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NOTE:  This blog has now moved to our new website and can be found at www.exhibitcraftnj.com/blog.  This coincides with the launch of our new website http://exhibitcraftnj.com.  Please check us out!

Today, April 2, 2013,  we officially announce the launch of our fully-featured multimedia website www.exhibitcraftNJ.com.  The new site has extensive content including new trade show exhibit and corporate interiors galleries, upcoming events page, case studies, a live chat feature, new photos, video and more.

The new website is designed to provide the ultimate user-friendly experience with improved navigation and functionality throughout.  The website is also designed to allow visitors to gain access to detailed product information with the option to share information across all major social networking sites.

The new ExhibitCraft website was built from the ground up, after over a year in the making.  A few of the goals with the new website were to make it easier to navigate for users and easier for ExhibitCraft to manage and update with regular content, including tradeshow exhibit images, upcoming events and more.

New features of the website include a completely new site layout, a website search bar to help visitors to find what they are looking for, online chat capability, Exhibits and Corporate Interiors galleries, case studies, testimonials and a revamped promotional products page.  Page sharing has been built into every page on the website so that visitors may share any page through a variety of methods, including e-mail and social media.

Scott Walode, President and C.E.O. of ExhibitCraft, says, “We’re thrilled to launch the new and improved ExhibitCraft website.  Most of all, we wanted to help people get to know us better, especially business professionals who will be exhibiting at trade shows.  We wanted it to be a dynamic and well-designed website, especially since we are in the business of design.  If you take a gander around the new website I think you’ll get a pretty good idea of who we are and what we do as a company.”

The website project was undertaken by Vickie Siculiano, Marketing Manager of ExhibitCraft, who had done extensive research on the industry landscape shortly after she came on board in September 2011.  She conducted in-depth research to see which website features were most popular, and presented the results to the President and CEO of ExhibitCraft, Scott Walode, to choose which would be most important to include in a new website redesign.

We hope you enjoy our new website.  Please check us out!

Download Press Release: ExhibitCraft Launches New Updated Multimedia Website

ExhibitCraft is an award-winning trade show exhibit design, fabrication and management agency, offering customized trade show exhibit displays built in-house at its Wayne, NJ headquarters. ExhibitCraft also customizes a large selection of modular exhibit display systems, such as tabletop displays, portable trade show exhibits, pop up displays, banner stands, fabric displays, panel systems, truss systems and more.  The ExhibitCraft ProShop is dedicated to providing the most comprehensive selection of promotional products and promotional items. The company offers customizable products such as corporate apparel, premiums, giveaways, tote bags, pens, magnets, and more. A wide variety of promotional products and gifts are available through the ExhibitCraft ProShop.  For more information, please visit www.exhibitcraftNJ.com.

March Custom Corner Spotlight: Elliquence

This month, we selected Elliquence to appear as our trade show exhibit of note to appear as our monthly spotlight.

This trade show exhibit is a custom portable display, with portable elements that have been customized for the client’s specific need.  This spotlight contains multiple photographs of the exhibit.

Client:
Specializing in medical technology that has been developed and refined over the last 50 years, Elliquence provides Radiowave solutions for neurosurgery, endoscopic spine, orthopedic and pain management.

Design Challenge:
Elliquence owned an existing 10’x10’ exhibit and originally came to us for a new and improved look.  Elliquence was so pleased with the tradeshow results that they came to us to expand their existing booth, with a continued need for ease of set up and portability.  They wanted to retrofit their system by creating (2) new tension fabric graphic panels that would be able to mount to existing monitor towers for added support.  These panels needed to breakdown to be set up by salespeople, to fit into existing cases that they owned.  They had a desire to create additional aluminum extrusion frames, creating one large central fabric mural.  They wanted a new curved header spanning the tower units with changeable graphic capability.  They also wanted a custom counter with a logo.

Design Solution:
Our solution included using (2) new Moss frame with the ability to have one large fabric graphic crossing the (2) frames.   In this way, the client could easily breakdown the exhibit into (2) 10’x10’ booths. 

We designed and created a curved backlit header using lightweight aluminum extrusion, which grabs attention from across the tradeshow floor, and the ability to breakdown for easy portability.  The backlit digital graphic header is attached to aluminum frame with Velcro, which makes it very easy to swap out graphics.  To gain even more attention, we incorporated white LED lighting around each tower unit, creating create an intense glowing light around the towers, also spreading out across the backwall fabric graphics.  A cool lighting effect throughout booth really attracts attention.

