Attending trade shows often means making a significant investment of both time and money. And the bigger your trade show booth, the bigger that investment is. It’s helpful to save money where you can, but can you do that without compromising on quality? When it comes to trade show graphics, you do have some options for saving money without reducing the quality of the graphics in your exhibit.

Trade Show Graphics Cost, but the Investment Is Worth It

Graphics are one of the most important parts of a trade show booth. On the exhibition floor, appearance is everything because your booth must be visually interesting to attract the foot traffic you need. If your display looks cheap or lacks visual impact, people just won’t be intrigued enough to stop and take a look.

Graphics often represent a significant part of the cost of a booth. But even if the cost of trade show graphics is higher than you expected, it’s an investment that’s well worth making. High-quality graphics don’t just look better—they last longer, meaning your investment continues to work for you.

How to Get High-Quality Booth Graphics and Save

You don’t have to compromise on quality to save on the cost of trade show graphics. With careful planning and attention to detail, you can reduce the cost of those graphics while still getting quality results. Here’s how to save on the cost of exhibit graphics.

1. Organize Your Graphic Inventory

A company that has its own itemized inventory of graphics can save both time and money when it comes to ordering new graphics. If your company doesn’t yet have its own graphic inventory, it’s definitely a good idea to put one together before you need new graphics made up. Otherwise, you may end up asking a design team to create graphics that the company already has, and that’s a needless waste of both time and money.

It’s also worth examining where you source the images your company uses to create new graphics. If your company is large enough that it needs new graphics for multiple purposes, then it might be worthwhile paying for professional photographs. But if you just need a small number of images specifically for the trade show booth, then it’s probably more cost-effective to purchase stock photos.

2. Eliminate Unnecessary Fees

Is the company that manufactures your trade show booth the same company that makes your graphics? If you’re paying two different teams from two different companies, chances are you’re missing an opportunity to save money.

Instead, find a company that does it all: graphic and booth design, and manufacturing as well. Doing so can save on both time and money because it’s always simpler to work with one vendor instead of two.

3. Prepare for Production

When a graphic design firm receives an order, they often get raw art and materials that don’t conform to standard file types, sizes, design colors, and other essential parameters. When that happens, the design team has to spend time converting file formats and making other small tweaks. Each one of those tweaks doesn’t take long, but added up over the entire project, it can add hours to the time spent on the job. If you’re paying by the hour, those small tweaks will also add to the amount you pay.

Head this problem off by checking what your design team needs in terms of file formats and other parameters. Then take the time to make sure all the files and details you hand over already conform to what’s needed.

4. Allow Plenty of Lead Time

One of the easiest ways to send the cost of trade show graphics skyrocketing is to order a rush job. If you want high-quality graphics in a hurry, you can expect to pay for the privilege.

On the other hand, if you make sure to order graphics well in advance of when you need them, you won’t need to pay extra to rush the process through. Generally, you should allow for at least four to six weeks of production time. That covers design and a round or two of reviewing and making adjustments, with plenty of time to send the final proofs to be printed.

5. Avoid Heavily Customized Graphics

If you want to get the best return on the investment you make in trade show graphics, those graphics should be designed to be reusable. Avoid graphics that are heavily customized, with imagery or messages that are specific to one show or one marketing campaign. Instead, go for designs that will work for every show you attend. If you can deploy your fabric banners or hanging signage at every show, you’ll cut the cost-per-use significantly.

6. Save on Materials Costs

Trade show graphics can be made from a range of different materials, including fabric, as well as various kinds of plastic and other materials. Investigating the various materials available—along with their costs—can save you money and help you make sure you’re choosing the right materials for each kind of graphic you need.

For instance, most materials come in certain standard sizes. If you order graphics in non-standard sizes, materials either have to be custom-made or must be made using multiple standard-sized pieces. In both cases, it typically means paying much more than you would for standard-sized graphics.

Another point to consider is whether you can get more use out of the materials you pay for. The materials for trade show signage typically come in large sheets, which are cut down to various sizes for individual graphics. Choosing certain combinations of graphics sizes may mean you get more use out of the materials that you purchase. It’s worth asking about this when you order graphics to make sure you’re using those materials efficiently.

7. Consider Shipping Costs

Both size and weight will affect the cost of trade show graphics when it comes time to ship them off to the next show.

• The more your exhibit weights, the higher the costs of both shipping and drayage.
• Some materials may need heavy protective crates to keep them safe during shipping. Those crates contribute to the overall cost.
• Size also affects cost, as anything that’s oversized or otherwise difficult to handle or store may incur a higher handling fee.

Affordable, Eye-Catching Trade Show Graphics Are Easier than You Think

Trade show graphics can be pricy, but great graphics are part of what draws traffic to your booth, so they’re absolutely worth the investment. And, with the right preparation, you can save money on the cost of trade show graphics to make your trade show exhibit a little more affordable.