Exhibit Rental

Rental is a finance term; it simply means a way to acquire or use something for a fee.  A big misconception in the trade show exhibit industry is using the term "rental exhibit" to describe a type of exhibit or even the condition or quality of the exhibit being offered.

Steelhead has been a leader in custom rental exhibits for nearly 15 years, and we continue to lead in a number of financing and design innovations-- design innovations meaning that each rental solution is designed specifically around your objectives and requirements.  No rental exhibit catalogues here.  As you look through our exhibit photography, you're seeing individual solutions tailored to each customer's needs, and those needs include design and financial objectives-- both of which are solved using our design and pricing processes.

For exhibitors, renting enables companies to match or expense the exhibit costs as they are incurred-- which improves cash flow and keeps non-performing assets off the balance sheet.  It also gives exhibitors the freedom and flexibility to create and implement trade show marketing strategies using a different exhibit for each opportunity.  The financial and marketing advantages of renting results in smarter trade show execution.

Why a Rental Exhibit?

The biggest reason why is that a year from now, your company may not look exactly the same as it does today-- or at least it shouldn't.  Would you place the same ad in a magazine every month for 3 years?  Would you keep your company website the way it is now for 5 years?  Of course not.  The market moves much too rapidly, and it's a common practice to keep your messaging in those particular vehicles current.  So why would you buy an exhibit and force yourself to use it for 5 years?  It's fair to say that if you are not changing, you are probably falling behind and you can bet the leaders in your company understand this; certainly your competitors do.  Emerging markets, expansion, new partnerships, competitive threats and new opportunities are just a few things that can re-shape an organization, and companies need to employ the most effective tactics to keep them moving forward.  Custom exhibit rental programs enable you to create dynamic trade show exhibits designed for current marketing challenges and opportunities-- not the challenges of 3 years ago or even last year.  

When it comes to trade show marketing, renting your next trade show exhibit may just be one of the most effective tactics around.  Steelhead's exhibit design team develops winning designs that communicate your brand on a show-by-show basis to ensure your message and look is a current, accurate reflection of where your company is headed rather than where it's been.

Why Owning an Exhibit Can Hurt.

Trade show marketing is one of the most effective forms of face-to-face sales and marketing, period.  However, the cost of presenting your company's value proposition to the marketplace in a way that enables you to stand out from the competition can be high.  To achieve this stand-out trade show presence, some exhibitors buy a custom exhibit, and boy do they pay for it.  It starts with a large outlay of a company's capital (custom trade show exhibits start at about $100 per square foot), and the outlay of cash does not stop there.  The annual costs of exhibit ownership (storage, insurance, maintenance) can be as high as 15-20% of the purchase price using industry averages.  With any such expenditure or investment, companies hope to match the financial life cycle, for depreciation purposes, with an item's useful lifecycle.  Unlike equipment purchases or lease hold improvements for facilities, this match is difficult to achieve when purchasing exhibit properties.  For a trade show exhibit, these cycles simply do not match because an exhibit's effectiveness for marketing purposes has a much shorter life cycle.  By renting, however, your company can use capital for true investment and growth opportunities and altogether eliminate any costs associated with exhibit ownership.

Exhibit Smart.

The most effective trade show marketers use exhibits as their primary tool to stand apart from their competitors.  Trade show managers who use rental exhibits to do this are able to use multiple designs throughout the year to gain the attention of prospects and save their companies tons of money in ownership costs in the process-- gaining them the attention of their executives.

It's simply the smart thing to do.