Return panels were designed to be multi-functional, attracting attention when in corner of the booth while blocking the view behind the booth which they used for storage.  These panels were hinged to allow easy access to back of booth with little hardware to keep set up a breeze.  The custom counter with a three-dimensional metallic logo also commanded attention, with recessed lighting to illuminate its front.  We are sure this tradeshow exhibit booth will continue to be flexible and attract attention for years to come!

Download the pdf:  Elliquence – Medical Technology Industry Case Study

Original ExhibitCraft-produced 10’x10′ tradeshow exhibit for Elliquence

Custom designed tradeshow counter for Elliquence with 3-dimensional metallic logo and recessed lighting.

Elliquence 10’x20′ Custom Portable Tradeshow Exhibit designed and built by ExhibitCraft

VIDEO: Engaging Customers at a Local Level

Vickie Siculiano, ExhibitCraft Marketing Manager, speaks at Rutgers University on Engaging Customers at a Local Level with Constant Contact

This video clip is from the recent business conference at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, Post-Sandy, NJ Moving Forward.  Because the first video we shared was one of our most viewed inclusions in our monthly e-mail newsletter (you can sign up here) We were invited by our partner, Constant Contact, who presented at ExhibitCraft earlier this year, with “SuperCharge Your Facebook Marketing.”  This panel discussion was taped by Comcast, with one of the speakers on the panel, Sarann Jennings of Comcast Spotlight.  See our previous post on this fabulous learning event.

All of the speakers had value to share, and we hope that the victims of hurricane Sandy were able to make good use of this presentation that is now live on on the internet.

This video installment features Vickie Siculiano, Marketing Manager, in a Marketing Panel Discussion.

Other Panel Discussions at the marketing event include How to Engage Customers Through Internet Marketing, Defining Engagement Marketing, How to Combat Negative Reviews and more.

Thanks to Wendi Caplan-Carroll, moderator of this panel, and speaker we were lucky enough to feature here recently for some marketing events in our trade show exhibit showroom.  We look forward to working with her again later this year.

A special thanks to Comcast for producing this video, and Greenrose Media for editing.  On Demand is only available to Comcast Digital Cable Customers, but feel free to share this link with others who you feel might benefit from this valuable information.

Hope to see you next month at our upcoming event, ProFest Twenty Thirteen.  Stay tuned!

Users Vary Across Social Media – Demographics Report

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project Report, The Demographics of Social Media Users — 2012, it has been shown that different social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest have become popular with varying demographics

The survey shows that young adults are more likely than others to use major social media.  At the same time, there are other groups who are interested in varying sites and services.

Users of the internet under 50 are particularly likely to use a social networking site of any kind.  Those 18-29 are the most likely (89%) of any demographic to do so.  Women are also shown more likely than men to be users of these sites. Urban users are also significantly more likely than rural internet users to use social networking.

The national survey was conducted between November 14th and December 9th, 2012 on landline and cell phones, in both English and in Spanish. The results were analyzed from 1,802 respondents who are internet users.

In an additional report by eMarketer, it is estimated that by year’s end,  there will be 163.5 million social network users in the US.  Not surprisingly, US internet users are a diverse group, as well.

Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest appear to attract a particularly diverse group of users. For example, African-American internet users were significantly more likely than average to use Twitter, while 16% of overall internet users said they used the service.  Read more about the eMarketer report here.

We wanted to share these findings with you because we think that social media is very relevant to the trade show industry and for our clients, especially in the marketing industry.  Social media has become a very important, and increasingly so, marketing channel.

Do you have a favorite social media channel?  How do you use it to help your trade show marketing objectives?  Feel free to post your comments right here, or join the conversation with us on Facebook.  Hope to hear from you!

VIDEO: Behind the Scenes of a Facebook Facelift (New Newsfeed)

Last week, Facebook announced a major design of the Facebook News Feed, News Feed.  70 engineers and designers worked on the project for one year.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “News Feed is one of the most important services that we build.”

“News Feed hasn’t changed very much since 2006, when it started, and this is just really about making News Feed more enjoyable for people,” says Facebook Marketing Manager, Kate O’Neill.   “We just don’t have the option of not moving forward, not modernizing and making the experience better.”

