setting up and tearing down trade show displays can be a frustrating endeavor, to put it lightly. That’s why renting–once again–is the superior option.
Set up and tear down services are provided by experts so you don’t have to worry about it.
This frees you to be more productive with your time by engaging in activities that will help build your business.
You can focus fully on your product and brand, and leave any concerns you may have had behind you.
10. Environmentally Friendly
By reusing your rentals, you are helping the environment by becoming more eco-friendly. The principle is simple: the more you reuse, the less you throw out.
You also get to steer clear of any waste disposal management or recycling fees.
Rental Trade Show Exhibits: What is Available
Now that you know some of the benefits of renting vs owning a trade show exhibit. Let’s get familiarized with the types of exhibits you can rent.
1. Light Boxes
The lightbox option is a great choice to make for your exhibit. They help to make your trade show display more visually appealing to customers.
Standing out in this way guarantees that your display will be the primary allure among trade show attendees.
Some trademark qualities of lightboxes are aluminum frames with graphics and long-lasting LED lighting.
And with custom designs at your disposal, you can rest assured that they will match your brand and attract the right clientele.
2. Double-Decker Exhibits
Double-decker exhibits display two floors. This allows more space granted to the exhibitor without having to spend extra money.
Double-decker exhibits are strong, sturdy, and convey a sense of leadership in your brand within whatever industry you are a part of.
If you’re interested in this exhibit, be sure to get it as early and as fast as possible. Because of their popularity, they tend to get rented out rather quickly.
3. Island Exhibits
Island exhibits allow you to strengthen your trade show appearance. It adds a touch of refinement to your overall exhibit because of the space it commands.
In fact, it gets the name “island” because of this fact. An island booth doesn’t come in contact with any of its walls as well as any other booths that may be in close proximity.
Island exhibits are also in high demand because of the amount of space they call for.
This extra space can then be used for a multitude of purposes to enhance the customer experience. Ideas such as demonstration zones, common areas, meet and greets, etc, can all be used in this extra space.
4. Peninsula Exhibits
With the Peninsula exhibit, you get spacious areas on 3 sides. This setup unveils your exhibit to the people on each of the 3 sides; giving you more exposure to meet and connect with more people.
All this while being pushed up against and supported by a back wall that allows the Peninsula the visibility to be noticed by potential prospects.
5. 20 Foot Inline Displays
Made to be the solution for the 10×20 trade show displays, these booths come in a plethora of different designs to best serve your trade show needs. Here are just a few of the advantages you can expect from the 20-foot inline displays.
They’re hard to miss – 20 Foot displays are noticeably eye-catching. And when you’re competing against other booths for the same attention and awareness of onlookers, then that level of ostentatiousness is sure to pay off.
They are top-notch – An inline booth is a wonderful choice to make your display look high-quality. It delivers a cohesive and well-put-together look that coincides with your business brand. This, in turn, makes your booth stand out by giving it a polished, clean, and professional appearance.
They’re easy and effortless – If you’re not interested in spending an umpteen amount of hours going over the minute details of creating the layout of your booth, then the 20-foot inline display is the option for you. With the fundamental setup already created ahead of time, your display is pretty much ready to go when you need it.
They are portable – In spite of their large size, 20-foot inline displays can be both constructed and broken down easily and efficiently. Transporting it to and from venues is made simple and easy due to this feature.
6. Kiosks
Kiosks are another great option, especially if you have technology to display at your booth. Kiosks can make for an attention-grabbing display for tablets and phones or any other electronics you may have.
You can also display monitors that can play videos or show figures, statistics, and other types of information about your products to your visitors.
This will help educate while at the same time inform.
7. Fabric Structures
If you really want to be unique and distinctive, consider using fabric structures for your rental trade show exhibit. Fabric structures have a concave aluminum tube frame that is strong and robust, but still light which makes for an easy transfer when needed.
The variety of different shapes, sizes, heights, and distinctive styles they come in guarantees that you’ll find whatever it is you’re looking for.
These structures are designed to dazzle. With their boldness, stylistic writing, colorful images, and anything else you decide to use in your advertising, you will have the attention of observers in the palm of your hand.
8. Counters
Because of their portability, counters are very popular in the trade show circuit. They have a sturdy and well-built countertop bolstered by a strong solid base that usually comes in the shapes of squares or rectangles.
This convenient design allows you to add more and take away certain aspects to match your wants and needs appropriately.
9. Hanging Signs and Structures
Looking for a conspicuous way to show your brand at trade shows? Then hanging signs and structures are definitely the route you should go.
The showmanship behind this option is something that will not only attract attention but will also spark curiosity. Onlookers will have a difficult time moving on once they are enamored with the extravagant display.
Your brand messaging will be upfront and center for all to see.
Made out of aluminum tubes attached to cables hung from the ceiling, the hanging signs and structures help create an amazing first impression in witnessing.
10. Pop up Displays
Normally used as backdrops, the pop-up display shows brand messaging and can also double a presentation slide; showing product abilities. Pop-ups also showcase vivid colors as well as lively images to enhance the viewing experience of customers.
Additional accessories can be added to customize the display.
11. Custom Modular Trade Show Exhibits
Built wholly to the customization of the exhibitor, these booth displays can go from basic and easy, to complicated and intricate. Custom modular exhibits are usually chosen for their easy-to-set-up construction, as well as their attention-drawing display.
12. Banner Stands
Some of the most popular trade show displays out there are the banner stands. And for good reason, they offer easy portability, they are cheap/cost-effective, and they always look great once they are decked out in logos and graphics.
They are a good fit for businesses that want to bring attention and awareness to their brand quickly and effectively.
And they are a whole host of options to choose from: you can go with fabric banners and back walls, cassette-style banner stands, rectangular banner stands, or you can keep it simple with basic table covers.
13. Outdoor Display
Outdoor displays are a great way for you to take advantage of the warmer months of Spring and Summer. These are perfect for outdoor events as they are small, easy to build and takedown and come in a variety of options.
Outdoor Banners – Outdoor banners are an excellent option as they are light, portable, and made to endure the elements.
Outdoor Tents – The polyester sunshades on the outdoor tents can resist downpours and at the same time protect both attendees and exhibitors from the scorching heat of the Summer months.
Outdoor Flags – Low-priced, mobile, and noticeable. Outdoor flags are your best bet for making your presence known at any outdoor trade shows that you attend in the future.
Are You Ready for a Trade Show Exhibits Rental?
Trade shows are not going anywhere soon, they are–and for the foreseeable future–will continue to be a great way for businesses to enhance brand awareness. Even post covid, this lucrative avenue for business professionals is expected to skyrocket in the upcoming years.
This means it’s in your best interest to–at the very least–look at your options for trade show exhibits rental to see how you and your business can benefit.
If you’re interested and would like to learn more, be sure to check out our blog for additional information. Or you can contact us directly with any questions you may have.