Source: Gemini

Trade shows continue to be one of the more active and competitive platforms for businesses to promote their brand, reach potential clients, and generate leads. However, when planning for your event, one of the biggest questions businesses ask is whether they should rent a booth or purchase a custom display. There are pros and cons to both approaches, but this often comes down to one measure: return on investment (ROI).

Whether you are a first-time exhibitor or a seasoned pro, the type of display model you choose can have a significant impact on your visibility, engagement with the audience sector, and long-term branding. Understanding the difference between trade show exhibits—rented vs custom—is important to allow you to make the best strategic choice for your goals and budget.

Comparing ROI: Rental vs. Custom Trade Show Exhibits

Source: Gemini

Although rentals help you create flexibility and lower upfront costs, custom booths provide long-term brand value and a stronger potential impact. Let's unpack the most significant factors that influence ROI across both options.

1. Branding Opportunities and Visual Impact

One of the biggest benefits of custom trade show exhibits is their ability to accurately represent a brand's identity. Custom booths are designed to your branded colors, logos, messaging, and user experience, leading to a much more substantial and recognizable experience for visitors.

Rental booths may have some level of customization, but not much. They can be dressed up with branded graphics, but the moving pieces are often generic and not the most noticeable in a hall full of booths. If a brand wishes to be differentiated or to account for a premium brand experience, custom tents can often justify the higher price based on increased brand recall and engagement.

2. Cost Efficiency and Long-Term Use

Rentals appear to be an economical option at first. They forgo construction, storage, and long-term maintenance costs. For businesses that only do one or two trade shows a year or explore a new venue, rentals may be the prudent financial choice.

However, for businesses that exhibit often, custom booths in the long run will provide better ROI. After you build a custom exhibit, you can repurpose, reconfigure, and refresh it for numerous shows, drastically lowering your average cost per show in the long run! A custom exhibit can also be designed for durability and modularity, serving different layouts and booth sizes if needed.

3. Flexibility and Logistics

Rental booths are great for companies working under a short timeline or entering foreign markets that would make shipping a custom booth impractical. Rental companies usually take care of the logistics, installation, and dismantling, so your internal staff won't have to worry about it, and there is no storage needed.

Custom booths require more lead time and planning, especially with transportation and setup, but once you have a booth system set up, you should have a more predictable experience all around, which may not be true with rental solutions.

4. Perceived Value and Audience Experience

Custom exhibits make room for special design features such as interactive displays, custom lighting, multimedia presentations, and experiential zones that attract people and allow for deeper brand involvement. Visitors associate professionalism and trustworthiness with a brand that uses a quality custom exhibit, providing them with an immersive booth.

For rental booths, they can provide impact with good graphics and a compelling pitch, but experiential value isn't necessarily created. In areas where image and first impressions matter, this can have a direct correlation to lead quality and brand perception.

5. Sustainability and Environmental Impact

For businesses with sustainability goals, custom exhibits may benefit from a greener solution long term. Reusable materials, modular elements, and sustainable designs can help mitigate waste and shipping emissions over multiple lifetime uses.

While rentals may seem somewhat greener because they get reused and shared with various brands, rentals can nonetheless involve even more transportation cycles, disposable components, and temporary graphic panels that will eventually result in waste. Brands that believe they are committed to environmental responsibilities might find custom solutions that align more with their sustainability goals more aligned.

End Point

There are trade-offs to consider in making the choice to rent versus invest in a custom booth. It depends on your event strategy, budget, how often you will be exhibiting, and branding aspirations. Rentals typically have a low-risk aspect to events for exhibitors that have never done a trade show or are testing markets. If you are striving for differentiation and lasting brand equity, custom booths offer longer-term benefits that exorbitant rental costs could not match.

Ultimately, ROI is not just about immediate sales; trade show ROI includes visibility, perception, and relationship-building. The right custom space might improve your message, attract better leads, improve your brand's reputation, personify your brand, and amplify factors that rentals may not be able to affect as well. If the timing is right, does your exhibit strategy align with your brand's current long-term vision, and how does your brand want to show up in the marketplace?