Facebook had surveyed hundreds of thousands of users.  Many responded with the same   request.  Dozens of face to face interviews from users were conducted on the Facebook campus, as well.

The number one thing that people wanted to see was a less cluttered News Feed.  “The clutter was this feeling that there was all this different type of news mixed together.”

One user said his biggest complaint about Facebook was that he wished “the things that came through on my Facebook feed were just the people that I cared about. I wish I could not see all these different things.”

The final result for the end user is a News Feed that takes up a larger part of the screen, with larger images and content, while moving everything else appears on the the side.

“Any time that you have a billion people using a product, and many of those people using it every day, you’re going to see a diversity of opinion. We know that change can be difficult for people. We’re taking a very measured approach here,” O’Neill said.

Only a fraction of its users will be able to see the newly redesigned Newsfeed, as  Facebook takes a measured approach by rolling it out to only a fraction of its users.

What does this means for tradeshows?

If you’re involved in the tradeshow industry like us, you already know the value of not only engagement, but making sure you make the connections with and meet the people who are most important to you.  Just like a tradeshow can seem as if it’s filled with a lot of clutter, cutting right through the clutter to get to where you want to go and to see who you need to see is most important to you.

We know that visual content is most engaging to our own facebook fans, and getting people’s attention is what is most important to us at our tradeshow exhibits.  We hope that you will also benefit from the new Facebook redesign when it is rolled out to most of its users.

We also invite you to join us on facebook and join the conversation with our community!.

Harlem Shake Tradeshow Style at ExhibitCraft in Wayne, NJ

This video was shot in our trade show exhibit showroom at headquarters in Wayne, New Jersey. Leading the pack is Scott Walode, CEO and President of ExhibitCraft.

In the video are employees of ExhibitCraft, some family (including Scott’s daughter, Melanie, and wife, Darlene) and a few clients.  We all had fun shooting this clip!

We wanted to catch onto the silliness before the Harlem Shake Craze passes by. We hope you enjoy, and invite you to stop by for a visit to our showroom in Wayne, NJ – by appointment only! 🙂 (973) 686-9393.

Note: Video footage and editing by Vickie Siculiano, Marketing Manager of ExhibitCraft

Leslie’s Corner: Hot Promotional Products of the Month

Leslie Silverman, ExhibitCraft Promotional Products Project Manager

Hello!! My name is Leslie Silverman. I am the ProShop Project Manager. With my 16+ years of experience with promotional products, I look forward to helping you find the right giveaway for your next tradeshow or event.

Here are 3 items I have selected for this month: The Nichols Sport Bottle, Mia Sport Duffle and the Hades on Ear Headphones.

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The Nichols Sport Bottle
Sleek 24 oz Tritan water bottle with euro sports cap and strap. Great for the Gym!!

Mia Sport Duffle
Ladies Sport duffel bag made of 600d polycanvas with 150 denier accents. Front expandable yoga mat sleeve with zippered pocket.

Hades on Ear Headphones
Experience your music while on the move with these lightweight on-ear headphones. Conveniently collapses down to be placed into the included carrying pouch for compact storage or transport.

February Custom Corner Spotlight: Sunshine Prosthetics and Orthotics

This month, we selected Sunshine Prosthetics and Orthotics as our custom corporate interiors display of note to appear as our monthly spotlight.

This spotlight contains both photographs and video of the gorgeous custom space for this growing company, our nearby neighbor in Wayne, NJ.

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“ExhibitCraft knew just what I needed in my new office space. I was excited to find out about their custom interior work at a recent trade show I attended at their headquarters. My Exhibit Consultant gave me excellent customer service and walked me through the process every step of the way. People give me high compliments on how professional and inspirational the space is. I highly recommend ExhibitCraft.” Brooke Artesi, Owner and Certified Orthotist and Prosthetist, Sunshine Prosthetics and Orthotics.

Client: Sunshine Prosthetics and Orthotics specializes in creating custom prosthetic and orthotics devices for physically challenged adults and children, using the latest in technology.

Design Challenge:
Timing is everything. Brook was visiting ExhibitCraft to meet a friend and attend our promotional products tradeshow. After viewing ExhibitCraft’s brochure on branded corporate spaces, she knew this was a look she wanted when her new office would open in six months!  She fell in love with a sports training office design and wanted to create with this same professional look. The office should also provide a sense of inspiration for clients.

Design Solution:
During the initial design stages for Sunshine Prosthetics and Orthotics’ new office, we met with Brooke on numerous occasions, always a delight to share her infectious enthusiasm on her new venture. The meeting sessions involved discussions on office flow, her business plan and new logo design. We visited Brooke at her soon to be office space many times, discussing designs, color, room layouts, paints, flooring, etc. Our solutions gave her larger-then-life inspirational images of athletic prosthetic users as a focal point. We did this with custom wall paper, floor to ceiling, on a full wall in the lobby and each of her patient rooms. Each room (including the lobby) showed strong branding with the use of her logo colors on the floors and walls. The reception area shows the corporate logo in a three-dimension form, visually promoting her brand. This three dimensional design element gives a unique architectural element to the space. We also created a 5’ custom design element, which wraps the reception counter wall, part of the Sunshine logo. We successfully reinforced her brand presence in the lobby and all patient rooms, and the larger than life images on the wall capture everyone’s attention and will serve as a constant source of inspiration for patients for years to come.

Download the pdf:
Sunshine Prosthetics and Orthotics – Health Care Industry Case Study

Optimize face to face interactions at your next tradeshow

Trade shows are still a tried and true area of investment for B2B marketers, according to the most recent MarketingSherpa B2B Marketing Benchmark Report.  B2B marketers are showing that there is a need to invest in traditional tactics, as they continue to invest in website design, management and optimization, and e-mail marketing, digital tactics that survey respondents value highly.  Naturally, as we embrace digital, face-to-face interactions become that much more valuable.

Meeting someone face to face and shaking their hand and engaging in conversation cannot be met with a digital replacement.  The name of the game in trade show marketing and B2B marketing is all about building and nurturing relationships.

Optimize face to face interactions

You can learn a lot about your customers, prospects competitors at trade shows.  Trade shows and exhibitions are a great way to have many face-to-face meetings in one location in a very short time.

We are in the business of optimizing your trade show exhibit environment so that you can have those conversations and meetings.  We understand that the challenge for staffing the booth and having a strategy for those face-to-face interactions is key.  Your trade show booth staff should have a strategy for managing future follow-up with conversations that happen in your trade show booth, especially since so many people who will be doing the following up won’t be the ones who spoke to the customer or prospect at the event.

Direct some of your trade show investment to a better means of ensuring the conversation continues after the event?  For example:

1.  QR codes are included now on most trade show name badges.  When scanned, these QR codes detail prospects’ names, titles and contact information.  Why not scan these codes with a smartphone or an iPad and populate the data into your CRM.  This eliminates data entry errors that inevitably happen when you scan business cards manually.

2.  Associate this contact information with a simple form that your sales professionals can access from a smartphone or an iPad.  Things you might include are

• A few key motivations that relate to your solutions.
• One or two qualifying questions, such as the size of the account
• A short free-form text field the rep can use to write a note

Invest in allowing your tradeshow booth staff and sales professionals to work smarter using technology.

A small technology investment (relatively small) will help your sales and event professionals work smarter.  They’ll instantly capture your potential custom intention and why they might want to buy your product, and you then will be able to follow up with a very relevant conversation. Sales professionals can then subsequently focus on the issues that are most important to prospects, even if it’s a two weeks or a month after the trade show is over.

Please Vote for us – 2013 Mod Awards

PBHS – Best 20×20 Modular

 Big news!

ExhibitCraft is up for 3 categories  for the 7th annual Mod Awards.  The goal of the MOD Awards is to expose exhibitors, trade show, and event professionals to the best in modular exhibit design.  The three categories we are up for are Best 20 x 30+ Modular, Best 20 x 20 Modular, and Best Lighting.

Please vote for us in these three categories and show your support.  It only takes a minute and it will help us get a chance to receive this prestigious accolade, to be presented in Las Vegas this March!

Be sure to vote by March 11, 2013, 2pm EST.

To read more about the prestigious Mod awards click here.

Thank you for supporting our work in this way!

PBHS – Best 20’x20′





COSCO – Best 20’x30’+

Vytran – Best Lighting

PBHS – Best 20’x30′

COSCO – Best 20’x30′

Vytran – Best Lighting